137914 Tue Sep 07 22:03:49 -0700 2004 14 11 South 0 738938 OK, our first trip to Asheville (NC, for that matter) is coming up in a couple of weeks. We plan to hit Salsa's, Zambra, Rezaz (sp?), and La Caterina Trattoria. And probably Marco's for pizza one night. Also the German restaurant in Black Mountain. What have I missed? (We like all kinds of food.) I thought it would be fun to drive up to the Swag Inn for their Wednesday mountaintop picnic lunch. Have any of you done this? Are there any outlying restaurants that shouldn't be missed (e.g., near Brevard on our waterfall hunting/hiking day)? Thank you! Can hardly wait! Tue Sep 07 22:03:49 -0700 2004 0 Zorra 1 738942 You will love Asheville. You've picked the places I would eat, and I can't wait to read your reviews. In Brevard, I fear there is nothing very good to eat (although it is a quaint little Mayberry-type town). If you do wind up there...Falls Landing might be your best bet for (hopefully) inoffensive seafood and some dark beers on draft. Next door is a coffee shop w/ Thyme in the name where they make a good hot chocolate w/ chocolate whipped cream.(should the weather turn cool by then) However, if your Waterfall trip happens to be on Thur,Fri or Sat, I would suggest(for lunch) a drive to Flat Rock, N.C. which is perhaps 20-25 minutes from Brevard. Visit Flat Rock Village Bakery where they make really excellent pizzas in their brick oven. Get the goat pizza w/ sun dried tomatoes, artichokes , pesto, and of course goat cheese. Also they make some fabulous breads, scones, muffins, etc. They are located in the back of The Wrinkled Egg, a very frou-frou ladies gift shop. Do not be discouraged. Carl Sandberg's (the socialist poet who wrote the "fog comes in on little cat feet" line) House is across the street if you needed extra sight-seeing. From Flat Rock you are just South of Hendersonville and west of I-26. It will be an easy drive to get back to Asheville. If you decided to do that, I will provide directions for a scenic drive from Brevard to Flat Rock. I couple of random tips: Zambra is now open for lunch, but the menu is VERY limited, I would advise having your Zambra meal at dinner. If you like ice cream, try to find Ultimate Ice Cream which is out on Hwy 70=Tunnel Road, keep going past the mall, veer left and under 240, look closely, it's in a small strip center on the left. Do you want breakfast info? I am also available to ramble about between meal activities. Wed Sep 08 08:48:44 -0700 2004 738938 0 danna 2 738946 Please do ramble! We are heading to Asheville Halloween weekend. We will definitely hit Jack of the Wood for beers, and will be visiting Tupelo Honey for breakfast one day. Also we will be skipping Biltmore. If you know any great fishing spots, please email me! thanks! heids Wed Sep 08 10:09:49 -0700 2004 738942 0 heids 3 738957 Halloween. ooh, Freaker's Ball. Asheville crawls with street kids/hippies and they really dress up for Halloween,although some might ask how can you tell :-) The only fishing I'm aware of is Davidson river near the Fish Hatchery. Are you familiar with that? ALso there's a guide service I saw on TV called ASheville Drifters (I think) if you want to pay for a guide service on the French Broad. I've always liked the veggetarian restaurant upstairs from Jack of the Woods, and they just re-opened after renovating their outdoor dining area (I'm a sucker for al fresco). You can get beers from Jack there. Wed Sep 08 11:52:48 -0700 2004 738946 0 danna 4 738961 thanks for the info! I read both of your replies. We're renting a cabin outside of town so we can have as much fun as we can stand downtown then head back to relax in the outdoor jacuzzi :) Wed Sep 08 13:56:35 -0700 2004 738957 0 heids 3 738975 For fishing spots maybe you could go to some outfitter shops and ask the folks there for recommendations on where, when and what fly patterns to use, or lures. Wed Sep 08 23:02:06 -0700 2004 738946 0 Sweet Pea 2 738949 Thank you! Please do give directions for the Brevard-Flat Rock drive. We are staying at a B&B called North Lodge on Oakland. I hope they have good food, because our usual MO when we travel is to eat so much at breakfast that we don't need lunch! So is Flat Rock Village Bakery not open Mon-Wed? We look forward to hanging around downtown, hiking, canoeing, the Biltmore, live music at the Grey Eagle Inn, drinks at sunset at the Grove Park Inn...what have I missed? Please, ramble at will. Wed Sep 08 10:21:49 -0700 2004 738942 0 Zorra 3 738956 Flat Rock Bakery is open for coffee, pastry and bread during the week (not sure about Monday), but pizza only on Thur, Fri,Sat. I think they take the last pizza order at 5 pm. There is nice outdoor seating, BTW. From the entrance to Pisgah Forest, at the intersection of Hwys 64, 276 and 280 (which is the way you would come in from Asheville unless you take the parkway), you take 64 toward Hendersonville for 2-3 miles, turn right on Crab Creek Road where you see a rock quary on your left and a gas station on the right. Follow crab creek (10 miles?) until you see Little River Road going to your right. I think there are flashers there and maybe a big mirror...it's a bad turn. (should you miss this, you will wind up in Hendersonville, where you would turn right on Hwy 25 