01/02/2026
A Big Thank you to Stu Helm: Food Fan Please feel free to stop by anytime.
You are not just customers, you are family. ❤️
Thank you, Asheville! 🐝🇹🇭🙏🏻🇺🇸👨🏻🍳
MY 2025 part 1 of 12...
JANUARY
We were just 3 months post-disaster, and still feeling it hard all over WNC.
Our good friends at Bear's Smokehouse BBQ had been hosting World Central Kitchen since the day after Helene and would continue to do so for a total of 7 months, helping to push over 4 million free meals out to the people of our area. Most of the other restaurants in and around WNC had also been a huge part of the rescue effort, and by January some of the lucky ones were open for regular business. The awesome folks at Chai Pani were still doing their much beloved post Helene buffet. The image of that iconic metal lunch tray will forever stick with some folks as a reminder of those times.
Biltmore Village and the RAD were still a wreck, as were so many of the small towns and communities in WNC. Our hearts were broken, and my friends and I were pretty much worried as f**k about our financial futures, both personal and regional. To make matters even sh*ttier, it seemed like those dumb f**ks in DC were thinking about delaying, or even yoinking, our dang recovery money! I wasn't doing very many food tours at the time, because tourism was still in the tank, and I was spending more money than I was earning. As always, I spent my money at local restaurants, partly because I wanted to support them, partly because I wanted to let as many folks as possible know who was open and what was available, and partly because I was just f**kin' tired and burnt out and stressed as f**k and just wanted to slather myself in my favorite comfort foods, smoke sh*tloads of w**d, curl up in a ball and sleep until the end of the time, or at least until the end of Trump. Ugh, I knew that 2025 was going to be a weird one, but I didn't want to dwell on the sh*tshow that our world had become, so I tried to narrow my focus on encouraging locals to come downtown, to enjoy our beautiful city while it was relatively devoid of tourists.
Other notes from January...
• I posted the 12th and final edition of my Stoobie Awards.
• The opening of Joey's Bagels on Merrimon Ave touched off the Great Bagel Wars of WNC.
• Hail Mary took over the Tastee Diner and Paddy & I enjoyed a couple of great burgers at the opening.
• Dawn & I took our annual trip to Sault Ste Marie in the UP of Michigan, where we ate pasties & whitefish.
• I ordered the Crab Fried Rice at Bee Thai Kitchen for the first time and it became a go-to comfort dish for me throughout the rest of the year.
• Enjoyed great food all over town, including Zambra, Botiwalla, Mëhfil and Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville.
