STU HELM’S 2022 FOOD FAN AWARDS CATEGORIES & NOMINEES

Y’awwwll, these are the TENTH annual Food Fan / Stoobie Awards! Wow. That’s a lotta food. I started writing about the local Asheville food scene in 2013, initially just for my friends on Facebook, but soon after for Jason Sandford’s Ashvegas.com, where my audience and reputation grew. These days I have 13,000+ social media followers, (I had 14,000+ until I deleted my Twitter account), as well as a podcast/radio show, and lead tours for Asheville Food Tours several days a week. Basically, the past ten years have been a heck of a fun & food-filled ride for me, and I feel very fortunate to be in the position that I am: Asheville’s Biggest Food Fan!

In 2022 I ate food at or from 149 different restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, food carts, caterers, ghost kitchens, market places, and food makers of all sorts. All but 12 were local. (I travelled to Michigan & Florida, where I ate several great meals at several indie venues.) None of the places I ate at are nationally owned corporate chains, although I did buy candy & soda from two locally owned national franchises. I ate at multiple restaurants multiple times, and two places in particular I dined at over a dozen times each. I guess you could call those my two favorites. I also used KickbackAVL a locally owned food delivery service an average of once a month. Oh, and, when I say “food,” that includes coffee.

THE BIG LIST: 12 Bones BBQ, 1898 Waverly Inn (Hendersonville), The 2nd Act (Hendersonville), 67 Biltmore Ave Downtown Eatery & Catering, 9 Mile, All Souls Pizza, Abeja’s House Cafe, Amazing Pizza Co, Andale Way, Arabella (Hendersonville), Asheville Beauty Academy, Asheville Pizza & Brewing, Asheville Pizza South, Austins Coffee (Winter Park, FL), Ay Caramba!, Baba Nahm, BeeBow Bakes, Benne on Eagle, Bear’s BBQ, Bigfoot Longs, Buttermilk Bakery (Winter Park, FL), Black Bear Coffee Co. (Hendersonville), Black Bear Pizza, The Blackbird, Bomba, Botanist & Barrel, Buxton Chicken Palace, S&W, Buxton Hall Barbecue, Burgerworx, Chai Pani, Chop Shop Butchery Food Truck, Chow Chow Culinary Festival – Opening Party / Corn Brunch / Food Stories, Chestnut, Cottage Cooking, Cousins’ Cuban Cafe, CREAMWORKS Food Trailer, Cultivated Cocktails, Cultura, Chocolate Fetish, Dandelion (Hendersonville), Deli Llama Food Truck, Del Vecchio’s, Dilbar Indian Streetfood, Doc Brown’s BBQ, Dogwood Cottage Baking, The Dripolator (Black Mountain), Eastern Market (Detroit), Farmdog, Feta Flav Food Truck, Foothills Local Meats (Black Mountain), Franny’s Farmacy, Funkatorium, French Broad Chocolates, Gemelli’s, Good AF Food Truck, Grata Pizza, Ginger’s Revenge South Slope Lounge, Green Man Eats Ghost Kitchen, Griff’s Kitchen & Bar, Harvest Pizza (closed), Holeman & Finch, Homegrown, The Hop, Huli Sue’s Hawaiian BBQ, Isa’s French Bistro, Island Pan, Ivey & the Poet, Jetty Rae’s Oyster House, Kilwin’s, La Bodega, La Rumba, Legally Addictive, Little Bee Thai, Little Chango, Little Pearl, The Madness Burgers & Sushi, The Med, Manicomio Pizza, Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates, Matzo Man, McFarlan Bake Shop (Hendersonville, NC), Mean Pies, Mëhfil Indian Restaurant, Metropolitan Bar and Kitchen (Detroit, MI), Mikasa, Modesto, Monahan’s Seafood (Ann Arbor, MI), Morsel Cookie Co., Mother Bakery, Mother Ocean Market, Murasaki Sushi, Nani’s Rotisserie Chicken (closed), Neng Jr’s, The Old Jailhouse (Sanford, FL), The Original Papa NIck’s, Palate Coffee Roasters (Sanford, FL), Pasta & Prana Food Truck / Frozen Pasta, Perspective Cafe @ Asheville Art Museum, The Parkview (Winter Park, FL), PennyCup Coffee Co., Pizza Daddy, Poppy’s Popcorn, Pop’s Diner (Hendersonville), Post 25 Kitchen & Lounge, Postero (Hendersonville), Pupuseria Paty, Red Ginger Dim Sum, Rocket Fizz, Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack, The Rhu, Rhubarb, Rosetta’s Kitchen & The Buchi Bar, Rye Knot, Sabora Food Truck, Salsa’s, Sawhorse, Session Cafe, Shin Jung Korean Restaurant (Winter Park, FL), Smoky Park Supper Club, Sparky’s Bardega, Sourwood Inn, Sovereign Remedies, Spicewalla, Star Diner (Black Mountain), Stay Glazed Doughnuts, Storm Rhum Bar & Bistro, Strada Italiano, Summit Coffee Asheville, Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea (Ann Arbor, MI), Tastee Diner, Tall John’s, Thai Pearl, The Times Bar, Tin Can Pizzeria, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, Typhoon Noodle, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, Umi Japanese Fine Dining (Hendersonville, NC), The Vault, Vivian, Waku Waku Japanese Eatery, Well Bred Bakery, White Duck Taco, Woolworth Walk, The Worthy Baker, Wright & Company (Detroit, MI), Zella’s Deli

