Sunny Point Cafe - Breakfast

The last post regarding Sunny Point Cafe was regarding dinner. This time we were there for a latish breakfast with my parents before they headed out. As mentioned before, you need to get here early on the weekend or do a really late lunch to avoid a big wait. Since we headed here during breakfast, on a Sunday, with a 2.5 year old, I was apprehensive. As luck would have it, we arrived and also were seated just before the big rush.

The breakfast offerings at Sunny Point Cafe are great and looking at the menu makes you plan when you can come back next for breakfast or that maybe we should make this a weekly or biweekly affair. So I forget what my mom had, I think an omelette. I forget what P had. I also forget what Bean Counter had, maybe french toast. However I do remember my dad had the short stack of Organic Orange Scented Gluten Free Cornmeal Hot Cakes: Surprisingly light hot cakes served with molasses butter and maple syrup. I had the Good Morning America America's Best Breakfast nominated Huevos Rancheros: Savory black bean cakes served with Snow Creek chorizo sausage, feta cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and herb tossed red skin spuds topped with two free range eggs any style, cilantro crema, and crispy tortilla strips with tofu chorizo.

Hot cakes: After breakfast my dad commented on how the hot cakes were pretty good, different. I initially took that as an aversion to something different from the typical conception of a hot cake. The next morning I tried the hot cakes that were left over. I can see where he would be somewhat averse if you were expecting a Bob Evan's hot cake. They had a subtle orange flavor, as is in the name, and were more "gritty," for lack of a better word, probably due to the cornmeal instead of bisquick or some other traditional batter. So while initially surprised by the taste and texture, I found them very good and would enjoy them for the next go around.

Huevos Rancheros: Wow. When I received my order I said something along the lines of: honey, we should have shared; or I'll be taking some of this home. Not so...ashamedly I ate the whole thing and resolved to have a small or nonexistant lunch. I can't imagine the damage this would do with the real chorizo sausage. As it is, this is a very unique and tasty rendition of the classic Huevos Rancheros. The black bean cakes were substantial by themselves, but with the eggs, tofu chorizo, tomatillo, cilantro crema, and spuds it was something else. It tasted so good. The kind of good where you are eating it, and before you know it you ate more than you are thinking you should or would, but you don't stop and it is gone.

Asheville Brewing Company - Downtown

The arrival of my dad for a day and a half meant more dining out. This time we actually went out since we do not yet have a table or chairs to eat on, and my dad wanted to see downtown Asheville - which I don't think he cared much for the crazy hippy, far left scene. I enjoy it for the local offerings and let the crazy crazies be themselves since I have not been forced into crazy poetry recitals or weird gigs where the band sings about how "We should let everyone do whatever they want and be who they want to be...except killing people. Killing people is wrong!" The fact that adding that disclaimer was necessary was the humorous part. I guess I was there for that.

So tonight we tried the second of three pizza places on my List so far, Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company in downtown. The Merrimon Ave. location has a theatre, whereas the Coxe location does not. As they brew their own beer (they are a brewery), I also wanted to try the beer on tap since the Asheville local craft beer scene is so good. The five of us ordered the Napoleon Dynamite Sticks ("Pizza shell with garlic butter & cheese, cut in strips and served with our homemade marinara sauce."), a pepperoni pizza with parmigiano dough (for P, Bean Counter and mom to share), and an onion, mushroom, tofu and provolone pizza with black peppercorn dough and red sauce. For the beer I chose their Shiva.

Napoleon Dynamite Sticks: Ordered for P's sake. With the butter and cheese I did not try much. They aren't sticking in my mind, so maybe there were just ok?

Pizza: I tried the crust on the parmigiano dough pizza - definitely a parmigiano cheese flavor which gave it a more buttery feel. I can see why P liked it so much. It was really good, but probably not something I would order on a pizza specifically for myself. The black peppercorn pizza I shared with Bean Counter. Its taste wasn't as pronounced as much as the Parimgiano dough until you got to the crust and dough by itself. The peppercorn gave it a very slightly different taste with, surprise, a black pepper hint. It was good in that it played a background note and didn't hammer the pepper home into your noise and throat. The other notable here was the tofu. Many places that offer tofu dishes do so as an after thought, a side note, and without much understanding of what to do with it. That usually results in a poorly used ingredient and without much imagination: "Throw the cubed tofu on there as is. That'll make the vegetarians happy." Asheville Brewing Company did a good ingredient in their tofu. It was marinated in something more than just a sauce to give tofu taste, and played good with the pizza.

Beer: The Shiva was good. But honestly I'll have to go back to try it again as P was nearing the end of being agreeable. I didn't get to focus much on it or really enjoy it. But it is supposed to be an American IPA - which I thought was supposed to be less of what an IPA is supposed to be in that it is way more hoppy. Told hold me to it, but I think it was not as hoppy as a typical American IPA. Instead it was more of a traditional IPA, more pale, and good citrus flavors.

Sunny Point Cafe

So the second place we hit on my List, as referenced in posting on 11 April, was Sunny Point Cafe. Bean Counter and I have been here before, but since this thing just started I thought I would include it. Again, since this was day two of moving in, we got take-out...again. Affecting our second day of eating out in a row was the fact that my mom was in town helping with the move. Therefore we were treated to more going out to eat.

Sunny Point Cafe is an Asheville favorite of mine. They do a good breakfast as well as everything else. I enjoy the vegetarian and vegan options that they have, but with a southernesque and comfort food twist. Of course, on the weekends you need to get here real early to beat the tourist and weekend rush. I forget what Bean Counter and my mom had to eat since I am backdating this, so I won't make it up or make an effort to remember what.