into Flat Rock) Little River deadends into Hwy 25 w/ Sandberg on your right and Flat Rock Playhouse on your left. Make a right on 25 and you'll see the Wrinkled Egg/Flat Rock Bakery on your left at the light. Ask the guys at the bakery how to get on I26 back to Asheville. Hanging around downtown is my favorite activity (other than mountain biking) You might enjoy the "urban trail", make sure you pay attention to the deco architecture, try the Fine Arts Cinema (they've had me PO'd lately with a solid line up of leftist "documentaries", but I have high hopes they will go back to good indie and foreign films soon), check out the art and especially art glass at Blue Spiral Gallery, check for festivals...there's a Brewgrass festival sometime in Sept I think where - you guessed it - you get dozens of diff. microbrews and many bluegrass bands. If you want funky live music, Westville Pub is a non-smoking, cheap venue. My favorite venue is the street corners near the Haywood Park Hotel. If you get lucky you can sit on the patio at the Flying Frog, have a bucket of champagne or a mojito or whatever and listen to street performers who usually aren't bad. Make sure you ride around on the Blue Ridge Parkway either direction from town. If the breakfast at your Inn doesn't suit you, try Sunny Point cafe for a full breakfast, or Blue Moon bakery for coffee and pastry. There's a cool shop where they blow glass, mostly christmas ornaments, called the Crucible. Makes good gifts. If you are a shopper, TOPS is a great shoe store (downtown) and Constance Boutique is a great women's (pricey) store in the Biltmore area of commerce. Well, that's a fair amount a rambling, let me know if you need any more specifics and PLEASE report back. Wed Sep 08 11:46:00 -0700 2004 738949 0 danna 3 738960 We stayed at North Lodge last year and won't be back. The room we stayed in was pretty enough but VERY small and the food was mediocre. Put it this way - we skipped breakfast altogether so we could get coffee downtown. However the owners are very nice and the location (proximity to downtown) is very good. We enjoyed Hill House much more, though. I hope your experience is better! Wed Sep 08 13:53:44 -0700 2004 738949 0 heids 4 738974 :-( We'll see!!! Wed Sep 08 22:55:44 -0700 2004 738960 0 Zorra 1 738977 Danna, I just found out y'all are underwater! How are things downtown? Are all the restaurants we've discussed, flooded out? (as well as other important things, like your house...) Wed Sep 08 23:37:17 -0700 2004 738938 0 Zorra 2 738980 Biltmore Village was completely flooded yesterday and Rezaz appeared to be under 4-5 feet of water. I don't think they will be open in the next week or so. Forest Thu Sep 09 08:25:22 -0700 2004 738977 0 F. Davenport 2 738981 Thanks for asking. Actually, I live 45 minutes down the mountain from Asheville, in Greenville, S.C. Here we got 9 inches of rain starting early Tuesday morning through late yesterday, with a bit more to come. While my basement and my car both leak, there has been no serious flooding. The sun is out this morning and I can see the mountains for the first time in days....Glorious! I heard on the radio this a.m. that the mountains took a harder hit that we did. Seems there are some people without water (because a water main washed away) and they said there was damage to some roads. I'd be surprised, though, if there was any serious damage downtown. I'll check the Citizen Times online and if I'm wrong I'll let you know. Thu Sep 09 08:26:55 -0700 2004 738977 0 danna 3 738982 Yikes! is right. Looks like the flooding was severe in many outlying areas and also in the Biltmore Village area. (Biltmore Village is a few miles out of downtown...downhill, now that I think about it) It's a good thing your trip is not for a couple of weeks. If the link below works, I think you are looking at Rezaz...or at least the street it's on. I feel terrible to say this at this time - like speaking ill fo the dead - but I don't think it will be a tragedy if you don't get to eat at Rezaz. I've only been once, I thought it was only fair, but had potential...and it was very recently opened. My husband refuses to try it again, though. An acquaintance of mine is a chef in Greenville and his pastry-chef wife tried Rezaz after they had been opened longer. She told me some things were very good and others very disappointing. I think both of us are hyper-critical, I'm glad you're going to give them a shot...I hope they can reopen before you come. Again, please give us your review. Link: http://www.citizen-times.com/cache/article/news/61011.shtml Thu Sep 09 08:58:43 -0700 2004 738981 0 danna 1 738992 By the way, I was by Rezaz today it does not look promising for awhile in terms of a reopen :>( You may want to try my husband's favorite place also, The Noodle Shop in downtown. It has very good noodle bowls. We also like Heiwa on Lexington. It is very small, but good Japanese and alot of vegetarian choices. If you want a nice easy lunch, Rio Burrito has a great BIG burrito that will keep you full for all day. While you are in Asheville, make sure you visit some of the galleries & please support the local artists, such as myself. View my jewelry at Woolworth Walk...have a great time. Thu Sep 09 19:43:14 -0700 2004 738938 0 carolmoonbeam