Now, for real, none of the food that I had from the places listed above was bad, or I wouldn’t have posted about it in the first place. As a matter pf policy, I don’t give any attention to food & experiences I don’t enjoy. So everything above was good, at the very least, some was great, some was outstanding, and like, everyone else, I have favorites! The Stoobie Awards represent those favorites. I’ll do the nominees first, they are not listed in order of preference, then I’ll announce the winners next week. I’m going to jump right in with my favorite categories first, and then do ’em all. The winners will be announced soon!

Important: The Asheville Food fan Awards are based entirely on the opinions & experiences of one person, me, Stu Helm. Readers may or may not agree with my choices, as their experiences and personal tastes may differ from my own.

SMASH BURGER OF THE YEAR: I broke my traditional “Burger of the Year” category into two different genres: Smash Burgers and Big Burgers, because they are so different from each other, and I look for different things from them. Smash Burgers should be simple. Thin patties, American cheese, one or more of the following: onion, pickle, mustard, mayo, thinly sliced tomatoes, minimal iceberg lettuce on a soft white bun. Not much more should be done to a proper smash burger. So, it’s all about the meat and the way it’s cooked. Here are the best Smash Burgers I ate all year, one of which will get my 2022 Smash Burger of the Year award. The nominees are…

1. Foothills Local Meats – Classic Li’l Cheeseburger
2. Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville – Smash Burger
3. Storm Rhum Bar & Bistro – Elk Burger Big Mac
4. Chop Shop Burger Truck – OG Burger & Plain Burger w/ cheese
5. The Med – Smash Burger

BIG BURGER OF THE YEAR: Big Burgers can be anything they wanna be, but at the very least, they should be be BIG. Just one big fat patty, with any ol’ kind of cheese & veg on it, chef’s choice of toppings & bun, with extra room to get wild & weird. Crazy & creative, or super-olde-school, as long as it’s delicious, I’m down. Here are my nominees for Big Burger of the Year, 2022…

1. Sabora Food Truck – The Carolina Burger w/ Pork Belly
2. Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville – JC Burger
3. Chop Shop Food Truck – Winged Cheddar Burger
4. Cream Works Food Trailer – Big Daddy Burger

SANDWICH OF THE YEAR: I tend to eat a lot of sandwiches, which some chefs in town know about, so they invite me to eat sandwiches, which I make posts about, so more sandwiches show up in my social media feed, and people share memes about sandwiches with me, and sometimes I think I need a “Sandwich Life” sticker on my bike. True story: I lived in a town called Sandwich for about 2 years. Their police cars are actually featured in memes about sandwiches. Anyhoo, here are the nominees for 2022 Sandwich of the Year…

1. Isa’s French Bistro – Croissant Madam
2. The Rhu – Turkey & Kale
3. Storm Rhum Bar / Stay Glazed Doughnuts – All Sandwiches (I tried twelve!)
4. Tastee Diner – Fried Chicken Salad Sandwich
5. Buxton Hall Barbecue – Catfish Sandwich
6. Session Cafe – Egg Salad Sandwich
7. Dilbar – Chicken Frankie
8. Tastee Diner – Fried Bolgna Sandwich
9. Chai Pani – Crispy Masala Fish Roll

