Category: Restaurants

Over Easy Cafe in Asheville, NC

The old saying of “Look what the cat dragged in” brought in our friend Sam from Alabama. Sam is up in our neck of the woods for a few weeks so she ventured over the mountain to hear friends play in the Blue Grass Festival.
My husband met Sam on the Internet.  A bunch of bad biker dudes talk on the Internet and then decide to meet up somewhere in the country. This really raises all kind of stereotypes, most of which couldn’t be further from the truth with this crowd. The group is spread all over the country and get together formally once a year for the official forum reunion. When someone is traveling we always have a place to stay. Friends that go out of their way to make room for you. We have housed several friends that have been on the road and it is always an enjoyable visit.
Sam showed up late last night, her friends  didn’t go on stage until 10pm so that meant she did not even get to our home until 12:30ish. We had planned on going to brunch  late in the morning…
I had the BEST breakfast EVER. The Over Easy Cafe is nothing much to look at. It is one of those places that would be very easy to keep walking past if you were to peak in. Eh, lets keep moving would be a likely thought. It is very casual, a dive look to it. Thankfully there was not a terrible wait, 20 minutes. The rain and the threatening storm had a lot to do with that.


Sam had the French Toast with fresh fruit and over medium egg.

I had the Zorba the Greek. An omlette with sundried tomatos, olives, feta and spinich. Kale and a biscuit. I cannot begin to tell you how delicious it was.

I am loving my camera phone. I can take pictures incognito and I don’t feel like a tourist. The photos are not nearly as clear and there is a lot of noise but that is ok.

Sam the Auburn fan, shared with us a card that she has in her wallet. The Auburn University Creed..

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.
I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.
I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.
I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.
I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.
I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.
I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by “doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God.”
And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it.
-George Petrie (1945)

Dessert was in order.
For some reason Asheville has a lot of gourmet chocolate shops. Not complaining one bit but it seems kind of odd. I don’t know if you have ever had Lavender Milk Chocolate but I will be indulging in it again in the near future.

Walking in and out of shops, dodging the rain we met the shop cat guarding the front door.

Mighty ferocious…not. I don’t think she weighed 4 lbs.

Love the name of this concert series…I tease the kids that they ride the short bus. I know, not very politically correct and I shouldn’t tease, don’t lecture me.

Mike’s on Main Street, Hendersonville NC

Bob and I headed to Hendersonville NC this morning to pick up a piece of furniture that I had spotted on Craigs list. He had come here a few weeks ago for dinner and said it had a great downtown. It was so nice. Amazingly clean and bright looking,

We stopped for lunch at Mike’s on Main Street. An old Apothecary shop that was converted into a diner/soda fountain.

The diner is was really cool. Lots of character with lots to look at. There were quite a few families having lunch with little kids.

There was an entire wall of old apothecary jars, very Harry Potter ish.
We ordered lunch and shared a chocolate malt. It was so cute with its chocolate heart on top. Too bad the kids were not with us so we could embarrass them by drinking out of the straws at the same time.
 To tell you the truth I felt kind of bad that we didn’t make them come with us.  
Kind of.

Doesn’t he look thrilled? Actually he was being quite the trooper for someone who is not feeling well. He will do that. Allow me to drag him all over and then get home and I find out he is not feeling well.

I ordered a BLT which was good and Bob had the Pastrami and Swiss.  Unfortunately for what we ordered it was very expensive, $24.50 and that I can say will keep us from going back.

I have my new iphone so I used that for taking pictures today. I am not use to not looking through a view finder to take my pictures so I had some difficulty making sure they were focused.

After lunch we strolled around Hendersonville looking at the different shops. This place was hoppin with people, lots of families.  They city is doing some capital improvements on the road that will be completed in March but that did not cause any problems.

This is a hobby shop that Bob stumbled upon. The place was crammed with stuff.

A pub that we would like to try out.

Liked this gate.

This was a bakery we went into to. These cream puffs were the size of softballs.

My motorcycle friends check this out!

Chad, you will love this place.

We picked up two guitar hooks and Bob schmoozed with one of the old guys.

Much to my husbands dismay I found this place.

There was an unbelievable amount of stuff in here.

And here is why we made the trip to Hendersonville. I found this on Craigslist for $50.00.  It is in wonderful condition. I believe it is walnut but I am not crazy about the color of the finish. Thinking about making it black?

It is going to be in the kitchen and the black finish would  go great with the Ubatuba granite.

So what do you think? Black?

Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina

 Bob and I have been trying to take full advantage of all the different restaurants Asheville has to offer. For the last few weekends we have been heading into downtown Asheville and today we went to Tupelo Honey Cafe. My first thought of Tupelo before I had even seen the restaurant was that it was a local chain. That it was going to be “corporate” and decorated like your local fern bar.  Not my favorite type of restaurant by a long shot.  It was cold and gray outside, looking like snow and I wanted a restaurant with some atmosphere.
Tupelo Honey is small, very comfortable, cozy.
A great place to hang out. Have a late breakfast/early lunch with a few Bloody Mary’s and the newspaper. 
We were there for an early dinner and had the boys with us so there wouldn’t be much alcohol consumption going on. Although I did have a pretty damn good Bloody with a Pickled Okra and kickin horseradish! Good stuff.
They started us off with fresh biscuits…..
 

 This is what I had and it was amazing. So good. My salad had pickled beets and onions, bacon, carrots, spiced pecans, tomatoes, goat cheese, with pecan vinaigrette. I LOVE goats cheese.  This with the tomato soup was perfect.

 Bob had the Appalachian Egg Rolls (yes I spelled it wrong on the photo, too late to correct it). Pulled pork with jalapeno BBQ sauce with braised greens, pickled onions & shredded Carrots.

 Sam and Carter joined us today and they seemed to enjoy it. Sam had the Cheeseburger…cannot remember if it was organic or grass fed. Carter chose the full starch fest…Mac and Cheese, Grilled corn on the cob and home fries.

 They really focus on buying local and being organic without being in your face about it. They also offer Vegan, Gluten Free and Soy Free.

 Don’t know if you can read the card on the table but it says:

Asheville is the epicenter of the Foodtoplan Society, a community of folks who believe fantastic, authentic, fresh, local food equals more than simple nourishment. It’s our way of life.
We are proud to work with 14 different farms and purveyors in Western North Carolina to bring goodness to your table.

This is not a paid review, just us going out for dinner.  We really enjoyed everything about it.
Check out their menu at:
http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will come back again!
Krista