Dining Out
Asheville restaurants run the gamut from exotic to vegetarian, and award-winning cuisine to down-home cooking. The city’s vibrant restaurant scene goes well-beyond its Southern cooking and roots. Your taste buds will love it, whether it’s organic, grass-feed meat, mountain trout caviar or fried green tomatoes.
Asheville’s chefs use flair and creativity to create unique, delicious dishes. The “slow movement” or local “farm-to-table” dining provides healthy choices with fresh flavor. Enjoy outdoor dining and relax at one of the many sidewalk cafes. Enhance your dining experience with live music like bluegrass or jazz. Whatever you are hungry for, Asheville is sure to impress.
12 Bones Smokehouse
Located in Asheville’s River Arts District with a second eatery in Arden, 12 Bones serves some of the area’s most acclaimed barbecue and draws a sizeable lunch crowd. Meat lovers should order the Hogzilla, a hoagie stuffed with pulled pork, sausage, sugared bacon, and pepper jack cheese.
3578 Sweeten Creek Road, Arden (828) 687-1395
5 Riverside Drive, Asheville (828) 253-4499
The Bistro at Biltmore
Enjoy a casual, yet sophisticated atmosphere at this premier dining spot on Biltmore Estate. Fresh ingredients from Biltmore’s farms, fields, and vineyards are used. Don’t miss the mountain trout. A ticket onto the estate is required and reservations are suggested.
1 Approach Road, Asheville (800) 624-1575
Fig
Set in historic Biltmore Village, fig is a cozy bistro serving a modern interpretation of classic, pure, and market-driven French cuisine. Fig’s commitment to quality and excellence is readily apparent in the seasonal masterpieces created by French-trained Chef William Klein. As staunch supporters of local, organic, and sustainable agriculture, fig utilizes the freshest and finest ingredients available.
18 Brook Street, Asheville (828) 277-0889
Bouchon
Bouchon offers simple French bistro fare, but its location and spirited atmosphere make it delightful, especially if you score a seat at the curbside bar. Enjoy fresh mussels, a large selection of French wines, and authentic French cuisine.
62 North Lexington, Asheville (828) 350-1140
Laughing Seed
Laughing Seed Cafe, Asheville’s most award winning vegetarian restaurants serves organic, seasonal, farm to table vegetarian cuisine with an international flair. Experience the deep, slow cooked tastes of Thailand as well as the simple, but intensely satisfying flavors of the Mediterranean and Caribbean including vegan, raw, and gluten-free options.
40 Wall Street, Asheville (828) 252-3445
www.laughingseed.jackofthewood.com
Mela
Mela Indian Restaurant offers authentic North and South Indian dishes as diverse and vibrant as the peoples and regions of India. From the plains of Punjab to the Malabar coast, the techniques, spices, seasonings and natural ingredients of Indian cooking have been refined over thousands of years, resulting in a cuisine unlike any other.
70 North Lexington Avenue, Asheville (828) 225-8880
Posana Café
Located on Asheville’s historic Pack Square, Posana Café offers Modern American cuisine in a casually elegant setting. Utilizing premium ingredients, practically every item is made from scratch using high quality, natural ingredients, from the flavored syrups and freshly squeezed mixers behind the bar to the bun and pickles on your burger. Posana Cafe has been awarded the Gluten-Free Food Service Accreditation from the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America and caters to diners suffering from a broad spectrum of food allergies.
One Biltmore Avenue, Asheville (828) 505-3969
Corner Kitchen
The Corner Kitchen is a casual café tucked away in a historic home in Biltmore Village. Offers a variety of homemade soups, salads, appetizers and entrees with a unique Southern flair. Perfect place to drop in for lunch while shopping.
3 Boston Way, Asheville (828) 274-2439
Cinnamon Kitchen
Indian cuisine is simply prepared with much more subtle complexity and layered flavors. Authentic dishes, including vegetarian and specialty dishes cooked with ginger, garlic, yogurt, and spices.
1838 Hendersonville RD, Suite 103, Asheville (828) 575-2100
Limones
Limones features Latin-inflected, California-tinged creations, from ceviche with fresh lime juice, to fresh fish, to goat cheese corn taquitos with chipotle. Cocktails are prepared with fresh ingredients – enjoy a margarita or a refreshing Paloma.
13 Eagle Street, Asheville (828) 252-2327
Rezaz
In an elegant, comfortable setting, this restaurant offers Mediterranean cuisine with California style. Enjoy flavors from North Africa, Italy, Spain, Morocco, and the Middle East. Excellent wines.
28 Hendersonville Road, Asheville (828) 2775537
Tupelo Honey Café
Award-winning café with an upscale spin on Southern cuisine, including generous omelets, sweet potato pancakes, shrimp and grits, grass fed beef tenderloin, local greens, and seafood. And of course, breads and honey.
1829 Hendersonville Road, Arden (828) 505-7676
12 College Street, Asheville (828) 255-4863
