Asheville NC - A GFCF Haven Part I

I had been looking forward to this trip for a year, ever since it was announced that the annual Forest Service Air Program meeting was going to be held in Asheville, NC. This was sort of a homecoming trip for me – I graduated (twice!) from the University of South Carolina, and lived in the Midlands and Upstate of South Carolina for the better part of 15 years. I still have many friends in the area, including two of my closest that I visited on this trip for far too short a time.

Traveling while trying to maintain a GFCF lifestyle is a real challenge, and one I presented myself with on this trip. Fortunately, not only was Asheville as beautiful as I remembered it, but it also turned out to be an extremely friendly GFCF city as well.

If you have never been, Asheville is the largest city in Western NC, and is the gateway to the North Carolina mountain experience. The Blue Ridge Parkway passes right through Asheville, and Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, is a short drive away (the picture at left is the view from atop Mt. Mitchell). From Asheville, you are less than 2 hours from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee Reservation, a great white water experience down the Nantahala or Chattooga rivers, numerous trails (including the Appalachian Trail), great fishing, three national forests, fantastic artisans…you get the idea. Asheville is also home to the largest privately held estate in North America, Biltmore House (more on that in Part II).

Our meeting was in downtown Asheville, with plenty of eateries within a short walk of the hotel. The first thing I learned is that many restaurants are incredibly accommodating to those with dietary needs, especially those who are gluten free. They either offer gluten free substitutions (for a nominal extra fee), or, they will work with you if you can’t seem to find something on the menu that meets your dietary needs. I want to highlight some of the restaurants I visited – the food they served was fantastic and I would encourage you to patronize them when you are in Asheville.

Nine Mile (www.ninemileasheville.com) While all the restaurants were good, this one was probably my favorite. Nine Mile is located in the historic Montford neighborhood just outside of downtown, which gives it a real local feel. The majority of their dishes are pasta bowls, but here’s what’s great: for an extra $1.50, you can substitute quinoa pasta for the regular pasta to make any meal GF. Going CF is easy too, as they offer marinara sauce if you cannot have a cream-based sauce. The portions are large and the prices are reasonable. I had what they call Island in the Sea: shrimp, crab, and clams served with yellow squash and zucchini over quinoa pasta with marinara sauce. It was delicious. They also offer GF beer as well, though that is a bit pricey.

Rosetta’s Kitchen (www.rosettaskitchen.com - when the new sit is up and running) The folks at Nine Mile also recommended Rosetta’s Kitchen to me (now you know why along with the food they were my favorite). Rosetta’s Kitchen is located on the edge of downtown, only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Rosetta’s Kitchen is what I would call a vegetarian and vegan sandwich shop, featuring soups, salads, and sandwiches. Like Nine Mile, it’s easy to make any meal GF – for $0.50, you can substitute GF millet and flax seed bread for any sandwich bread. I had a grilled portabella mushroom melt on the GF bread, which I made CF by passing on the melt and making it truly vegan. Served with homemade corn chips, it was outstanding, and reasonably priced. You can also get GF beer here, but since it was lunch, I could not partake.

Salsas Salsas is a Mexican/Caribbean restaurant in the heart of downtown Asheville. I had lunch there twice, and while they do not specifically offer GF substitutions, they do have menu items that are gluten free, and are willing to work around whatever food sensitivity you have. I actually ate here twice, choosing Caribbean pork and jerk chicken platters which came with rice and were cheeseless, so CF as well. For those only worried about gluten, they have a number of dishes made with soft and hard corn tortillas. They also have numerous salsas to choose from, and the chips are homemade. Once again, the portions were huge, and the food was delicious, and the price was reasonable (hmm…maybe a pattern here…).

The Green Sage (www.thegreensage.net) The Green Sage is in the heart of downtown, and it is a coffee house and cafe the features fair trade coffee and local, organically grown ingredients. You can order breakfast all day as well soups. salads, and sandwiches. Their online takeout menu lists several options that either area gluten free or can easily be made gluten free. While I did not eat at The Green Sage on my trip, several of my colleagues who did really enjoyed their food.

The Laughing Seed (www.laughingseed.com) The Laughing Seed is another place recommended by the folks at Nine Mile that's located in the heart of downtown Asheville. They offer a variety of vegetarian and vegan options for both lunch and dinner. I did not get an opportunity to eat there, nor did any of my colleagues, so I cannot vouch for the food. Looking at their online menus, however, there are a number of salad and entree options that are either gluten free or offer a gluten free option. And, as much of the menu is vegan, they are casein free as well.

These are just some of the local options you have when dining in Asheville. I have to admit, during my week there, I did not have a bad meal. Not even close.

I would like to once again thank the folks at Nine Mile who were gracious enough to provide recommendations for local GF cuisine.

And now, a word about Twitter... It's amazing how 140 characters can be so helpful, but one reason I knew about these places was because of the contacts I have made via Twitter. You can follow both the Nine Mile restaurant (@ninemile) and Rosetta's Kitchen (@rosettaskitchen) on Twitter. You can also search the hashmark #gfree for lots of gluten free tweets from gluten free tweeters! And you can follow me as well (@tcdzomba).

In part II I will talk about my experiences at the Biltmore Estate, as well as eating in hotels and airports. So please stay tuned!