A Fork in the Road: Books and Breadboard (Asheville, NC)

I practically grew up most holidays in North Carolina, in both Asheville and Raleigh, where my parents are from.  Every couple years, our family travels to Asheville for a family reunion.  Asheville just used to be a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains best known as home of the legendary Biltmore House (www.biltmore.com), but has grown in popularity particularly due to University of North Carolina having a campus there.  It is vastly different from how I remember it growing up.  We only visited the Biltmore House during Christmas time and dined at Grove Park Inn; but now it must cater to the diverse crowd the college brings, which means restaurants, entertainment venues, antiquing, outdoor adventures and much more.

The food in Asheville is incredible!  It really perfects the art of Southern cuisine and can hold its own in the ethnic food category as well.  The town has its staples of Tupelo Honey, Corner Kitchen, Early Girl Eatery as lunch spots and the new Books and Breadboard in Biltmore Village.  It is quaintly located inside a bookstore with an open kitchen as well as a patio area with everything made-to-order in front of you.

Chapter 3 - Turkey on pumpernickel with fresh sage and cranraisin mayo, swiss cheese and lettuce.  Every since I was little, I've eaten turkey with jelly.  Sounds icky, but they used to serve fresh turkey sandwiches with sprouts, lettuce and jelly on wheat toast at our athletic club.  It was healthy and gave kids the sweetness they wanted.  This was WAY better!  Fresh turkey, sweet mayo with the rye taste of bread.  Great combo! 

Chapter 4 - Roast Beef on herb foccacia with bleu cheese aioli, roma tomato and arugula.  Heavy, but another perfect sandwich.  Each ingredient played well with the roast beef.  I absolutely loved the Terra chips and homemade slaw of carrots, yellow squash and zucchini.  It made for beautiful and fun colors!

Chapter 13 - Arugula salad with mixed greens, sprouts, julienne veggies, and tomatoes with meats and egg.  This was a fresh salad, but I'm always down on julienned vegetables and drizzled balsamic.  The vinaigrette rocked. 

http://www.booksandbreadboard.com/files/Download/B&BmenuInside%20with%20breakfast.pdf