I ordered the Ol' Fashioned: "Garlicky garden greens, pinto and canalini beans simmered in veggie stock, spiced-right nice bamboo rice, and cornbread with molasses butter." I like collard greens and the vast amount of nutrition they have. They are versatile and taste good when prepared well. Sadly they are saddled with a poor name and people who say "what do I do with this?" or "what is this?" when it comes to cooking or eating them. I felt like something more healthy since this was a rest week on the bike and trying to cut back on eating and calories.

Greens: The greens were good, but they used too much oil to saute or cook them. So they turned out a little more oily than necessary. Since they are called "garlicky garden greens" I won't file a complaint regarding the garlic.

Beans: You really can't screw beans up in stock with rice. You can make them better than bland though. The spices on the rice were good and mixed with the beans it was nice. It had a great taste and somewhat reminded me of my grandma's beans and cornbread dish (in terms of comfort), but with more gourmet and less Virginia.

Cornbread: Speaking of the cornbread, the standout there is the molasses butter. Wow, that stuff is good. It has a very smooth texture and goes on thin. If this stuff was in my fridge I would be using it in the mornings for toast as a guilty pleasure instead of Nutella sometimes. I attempt to make myself forget that they sell the molasses butter in the restaurant for home - or at least I think they do. I don't know, I forget.

Mellow Mushroom

There are very few chain food places I like and will eat. It is not a railing against corporations, big money, or whatnot - I am a real capitalist afterall- but the vast majority of the time their food, while consistent, is consistently crap and uninspiring.

One of the few chains I enjoy is Mellow Mushroom. They have good ingredients, a nice variety of such, quality crust, it is not loaded with grease, and you get consistency when visiting the different ones. Food wise, there isn't anything overly unique about the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville. However, the interior is more inline with what a Mellow Mushroom should be - funky, more down to earth, and "hippy." In comparison the others I have been to in Columbus, Greensboro, and Burlington follow a hippy corporate theme. Corporate in that they are uniform and clean, and hippy only in the fact that they stick to the purple theme that conveys words like "purple haze," chill, and relax.

That is all null since I did take out this time. Since this was full day number one of the move-in the house was still a disaster and the focus was on putting things in their place. As a note, when picking the pizza up, and thus needing to park close to the pizzeria, parking proves a challenge since I don't feel walking the potential blocks and blocks with two pizzas and bread - as you may potentially have to do in downtown.

We had one pizza with pepperoni, for it is P's favorite ingredient. The other pizza was geared towards me in the form of onion and tempeh. I am drawn to tempeh whenever it is on the menu. It is one of my favorite proteins and I like the nutty, earthy taste it has, as well as the versatility of it. It really is not a hard ingredient to cook. However, one mellow mushroom that I have been to really screwed it up - I think Greensboro. That time, it was crumbled (it can be crumbled if you want though - normally it is cubed) and a greasy disaster, which ever has me peaked with curiosity as to what will come out. Not to worry as it was fine. The cheese quality is good and the crust is very nice and sweat. Also the garlic bread they have is better than normal. Most places load the bread with butter and a few bulbs of garlic, consequently I avoid the bread. Mellow Mushroom makes it less greasy and buttery, though I would prefer none, and leaves the taste and texture of the bread in tact by not loading it with butter and garlic.

In short, the pizza was good as normal. The only complaint I have about Mellow Mushroom is the nonability to have a thinner crust.

Moving to Asheville

This article in short: The purpose of this thing is whatever I want. And most of what I want is good food and cycling - all preferably with an Italian twist.

So we finally moved to Asheville. It is a place we have thought about trying to move to for a while. Unfortunately the place is kind of a BYOJ market (Bring Your Own Job), unless you want to be in the service industry. Thus, as professionals, Bean Counter and I were biding our time before something came along that would make the move and sacrifice (leaving our beautiful house, the pains of moving, the frustrations of selling) worth it.

Low and behold, just as we were getting ready to put an attempt at the move on the back burner, the Bean Counter received a call one afternoon when she was off work for holiday and we were spending a quiet afternoon alone. Through a bad mobile connection, Bean Counter had trouble hearing, and thus responding to, the person on the other end of the line - which is when she was met with a clear "Do you still want a job?" From that one phone call we went through 3 interviews, a fake dentist appointment complete with general anesthesia for myself (an excuse to ride Bean Counter of her former slavish employer for the day), to looking for a place to live in a week and a half.

The next month would prove challenging as the Bean Counter was away for work for a month, while P and I stayed in the Triad. It was all on me to put the time in on the bike, take care of P, and do some work while Bean Counter was gone the whole time - save the weekends. As suspected the whole process was difficult and stressful, yet the end results were known to be worth it - moving to a place we wanted to live, restaurants that actually present a suitable choice and meet our standards (two thai places and two worthy pizza places hardly present a choice), a food, coffee, and beer atmosphere that fit us (I created my own Google Maps to list and keep track of the food places, coffee shops and breweries to eventually try), and excellent riding.

So the purpose of this thing (Blog is too much of a buzzword and makes me roll my eyes when someone says "my blog" - as if it is actually worth reading. Good Lord, who the heck doesn't have a blog? And who the heck doesn't let it drift into oblivion?) is simple: Whatever I want. And most of what I want is good food and cycling - all preferably with an Italian twist. Well at least the cycling part. Very very very few "Italian" restaurants in the United States should be allowed to call their food Italian. Just because you throw a pasta in hot water for 20 minutes and drown it in creamy Alfredo sauce, does not make it Italian. Make the dang noodles real al dente, Italian food doesn't know what the hell "Alfredo sauce" is, and for God's sake, get a vino rosso della casa on the menu, for cheap, and that doesn't taste cheap. So I guess the food won't have much of an Italian twist. Whatever.