PIZZA OF THE YEAR: Someone asked recently if I would be doing the WNC Pizza Fight in 2023, and the answer is, sadly, no. Too much work and worry! I am, however, bringing the Pizza of the Year award back for the first time since 2018! I had some out-frickin-standing pizza in 2022. Here are my top four nominees for the 2022 Pizza of the Year award…

1. Manicomio Pizza & Food – Sicilian Pizza w/ pepperoni
2. Asheville Pizza South – Umami Bomb / Pizza of the Month
3. All Souls PIzza – Honey
4. WNC PIzza Fight – Event (16 Pies)

HOT DOG OF THE YEAR: Love me some dogs. And I ate a lot of them in 2022. Some were plain, some were fancy. Here’s a list of the best hot dogs I ate in 2022, which are the nominees for Hot Dog of the Year…

1. Mamacita’s Food Truck @ Olde London Road – Mexican Street Corn Hot Dog
2. Woolworth Walk – Basic Dog w/ mustard
3. Bigfoot Longs – Squatch Dog
4. Chop Shop Burger Truck – Carolina Style Dog

TACO OF THE YEAR: Looking through my pictures form 2022, I came to several conclusions about my eating habits including one that stand out every year: I need to eat more tacos! The truth is, I make and eat a lot of tacos at home — so easy — but I don’t eat them out as often as I should! This year, I did a little better that usual, so have a pretty good sized list, of really great tacos! These are my nominees for 2022 Taco of the Year!

1. Andale Way – Birria Taco
2. White Duck – Pork Belly Taco
3. Mamacita’s Food Truck at Olde London Road – Birria Taco
4. El Charolais (Johnson City TN) – Carne Asada
5. La Rumba – Street Tacos

DEEP FRIED THING OF THE YEAR: This is another one of my fave categories, and there are usually a lot of contenders! Maybe not as many as the “Sweet Treats” category, but almost! And that is exactly why my Doctor looks concerned when we talk about my diet. LOL Anyhoo, here’s the short list of my most favorite deep fried things of 2022, my nominees for Deep Fried Thing of the Year…

1. Homegrown – Fish & Chips
2. Jettie Rae’s Oyster House – Cod Fritters
3. Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse – Chicken Karaage
4. Mother Ocean Market – Grit Cake
5. Buxton Hall Barbecue – Hushpuppies
6. Little Bee Thai – Volcano Chicken
7. Bear’s BBQ – Fried Cheese Curds w/ Gravy
8. La Rumba – Chile Relleno
9. The Med – French Fries

BREAKFAST / BRUNCH ITEM OF THE YEAR: I ate a little more breakfast and brunch than usual in 2022, and even though that’s a great way for me to get as round as I am tall in no time, I have zero regrets! Below is a list of the most outstanding and craveable things I ate early, they are my nominees for 2022 Breakfast / Brunch Item of the Year…

1. Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse – Breakfast Ramen
2. Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse – Scallion Potato Pancake
3. Gemelli – Tuscan Eggs
4. Sawhorse – Mushroom Toast
5. Sawhorse – Full Irish Breakfast
6. Sourwood Inn – Breakfast Buffet
7. Zella’s Deli – Egg Sandwich on Kaiser Roll w/ Cheese & Bacon
8. Table – Mushroom Toast
8. Stay Glazed Donuts – Egg Sandwich on a Biscuit w/ Cheese & Bacon

LUNCH OF THE YEAR: I eat a lotta lunch. Lahhhhtta lotta lunches go in my belly. Below are my favorite lunches from last year, which are my 2022 Lunch of the Year nominees.

