DEAR STU: If you had a hot date…

Fennel and Potato au Gratin from All Souls

“Riddle me this, Stu Helm.”

I recently got a text from a friend asking me where she might go out on a “hot date” with a guy from out of town. She gave me some parameters, and I gave her one answer. Below please find most of our text conversation. I have omitted some details to protect the innocent.

L – So – riddle me this, Stu Helm.. If you had a hot date visiting from [out of town] Fri night. Who doesn’t know Avl well. And you wanted farm to table, southern style, heavy on the Veges.. doesn’t need to be posh… Rhubarb, Sov Rem and???

SH – All souls

L – Hm… Never woulda come up with that. I fear this one is not a pizza dude but excellent option for the next one

SH – Forget about the pizza! Everything else on their menu kicks ass. I told em to get the word pizza off their sign! :) seriously though, I think it’s the most authentic farm to table in town.

L – Thank you. I have only been to all souls once – totally up for it.

SH – I had some kind of au gratin root veg thingy at All Souls recently that was to die for.

L – Yum. Ok.. Lemme see if I can work that locale into some dark romantic wandering. Thank you!

All Souls Pizza fits all the parameters that “L” set out for me, but like so many people, she was unable to get past the word “pizza” in their name. I want to make sure that everyone knows that All Souls is NOT just pizza, and in fact it has some of the best farm-to-table food in town that’s anything but pizza. I gave them my restaurant of the year award for 2015, and the last time I ate there, it was phenomenal as always. If you haven’t been because you’re not a pizza person, put that aside and go check out their seasonal menus.

If you have questions for me, about where to eat, or what to eat, just PM me through my FaceBook page!

— END —

Stu Helm is an artist, writer, and podcaster living in Asheville, NC, and a frequent diner at local restaurants, cafes, food trucks, and the like. His tastes run from hot dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese, to haute cuisine, and his opinions are based on a lifetime of eating out. He began writing about food strictly to amuse his friends on Facebook.