While Durham offers innovative restaurants, Raleigh, traditional fare, and Charlotte, a corporate feel with plenty of fancy – one city in North Carolina reigns supreme as the ultimate food town. Of course, I’m talking about Asheville. There’s plenty of variety for each kind of foodie – pit cooked BBQ, Spanish tapas with a southern touch, five-star dining, and fresh farm-to-table restaurants. While there are plenty of amazing places to eat in the area, two were just named as the best new restaurants in the south by Southern Living.
Facebook / Buxton Hall BBQ The great NC BBQ debate will always exist, but Buxton Hall BBQ brought something completely different to the western side of the state…eastern-style Q. While BBQ is the central focus, diners can’t help going crazy over the fried chicken BBQ sandwich.
Facebook / Buxton Hall BBQ Bon Apetit named the sandwich “Fried Chicken Sandwich of the Year.” (Side note, how do you become a judge for that? Sign me up).
Facebook / Buxton Hall BBQ But Southern Living didn’t just focus on the fried chicken sandwich when naming Buxton Hall one of the best new restaurants. They focused on the whole package. “Old-school barbecue temples put the meat on a pedestal. The whole-hog cookery alone merits a stop at this vintage-inspired South Slope restaurant, but calling Buxton Hall just another barbecue joint would be a disservice. Take the sides, for example. Green beans simmer under the cooking pig, basting in unctuous pork drippings. Braised collards sing with the tang of cider vinegar and the spice of fresh black pepper. Here, you could create the ultimate vegetable plate and never think twice.” - Southern Living Magazine.
Facebook / Local Provisions
Facebook / Local Provisions On the surface, Local Provisions might appear intimidating to the non-seasoned foodie. Yet, it’s sourcing the same, wild ingredients your grandma might have added to a hearty southern dish. Southern Living states, “Appalachia” is the next trend in food culture. Local Provisions is the heart of Appalachia with foraged ingredients like pennywort, sorghum berries, celtuce. (Don’t worry, I really have no idea what those are either).
Facebook / Local Provisions When naming it as one of the Best New Restaurants, Southern Living also noted the interestingly curated ingredients stating, “The menu can at times read like a botanical guide.”
Facebook / Local Provisions / Meghan Rolfe Photography Local Provisions has even been greeted by some famous faces, most recently Conan O’Brien. As one of the hottest new restaurants, Southern Living described it as: “The foodways of the mountain South offer the perfect intersection of tradition, lore, and resourcefulness. In Asheville, chef Justin Burdett, who worked closely with chefs Hugh Acheson and Steven Satterfield, champions the ingredients of the area and often relies on foragers to inject dishes with a bona fide sense of place.” - Southern Living Magazine.
To read more about both of these places, and the other restaurants listed, click here.
Facebook / Buxton Hall BBQ
The great NC BBQ debate will always exist, but Buxton Hall BBQ brought something completely different to the western side of the state…eastern-style Q. While BBQ is the central focus, diners can’t help going crazy over the fried chicken BBQ sandwich.
Bon Apetit named the sandwich “Fried Chicken Sandwich of the Year.” (Side note, how do you become a judge for that? Sign me up).
But Southern Living didn’t just focus on the fried chicken sandwich when naming Buxton Hall one of the best new restaurants. They focused on the whole package. “Old-school barbecue temples put the meat on a pedestal. The whole-hog cookery alone merits a stop at this vintage-inspired South Slope restaurant, but calling Buxton Hall just another barbecue joint would be a disservice. Take the sides, for example. Green beans simmer under the cooking pig, basting in unctuous pork drippings. Braised collards sing with the tang of cider vinegar and the spice of fresh black pepper. Here, you could create the ultimate vegetable plate and never think twice.” - Southern Living Magazine.
Facebook / Local Provisions
On the surface, Local Provisions might appear intimidating to the non-seasoned foodie. Yet, it’s sourcing the same, wild ingredients your grandma might have added to a hearty southern dish. Southern Living states, “Appalachia” is the next trend in food culture. Local Provisions is the heart of Appalachia with foraged ingredients like pennywort, sorghum berries, celtuce. (Don’t worry, I really have no idea what those are either).
When naming it as one of the Best New Restaurants, Southern Living also noted the interestingly curated ingredients stating, “The menu can at times read like a botanical guide.”
Facebook / Local Provisions / Meghan Rolfe Photography
Local Provisions has even been greeted by some famous faces, most recently Conan O’Brien. As one of the hottest new restaurants, Southern Living described it as: “The foodways of the mountain South offer the perfect intersection of tradition, lore, and resourcefulness. In Asheville, chef Justin Burdett, who worked closely with chefs Hugh Acheson and Steven Satterfield, champions the ingredients of the area and often relies on foragers to inject dishes with a bona fide sense of place.” - Southern Living Magazine.
If you consider yourself a North Carolina ‘foodie,’ you must try these 25 restaurants.
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