Asheville Restaurants

At first sight I liked rustic interior of this restaurant with renovated horse stalls. It's located in the Stable area next to Biltmore House. I thought that if it was a horse stable, it had been fit for a king. It's open 11.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m.

As we were not hungry we first decided not to eat there but to continue our Biltmore adventures. However after an hour or more in the Gardens we decided to give it try and plan what to do next as unexpectadly all my camera batteries were out :-( and we would have to come back to our car. Luckily I had already taken a few pictures of the restaurant before. Surprisingly there were almost no costomers when we finally came. We were seated below semicircular window in a booth which once was a horse stall.

Reading menu we figured out that it's rather expensive reaturant as for us and as in fact we were not hungry we decided to order one portion to share. They stated in the menu that many food products they serve come from Biltmore's farms and gardens. Urszula was joking that they have to use horse meat. Well, our young waiter (a local college student) was prompt, helpful and nice over the average. Thanks boy. He probably still laughs at this horse meat idea of Urszula. I had to explain that we do NOT eat horse meat in Poland :-). Well, there are Polish horse sausages available in some upclass specialty groceries but they are not popular.

Thanks to help of our waiter we ordered what was called Stable Café Sampler Platter. It consists of:
- pulled pork barbeque
- bourbon barbeque ribs
- rotisserie chicken.
The portion was quite large as usual in the USA (except of very fancy restaurants) although not the biggest one I saw. For two not very hungry people it was almost enough though.

Originally it was served with coleslaw but as I am not fan of neither mayonnaise nor vinegar I asked to skip them. So we had custom made salad with mysterious and delicious sauce (mainly lemon juice and olive or other vegetable oil I think).

Add what they called Long Branch potatoes. I had to ask what was that. As I undertood well these potatoe thick strips are made like French fries but before they are soaked in cold salted (+ with some other addings, herbs?) water for about an hour, then dried and fred as for potato chips. They were soft and tender, not brown.

The food was HEAVEN! The best was pulled pork barbeque. As the waiter explained it was classic western North Carolina meal, slow-cooked and finished with bourbon barbeque sauce which consists of (among others) onion, garlic and bourbon. You must try it! Oak-smoked pork spareribs glazed with delicious sauce (what was that?) tasted fantastic, too. Chicken was over average as well but not my favourite. I liked our salad but didn't like Long Branch potatoes. Well, they were not that bad but I'd prefer them to be a bit warmer and less salty.

The only inconenience of this restaurant was our bill. We paid almost $30 (with a 20% tip and 7% tax) for a single meal, beer and soft drinks. I just think now that it was good value for great food and service.

Asheville Hotels

Asheville Restaurants

Visiting Asheville?

Visiting Asheville?

Asheville Hotels