Anyone been to some really nice, no chain, restaurants, in Asheville? I'll be there this weekend and I'm looking for some local food spots.

8/16/2009 1:31:04 PM

McDonald's

8/16/2009 1:31:46 PM

Tupelo Honey

its downtown somewhere.

[Edited on August 16, 2009 at 1:40 PM. Reason : I went there 3 years ago tho so who knows if its still there.]

8/16/2009 1:39:35 PM

^ YES. Their brunch is outstanding. http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

8/16/2009 2:31:42 PM

candied ginger cornbread?????


*drool*

8/16/2009 3:26:32 PM

Bistro 1896 is absolutely outstanding. Not cheap but the food is top-notch.http://www.bistro1896.com/

Also, while you might not expect to get seafood in Asheville, The Lobster Trap is pretty good too. http://thelobstertrap.biz/

And of course it should go without saying that the restaurants at Biltmore are excellent.

8/16/2009 3:30:29 PM

Early Girl Eatery.

[Edited on August 16, 2009 at 5:57 PM. Reason : downtown, by the iron.]

8/16/2009 5:57:24 PM

Apollo Flame

[/thread]

8/16/2009 6:01:04 PM

2nd Early Girl Eatery.

breakfast there is where it's at.

8/16/2009 6:27:00 PM

tupelo honey, early girl, over easy cafe, and barley's are favorites

8/16/2009 6:28:34 PM

Barley's

8/16/2009 6:32:40 PM

Tupelo Honey
Bouchon
Sunny Point Cafe
Salsa's

8/16/2009 7:11:42 PM

barley's

bier garden

la paz (chain, but still good shit)

there some blue grass/bbq rest. i've been wanting to check out too on tunnel road

tomato jam if you're there for lunch

two guys (i think its called) sandwiches, kind of like village deli

i'm moving there later this year so let me know if you find a new joint, i'll add to my list

8/16/2009 7:52:19 PM

http://www.laughingseed.com

8/16/2009 9:26:14 PM

Now I'm wanting to visit asheville again

8/16/2009 9:32:36 PM

SALSAS!! A+++

8/16/2009 10:20:30 PM

^^^^The bluegrass/bbq restaurant on Tunnel Rd. is The Fiddlin' Pig
(next to Cracker Barrel & Outback, IIRC)
http://www.thefiddlinpig.com/
They just catered our wedding and did an AMAZING job. The live music and dancers make for quite the dining experience

I always enjoy going to Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. for good pizza, great local beer, and a cheap movie.
http://www.ashevillepizza.com/

Tupelo Honey is also good... (disclaimer: I have only had their breakfast/brunch).
http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

8/16/2009 10:51:27 PM

There is a bomb ass bbq joint out on Swannanoa River...forgot the name. its literally in teh middle of nowhere but has the longest lines.

8/16/2009 10:53:34 PM

I was a concierge on the biltmore estate this summer, so I got some amazing comp meals from all around Asheville. Tupelo Honey is one of the best. I really like The Marketplace and Savoy for fancy food, Papa's and Beer on Tunnel road was the best cheap food I found. Twelve Bones has the best BBQ in all of Asheville and is worth driving a little out of the way to. Zambras is a neat little tapas place downtown with a nice vibe.

8/16/2009 10:56:14 PM

third salsas.. great restaurant

8/16/2009 11:08:27 PM

The Bojangles there refused to sell me mashed potatos and french fries.
Homegirl got all upset and was like "Oh nooooooo....That's two starches"
I was speechless for a second. Then I said "Woman I been hiking all day and I need some starchy foods."
We argued for a minute and then she finally agreed.
Got back to the house and guess what was in the bag...
Hint: It wasn't fries and mashed potatoes.
HOME GIRL GAVE ME FRIES AND RICE.
It's still two starches?
What's up with that?
Doesn't she know rice is a starch?
Or was she just on drugs the whole time and none of that whole conversation mattered?

