A VISIT TO THE SWANNANOA CARBS DISTRICT

You like pretzels? Big soft warm fluffy doughy pretzels? I sure AF do! And I like small businesses too, so when Asheville’s own Blunt Pretzels contacted Paddy and invited Asheville Food Tours to come pay them a visit, we gladly piled into the Paddy-Wagon for a short trip to Beacon Village in Swannanoa…

There we found the cutest little cluster of businesses, including Blunt Pretzels, Roots & Branches cracker company, and another shop called Ovenbird Kitchen. Sarah immediately dubbed it “The Carbs District.” She’s the clever one in our group. Paddy and I are just there to look pretty.

We stopped into all three shops, starting with Blunt where we were greeted with big smiles and even bigger pretzels! We started with one giant pretzel and three pretzel knots, served with the beer cheese, pimento cheese, and Lusty Monk mustard. Both the beer and pim cheeses contain goat cheese, which gives them a unique, earthy tone, and of course Lusty Monk is powerfully strong, a personal fave, and a WNC standard. We were off to a great start!

Next they brought us 3 pretzel sandos: A take on a Reuben, and an Italian, and one with pimento cheese with arugula. All 3 were great, and I especially enjoyed the Italian, which was very flavorful and meaty! I will admit that I don’t always love sandwiches on hard breads, like bagels or pretzel buns, but these sandwiches were made with big, flat-ish pretzels that were cooked into nice soft spiral shapes, not big hard buns, which made them a lot easier to eat, so, we ate until we were stuffed!

The pretzels were perfect, the flavors were bangin’, the staff was super nice, the outdoor seating area was cute and comfortable, and the whole thing totally worth the trip!

After our pretzelly adventure, I bought some crackers and a cookie and a muffin at the other two places, all great.

So, I highly recommend popping by the Carbs District of Swannanoa, and paying a visit to all of the nice baker folks there, and supporting Swannanoa!

PS – Thanks, to all the local food fans on Facebook for mentioning Short Sleeves Coffee! I’m not sure how we managed to miss it, but now we have one more great reason to return for more carbs!

MAP

The Swannanoa Cabs District is a little bit tucked away, but it’s not too hard to find!

UNFUN FOOD FACT: In Germany, there is a thing called a “Pretzel Swastika,” Short story: Swastikas are illegal in Germany, so when the Mel Brooks movie & play The Producers premiered in that country, the advertisements used a black silhouette of a pretzel in the middle of a white circle on a red rectangle, instead of the nazi flag. It was intended as satire, as well as a legal end-around, but has since become a very muddled and complicated symbol on its own in Germany. SOURCES: 1. 2. 3.

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