My favorite way to explore a new destination is through the belly of the city. Literally. Asheville, North Carolina did not disappoint with their locally owned and operated Eating Asheville Food Tour. Read on to see all the great dishes and get a discount code for your next tour.
Disclosure: Eating Asheville Food Tours does not always visit the same restaurants. Your tour may be very similar to mine or you may visit a completely different set of incredible foodie spots. So while this post is quite detailed and specific, this was the tour I experienced and yours may be very different.
If you are a regular follower of Beauty and the Beets, then you know my obsession with food tours. It’s my go to bucket list item whenever I visit a new destination. Most of the time it doesn’t work into my schedule, but when it does, it’s always a blast.
Pete and I recently visited Asheville, North Carolina. It’s a town that has been on my go to list since I moved to the state 2 years ago. A bit less than a two hour drive from my newly adopted hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Asheville is known for many great foodie spots so to get my feet wet I decided to sign up for a local food tour. I chose the Eating Asheville Classic Food Tour, one of three tours the company offers.
Pete and I met our fellow tour-ists at the S&W Market, a food hall situated in a 1920’s art deco building in the heart of downtown Asheville. Within minutes, our tour guide Joe met up with us armed with a sample brew from Highland Brewing, a local Asheville brewery with an outlet in the S&W Market. The second I met Joe I knew we were in for a good time.
Our first food tasting was from Mikasa Criolla, a Peruvian vendor also found at the S&W Market. We enjoyed one of their most popular empanadas – the Aji de Gallina, a Peruvian classic. While Aji de Gallina is traditionally a chicken stew, the folks at Mikasa Criolla turned this classic dish into a tasty stuffed pastry. The creamy chicken chili and queso empanada was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t wait to see what else Asheville offered.
We then went on a short walk to our next destination. Along the way Joe spoke of Asheville’s history, pointing out various landmarks including the Jackson Building, Asheville’s second tallest skyscraper. Yes, Asheville has a skyscraper, sort of. The Jackson Building stands at 13 stories tall. The Hotel Arras across the street stands at 19 stories tall. Those are the “skyscrapers” of Asheville.
Our next stop was at Bold Rock, a craft cidery with 30 taps offering a large variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options as well as a few other local beers. If you think you don’t like cider you haven’t given it a chance as varieties can be sweet or savory. We got to try the strawberry-peach cider which was their latest addition for the summer. I also snuck in a taste of their coffee cider called Roast. It was so delicious that we went back the following day to enjoy a full pint.
We were also served their Bacon Apple Grilled Cheese sandwich with goat cheese, apples, bacon, apple slices, and a Dijon aioli on sourdough. Super yummy.
Next up , a short walk over to the White Duck Taco Shop. Peach sangria was on tap and bangkok shrimp tacos were on the plate. They were slightly spicy but delicious. White Duck Taco Shop doubles up on their tortillas so you are really getting two tacos in one. Anything that falls out of the first taco will land on the second tortilla that you can roll up and enjoy for a second time.
Just across the street was Manicomio Pizza. The word “manicomio” is the Italian word for mental hospital or asylum. Manicomio Pizza SERVES insanely good pizza, get it?
Now this was an interesting stop that has changed my view of eating pizza. We tried the Smokie Artichokie pie. Artichokes, blistered tomatoes, mozzarella and smoked mozzarella cheeses. Served with a lemon wedge. A LEMON WEDGE with pizza. This was a game changer for me. While Pete didn’t really care for it, the rest of us LOVED a squeeze of lemon on our slices. It really brought out the artichoke flavor, so good. This was probably my favorite stop on the tour. All because of an event weeny tiny little lemon wedge.
While the last stop was a bit of a hike (and by a bit of a hike I mean about a quarter mile), we stopped at a few other interesting Asheville landmarks. One of which was a music venue called The Orange Peel. The Orange Peel has hosted popular musical acts such as The Commodores, Cyndi Lauper, and Hootie and the Blowfish. In 2008 Rolling Stone magazine named The Orange Peel as one of the top 5 music venues in the United States.
Our last stop was at Sunshine Sammies where we enjoyed a mocha caramel chocolate chip ice cream cookie sandwich. It was a perfect ending to our classic foodie tour.
Our tour guide Joe was a plethora of information. He sent us on our way with lots of recommendations of other restaurants to try, shops to visit, and other tours we had to add to our list. Truly one of the best tour guides I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We even ran into him the following day when we went back to Bold Rock and he was there with another group of victims…er…tour-ists. I highly recommend asking for him when you book your tour with Eating Asheville.
Book your Asheville Food Tour here —> Eating Asheville and use code EAT10 for a 10% discount
Check out these other food tours around the United States:
Juneau Food Tours – Juneau, Alaska
Savannah Taste Experience Tour – Savannah, Georgia
Williamsburg Bites Food Tour – Brooklyn, New York