8/17/2009 12:53:29 AM

Damn. Thanks everyone.

8/17/2009 9:21:56 AM

Early Girl Eatery FTW

8/17/2009 11:49:11 AM

which of these places would be good for a rehearsal dinner?

8/17/2009 6:14:49 PM

another vote for Zambras

8/17/2009 6:37:03 PM

second the Lobster trap.

8/17/2009 7:19:19 PM

Cats and Dawgs
Salsas

[Edited on August 17, 2009 at 7:47 PM. Reason : ?]

8/17/2009 7:46:37 PM

^x10

http://www.12bones.com/

8/17/2009 10:02:16 PM

12 Bones & SALSAS

8/17/2009 10:07:46 PM

Barley's - downtown for pizza/beer
Apollo Flame - has several locations owned by a local family.
La Paz - good mexican in biltmore, it's part of a small atlanta chain, not a big corporate thing
Corner Kitchen - also in biltmore, good place to get a brunch

8/18/2009 12:15:44 AM

Fourth recommendation for Barley's pizza. It's right downtown and has a shitload of beers on tap.

8/18/2009 10:09:05 AM

Agreed on most of the mentions here. Also, check out French Broad Chocolate Lounge. Yes, they have maple bacon ice cream and beer floats. And yes, they're both awesome.

http://frenchbroadchocolates.com/

8/18/2009 12:27:07 PM

Sunny Pointe is AWESOME for breakfast

8/18/2009 1:14:54 PM

I grew up in Asheville and pretty much every place I go when I'm home has been mentioned. Just be prepared to wait a while if you go to Tupelo Honey as its very popular. They don't take reservations either. The only other places i'd recommend are Rosetta's Kitchen and Doc Chey's. Doc Chey's is a small chain, but you really can't tell. I second the Laughing Seed, get their burrito, it's quality. Then go downstairs to Jack of the Wood and get a beer.

8/19/2009 12:51:26 AM

I forgot to mention Doc Cheys. it is indeed excellent if you want some noodles

8/19/2009 12:56:54 AM

Im going to reinforce Barleys, but only for the calzone, not the pizza. Asheville Pizza and Brewing is decent as well. I hosted a work event there and it was awesome for the price. Got to rent out the entire move theater (Night at the Museum II) and food for all seats for ~$500. I know thats irrelevant to your OP but had to give them a shoutout for working with me on that.

Also another place I stumbled on was Frankie Bones Restaurant and Lounge. I was about to go in Moes across the street and said why the heck not try something new. Awesome food, awesome service, great value. I found out they have one in Hilton Head as well so when Im in HH for work I visit that location as well. Check them out for sure, especially for brunch. The restaurant is a Sinatra type theme/feel, is swanky enough to take a date, but casual enough to drop in with a friend or even by yourself and enjoy a good meal. The girl and I have gone a couple times for brunch and both times they had brunch drink specials like mimosa, bloody marry, etc.

http://www.fbdining.com/

[Edited on August 19, 2009 at 10:35 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2009 10:27:47 PM

barleys is fuuuuuuuuuuuuunnn

8/20/2009 1:42:36 AM

Too late now for ALkatraz but...
12 Bones http://www.12bones.com/
Nine Mile http://ninemileasheville.com/
Rosetta's Kitchen http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/82/802417/restaurant/Rosettas-Kitchen-Asheville

8/20/2009 2:12:06 PM

salsa's gives you a ton of food and it is really good.

bier garden, but i've just been there to drink beer and play guitar hero.

8/20/2009 2:16:49 PM

We got to the following places:

Over Easy Cafe
Early Girl Eatery
Doc Chey's
Tried to go to salsa's but that place is too rich for Mexican food.
Tupelo Honey

8/23/2009 6:51:41 PM

mcdonalds. no, really...mcdonalds

8/23/2009 10:00:40 PM

^We saw the one in the Biltmore Village. We didn't eat there though.

