Uncle Tupelo Honey Café

So we’re spending the weekend in Asheville, and we are one great meal and one great show into the weekend. We arrived Friday evening at the Days Inn West (nothing special, a bed, breakfast, etc.). A real highlight was the Tupelo Honey Café in downtown Asheville. We started the meal with an appetizer of pickled onion rings with a jalapeño aioli. This was a dish more quickly inhaled than eaten. We plowed through these unusually sweet snacks just before our entrees arrived. J ordered an omelet with ham, cheddar, and tomatoes. The order came with home fries made with rosemary. I had the tomato soup and grilled cheese made-to-order with cheddar and gorgonzola cheeses. The sandwich made a delicious melty, creamy bite when dipped into the soup. For dessert, two biscuits topped with blackberry jam and/or tupelo honey from Texas. The honey was delicious, and the biscuits were fantastic, buttery, dense, and soft. Service at the restaurant was quick but not overly friendly. The value at Tupelo Honey is unmatched. We had two entrees and an appetizer for $24, and the meal featured local, organic, and natural ingredients.

After our meal we headed to the Orange Peel to J’s 8th Guster show and my 6th. We enjoy seeing shows there because the crowd is usually really good and the venue is smoke-free. Guster was awesome. We heard a lot of old favorites. What was interesting about this show was seeing the band take new shapes. What used to be 3 guys, 2 guitars, and one huge set of drums has turned into a full on rock band that has up to 6 people on stage at one time or another and utilizes keyboards, trumpet (though just a touch), and cow bell. While Brian has definitly toned down his "Thundergod" ways of the past, he's becoming a very solid kit drummer and Ryan sings maybe better than he ever has. It's really neat to hear them finally growing into the sound they've been shooting for. They've increased some audience interaction with influences from touring with the Barenaked Ladies. At one point Ryan made up a song on the fly while the band joined in with an improvised beat, and at the end of the show the band rotated to different instruments while Brian stepped out and sang the theme from "Cheers."

Pictures and more to come.