Great Find: Bar-B-Que: Luella's Asheville, NC

(a continuation from my Asheville post)

Luella's Bar-B-Que came up in one of the online articles I found during an initial search for good eats in Asheville. It caught my attention, not because of its locally sourced FtT concept (Product of Buncombe Co.), but because they use the same pig drawing in their logo that I use for the LotH tweets. So after reading through the menu it instantly made it on the list. But it was the only BBQ on the must-see list. The bellman at the Inn hadn't even heard of it when we asked. Should we worry? Naw.

Great Find: Cities: Bar-B-Que & Beer in Asheville, NC

So when the news finally settled in that injuries sustained in my recent motorcycle accident (read more here) would prevent me from just about any flight, let alone a three-legged one from Atlanta to Chicago to Madrid to Barcelona, a second plan for a honeymoon, a back-up if you will, had to be made. Rebecca thought that plan should include a whole lot of nothing in case I was still somewhat immobile. And what does her mind translate that meaning? Sitting around on the veranda reading while sipping cocktails. And who am I to argue with that? As a child she had visited Asheville, NC to see the Biltmore Estate and found online that the Inn on Biltmore Estate had a large veranda with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had seen History Channel shows on the place and it intrigued me quite a bit, so why not? I was more interested though by the fact that I had heard of some great BBQ and eating down in Asheville. The BBQ part was almost a given in the Carolinas, but my uncle had recently sent me an article about the ten most surprising food cities as rated by a magazine, that included his beloved Pueblo, CO. Also on the the list was Wichita, KS (Rebecca's one-time home) and Asheville, NC, touted as a leader in the farm-to-table movement and also a city big on beer (recently named BeerCity USA). So sign me up!

Great Find: GastroBrewery: Revolution Brewing Chicago

Every once in a while, when out running errands, I'll remember that there are a lot of places in Chicago that I have been wanting to check out. And on rare occasion, I might actually be in the area of one of those places when I think about it. This was the case a couple weeks before my motorcycle accident when I found myself near the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago. I wasn't real sure what the menu was like, but regardless, I was in the mood for a good mid-day beer on my Sunday (Monday). So I made a slight detour to the fairly recently opened and well received Revolution Brewing Company.

The menu turned out to be a decent mixture of fun pub-grub and some more traditional things like burgers and sandwiches. A couple entrees and pizzas round this out. But two things grabbed my attention rather quickly and nothing else swayed me away from them. I love a good beer-cheese soup. Rebecca and I have spent lots of time trying to find one, any, in Chicago and have never suceeded. So to see one with a home-made brew and local cheese, it took NO effort on my bartendresses part to get things rolling. And let me tell you, it is great. I am not a fan of sour cream or lots of thyme, but my first bite (slurp) led to me eventually wanting to lick the bowl clean!

Great Find: GastroPub: Old Town Social Chicago

Recently I hit the legal age to run for the position of Commander in Chief. But instead of beginning a campaign for 2012, I went out to celebrate with Rebecca and our good friends Art and Chelsea (of Pleasant House fame). Old Town Social in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago has been on my list of places to check out for some time. I recently mentioned them in my Chicago Charcuterie posts here and here.  I had enjoyed some of their charcuterie at some local festivals, but had never been into the place.

As some of our favorite friends with whom to dine, these two were down with ordering a bunch of share-able items. It's actually pretty easy at OTS, because the menu is quite geared for sharing. We opted for the cheese platter, the charcuterie platter and the accoutrement platter. One thing I would have liked to be a bit different with these would have been the ability to select the items on the platters. Many places offer the choice to build your own when it comes to platters, but OTS has all three of their platters pre-selected. This isn't horrible, especially when one can be indecisive (like me), but tonight, I was in the mood to select!