8/24/2009 11:10:03 AM

Anything going on Sept 18-22? Ill be in town for work the 18-20. But I'm planning on staying the weekend.


Actually I'll be working in Rutherfordton. which was the hometown shout out on wral this morning.


[Edited on September 4, 2013 at 8:16 AM. Reason : .]

9/4/2013 8:06:14 AM

Limones is one of my favorite places

limonesrestaurant.com

9/4/2013 8:13:09 AM

^^^that's one of the nicer mcdonald's in the country, supposedly. I saw it on a tv show. I think they have a grand piano in there or something. i lived there for a few years but never visited.

last time i went there i went to wicked weed brewery. they had pretty get pub/bar food. we tried to go to early girl and to tupelo honey but both had a 1+ hour wait. we went to another brewery that was newer and was open to the street. can't remember the name, but wasn't too impressed with the food.

[Edited on September 4, 2013 at 10:03 AM. Reason : ]

9/4/2013 9:43:34 AM

Barley's is really good for Pizza.

12 bones is pretty amazing. Really good ribs, and I've never had a side that wasn't good.

9/4/2013 12:51:41 PM

Salsa's and 12 Bones

[/thread]

9/4/2013 3:54:39 PM

Oh wow. This should be fun. Where to begin...

Quote :

"you're either a shill or a troll because the only other possibility is that for the last 5 or so years I've been streaming media to my TV, I've just had other bad products off the line repeatedly"

Or another possibility could be that I've tried out more than just a video game console and a defective Apple TV before deciding that the only other thing that half-assed worked must be the best thing evar by default.

Quote :

"first i had a ps3 and I had to either make sure video files were formatted correctly or were native in the proper format for it to play"

The PS3 is a video game console first, a blu-ray player second, and a media streaming device a far distant third. You won't get any argument from me that it's a steaming pile of shit.

Quote :

"second i got an apple tv with the sole intention of jailbreaking it so it could run as a media center only to have the wifi drop out continuously or run sluggishly whenever fast forwarding or rewinding."

You obviously had a bad Apple TV, and should have returned it. I've had 2 ATVs for myself, 2 for my parents, and one for my sister, jailbroke them all, and never experienced anything like what you described.

Quote :

"the roku's usb functionality is basic? it plays everything you throw at it! I never have to format even 1080p bluray rips. I can have the idea "I want to watch x..." and 2 seconds later I can be watching it on the Roku and through PS3 and aTV, there was an entire process and/or other hardware involved."

Off the top of my head, here's a list of things wrong with the Roku's USB playback:

*The UI for the file selection is horrible. You can only see, I think, 4 items at a time, and only the first ~20 characters of the file name are displayed. So if you have a folder with Showname.720p.s01e01, Showname.720p.s01e02, etc, it cuts them all off to Showname.720p.s01... and makes it impossible to determine which episode you want to select.

*Speaking of the UI, it's just ugly. There's no customization, there's no view options, and there's certainly nothing even close to fancy features like scraping metadata and show/movie information off the internet and displaying dvd covers/movie posters for saved files. Like I said, it's just very basic.

*It doesn't mark the content that you've watched in any way.

*It doesn't allow you to delete files from the USB stick when you're done watching them.

*There's no resume feature when playing back a movie you've watched a portion of.

*There's no way to see the file when you're fast forwarding. Seriously, every media device made since the dawn of time lets you see things going in fast forward or rewind, but the Roku just throws up a black screen, and a timeline at the bottom. That wouldn't be so horrible if you know that you want to fast forward to 22 minutes in a movie, but if you just want to scan something quickly to look for a particular scene, it's impossible.

*There's also no way to jump large amounts of time. If you're watching a movie that's 2 hours and 30 minutes, and you even bothered to remember that you stopped it at 1 hour 45 minutes, there's still no way to get to that spot again unless you fast forward 3x to that point, which takes a good 30 seconds or more. There's no reason why they couldn't make one of the buttons jump forward 10 minutes at a time.

