A food and drink mecca awaits you in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains.
The Gastro Obscura Guide to Asheville Area Eats

The mountains and woods surrounding Asheville are brimming with plant life, much of which is edible. The land is ripe for foraging, which has a rich history here. The best way to experience local comestible plants is with No Taste Like Home, an organization that has been hosting foraging tours for over 20 years in the area. On a three-hour walk through local woods and meadows (available year-round) you’ll discover and sample wild fruit, nuts, greens, and mushrooms. Tours take place at one of several locations 5 to 45 minutes from downtown, and meet on-site; pre-registration is required. Tours also include an appetizer made from your day’s haul at a local restaurant: you might find yourself eating wild mushroom pizza, daylily tamales, or wisteria ice cream at one of Asheville’s renowned eateries. 

Co-owners Chris Bower and Rett Murphy are honoring the legacy of Appalachian bootleggers and herbalists by making spirits from local plants. While most people know of the area’s moonshining history, it’s a less commonly known fact that house-made spirits in Appalachia were also used for medicinal purposes, a tradition loosely passed down to Bower through his family. A visit to the distillery will have you tasting amari – herbaceous Italian-style after-dinner digestifs – each with its own Appalachian spin. Their Nocino, for example, uses local black walnuts, while the Amaro Flora mixes local bark with wildflowers. Pick up a few bottles to bring home and remember that crisp mountain air.

This local establishment’s windows have reworked the old adage of “Eat, drink, and be merry.” A painted banner, lit up by neon, reads: “Shop. Drink. Get Married.” Fleetwood’s is a ”Rock n Roll Wedding Chapel,” where you can get married on a lark, Vegas-style. It’s also a vintage shop – perfect for sourcing a last-minute wedding outfit – and a bar, where you can celebrate your nuptials or gain some liquid courage. Even if you’re not aiming to get hitched, Fleetwood’s is a must-visit in Asheville for its unique character that reflects the town’s lovable quirks and creativity. 

Local food is big in Asheville. And since North Carolina is home to some of the country’s greatest barbecue pork, that includes local meats. At Foothills Butcher Bar in Black Mountain, you can grab burgers, poutine, and chili cheese fries, all made with locally sourced meat that Foothills’ network of family farms raises, and which Foothills employees butcher themselves. The operation began as a farmers market stand, and has expanded to a restaurant, a deli, and two food trucks. Here in Black Mountain, even the french fries are cooked in beef tallow – and yes, there’s local beer on tap.

This beloved community fixture in Weaverville, just a 15-minute drive from Asheville, has been open for over 60 years, a family effort from the beginning. Gus Dermas, a Greek emigrant who served in Korea before settling in North Carolina, opened the café as a come-one-come-all sort of place with his wife, Ismini, in 1960. Today their sons, John and Yotty, run the place. The menu is wide-ranging and internationally focused: a big group meal here might include a greek salad, a Cuban sandwich, a Jamaican shrimp wrap, and a Sichuan salmon stir-fry. It’s all served up in a dining room unlike any other: fuschia velvet-upholstered chairs line the diner bar, eclectic art lines the walls, and pink chandeliers hang from the ceilings. This is sure to be a meal you’ll never forget.

Asheville is teeming with taprooms: it’s a city with a thriving craft beer scene. One of the breweries in town is 7 Clans Brewing, which is a majority woman indigenous-owned business, represented by members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. President Morgan Owle-Crisp and VP Collette Coggins began this brewery as a way to continue the longstanding tradition of First Peoples – often women – creating fermented beverages. At their taproom, you can sample beers like their signature Blond Ale, IPA, and Chestnut Brown, plus a rotating selection of beers, many of which use seasonal produce like strawberries and persimmons. On weekends, each day features a different local food truck, so you can sustain yourself through your beer tasting.

This is a coffee shop, yes, but Grind is also a community space dedicated to supporting individuals and small businesses in the city. This Black-owned shop was recently voted one best in the state, and offers top-notch organic coffee and espresso drinks, with a handful of seasonal specials. Grab a pastry and enjoy the scene at a picnic table out front. Grind also offers a coworking and event space for locals, which has made it something of a community fixture.

Owners Dan Rattigan and Jael Skeffington have been making bean-to-bar chocolate for over 20 years, a journey that began in Costa Rica and has evolved in Asheville. Their shop downtown sells some of the best chocolates you’ll find anywhere: from sea salt caramel, to single-origin chocolate bars, to impossibly rich brownies. At their factory on Riverside Drive, you can take a tour of their impressive operation, where you’ll learn about cacao farming before learning about how cacao beans become chocolate bars and bon bons. The factory also offers curated tastings of bean to bar chocolate, and chocolate and wine.

Asheville might be a beer town, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find great wine. And at Leo’s, you can find great natural wine – like Croatian Chardonnay, Georgian orange wine, and Lebanese Cinsault – in a backyard garden that feels simply idyllic. The bar is a recent addition to West Asheville, a quieter, more neighborhoody area, away from downtown’s bustling business district. While you sip your Cinsault, you can snack on a rotating food menu, which emphasizes local produce and classic wine pairings in equal measure. Offerings reflect the seasons, like carrot soup with crispy leeks, black lime, and dirty rice threaded with ramps, alongside deviled eggs and roast chicken. On Fridays and Saturdays, Leo’s offers a prix fixe lunch for $29. And if you’re not into wine, never fear: the selection of ciders, craft beer, amari, and nonalcoholic drinks here is just as exciting as the wine list. 

Pisgah Brewing Company is one of the city’s longest-running craft breweries: founder Dave Quinn started the company in 2003, after spending years obsessively home-brewing his own beer. After winning awards for his Pale Ale, he started a small brewery in Black Mountain, which has since become a full-fledged taproom and venue. Now, you can enjoy Pisgah’s signature pale ale accompanied by delicious offerings from a local food truck, all while enjoying live music. From Thursday to Sunday, the Pisgah taproom is open and offers a rotating selection of beers, food trucks, and an impressive lineup of musical acts across two on-site venues. They even offer guest taps, which provide local cider and hard ginger beer for those seeking alternatives.