*Nitpicky, but I get annoyed that over half the buttons on the Roku remote will stop playback of a file. Seriously, hitting a direction on the d-pad stops the video for some reason. If you have a small child that likes to play with remotes, or you accidentally lay the remote on the couch and sit on it, it's FAR too easy to accidentally stop a movie from playing. Combined with the previous 3 items, this gets annoying far too often.

*If by "everything you throw at it" you mean "only H.264 mp4s or mkvs" then you might be right. Everything else is a crap shoot. Up until not too long ago, the most popular file format for sharing movies was divx/xvid avis. The Roku simply won't play those. One of the shows I watch is still only uploaded to the internet in divx format, so I have to convert it if I want to watch it on the Roku. And hey, lets just completely forget that WMV, MOV, MPG, FLV, or ASF files exist, right?

*It only does passthrough of AC3 audio. Which means unless your TV can handle decoding AC3(most don't), or you're hooked up to a receiver/soundbar, you won't get any sound coming from those blu-ray rips of yours. Which might be fine if you DO have a receiver that does AC3/DTS, but if you want to take your Roku over to a friends house and all he has is a normal TV, you're going to be having silent movie night.

So yes. I'd consider that basic. If I'm being nice. You can get one particular format of movies you've got stored on a USB drive to show up on your TV most of the time, and that's about it. Sometimes they even have audio too, so I suppose that's a bonus. Pretty much the definition of the word basic though.

Quote :

"Maybe YOU have no idea what you're talking about and you're thinking of previous experiences with earlier rokus but the new Roku 3 is simply the greatest wave of relief I've experienced in my media center setup in years."

That confirms my suspicions then. You've tried to get a game console to do something it wasn't designed to do, had bad luck with an Apple TV when you tried to get it to do what it wasn't supposed to do, and then you've stumbled onto a Roku and it looks like a shining diamond in comparison.

Me? My first media streamer was a modded original xbox running XBMC. It wouldn't play HD content (not that there was much to be had back then anyway) but the UI was excellent. Once you've experienced that, just about everything else is going to be a letdown in comparison.

Then about 5 years ago I replaced it with a Popcorn Hour A-110 NMT. It really will play absolutely everything imaginable that you throw at it from USB or a SMB share on the network. As far as local media playback is concerned, it is definitively better than the Roku is in every way imaginable, and if mine hadn't been struck by lightning 2 years back, I would still be using it to this day as my primary Media Center device. It has none of the drawbacks of the Roku I listed above even though it is now 5+ years old. It doesn't do any sort of Netflix or Youtube or really hardly any internet streaming, but that's simply not what it was designed for. I think newer versions of the PCH have added such features.

Also about 5 years back I bought a WD TV HD for my bedroom. It's very basic as well, but again, at 5 years old it plays back files from USB better than the Roku could ever dream of today. It also doesn't have any of the negatives I listed above, with the exception of not doing metadata/movie posters. I bought a new WD TV last year for $59 that is completely redesigned, and does to the movie poster/show info thing as well. It also has an HDMI port as well as standard RCA cable output, meaning when I took it on the family vacation this summer I was able to hook it up to the old TV in the rental house we stayed in and have Netflix for the kids as well as movies for the adults on a USB stick. There's two separate reasons why that wouldn't have worked with a Roku 3.

My point is, there are tons of other devices out there, many for far less money, that do so much more than the Roku. It all depends on what you want to do with it, and what features are important to you. The Roku has name recognition and ease of use going for it, and that's just about it. Everything else about it, if you took the time to actually educate yourself on the topic, is really subpar.

9/4/2013 4:30:37 PM

Thanks for the insight on asheville's food.

9/4/2013 4:36:11 PM

RattlerRyan thought he ended the thread, but FroshKiller was like "no way, i got something to say"

9/4/2013 4:48:22 PM