1. Bomba – Voodoo Chicken et al.
2. Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville – Burgers & Fried Chicken Sandwich or Tenders
3. Bear’s BBQ – Vegan Meatloaf Sandwich, Wings, Ribs, etc.
4. Little Chango – Mounted Arepas
5. Buxton hall Barbecue – Sandwiches & Sides
6. Mëhfil – Lunch Buffet

ENTRÉE OF THE YEAR: In a world obsessed with tapas for the whole table & sharing small plates among friends, sometimes I just want a dang entrée, all for myself. Nomesayin’? A main course, with sides, all on one large plate, designed to go well together, and filling AF, with the potential to take some home for later. Here’s a list of my faves entrées throughout 2022, the nominees for Entrée of the Year…

1. Abeja’s House Cafe – NOLA Chicken & Shrimp
2. Chef Paty Saens – Momma’s Honduran Chicken
3. Benne on Eagle – Catfish & Broken Rice
4. Thai Pearl – Drunken Noodle
5. Cottage Cooking – Salmon en Papillote on Brussels Sprout Hash
6. Postero (Hendersonville) – Crispy Pan Seared Trout on Cauliflower & Ginger Carrot Purée
7. Storm Rhum Bar & Bistro – Grilled Rib Eye
8. La Rumba – Carne de Puerco en Adoba

SIDE DISH OF THE YEAR: Hey, Man, side dishes deserve respect. They can absolutely make the difference between a meh meal and a great eating experience! I’ve never given an award for a side dish before, but I had some this year that were more than outstanding. Here are my nominees for Side Dish of the Year, 2022…

1. Neng Jr’s – Autumn Fruit
2. Buxton Hall Barbecue – Corn Pudding
3. Modesto – Dolmas
4. Smoky Park Supper Club – Squash Bisque
5. Postero (Hendersonville) – Deconstructed Mexican Style Street Corn

SALAD OF THE YEAR: I don’t eat a ton of salads, but I made a small effort to eat more of them in 2022, and found out that I enjoyed most of them quite a bit! Here’s a short list of my favorites, which are the 2022 Nominees for Salad of the Year…

1. Buxton Hall BBQ – Buxton Salad
2. Vivian – Salade de Saison
3. Huli Sue’s Hawaiian BBQ – Blackened Fish Taco Salad
4. Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack – Chef’s Salad
5. Dandelion (Hendersonville) – Summer Shrimp Salad
6. Postero (Hendersonville) – Peach Caprese Salad

BAKED THING OF THE YEAR: This category does not include sweet baked goods that might strictly be considered dessert, which would be featured above, but does include breakfast & snack goods, like muffins, biscuits, and pastries, and anything else that might be considered to fall under the general description of “baked goods,” whether they are sweet or savory. I hope you can agree that a chocolate truffle does not belong in the same category as a blueberry scone. That in mind, here are my nominees for Baked Thing of the Year, 2022…

1. Mother – Olive Focaccia
2. The Rhu – Any muffin
3. Dogwood Cottage Baking – Morning Bun
4. McFarlan Baked Goods (Hendersonville) – Assorted
5. Buttermilk Bakery (Winter Park, FL) – Housemade Pop Tart

MEAL OF THE YEAR: Meals… we eat a LOT of them. Not just me, but you too! Meals, meals, meals… sometimes it feels like the conveyor belt of food never stops, and life itself is just a series of meals to get us to the next meal. I don’t know about you… but I frickin’ LOVE that! Of all the meals I ate all year, there were those that were my faves, for many reasons, mostly the food & the amount of fun & enjoyment I had while eating it! These are my nominees for 2022 Meal of the Year…

1. Neng Jr’s – Date Night
2. Turntable Series w/ Farmer Sunil – Ticketed Dinner
3. Benne on Eagle – Dinner w/ Friends
4. Vivian – Date Night
5. Griff’s Kitchen & Bar
6. Storm Rhu Bar – Birthday Dinner
7. Jettie Rae’s Oyster Bar – Spontaneous Dinner
8. Postero (Hendersonville) – Date Night
9. Wright & Company (Detroit, MI) – Dinner w/ Friends
10. Rye Knot – Delivery via KickbackAVL.com
11. Smoky Park Supper Club – Thanksgiving Dinner at Home
12. Sourwood Inn – Anniversary Dinner
13. Tall John’s – Soft Opening

SWEET TREAT OF THE YEAR: If you know anything about people who used to drink, they like sugar. LOL That’s just a fact. I always liked sweets, but I had some damn self control before I quit drankin’, but now that I put down the bottle, I live more dangerously than ever! Here are the top sugar bombs I ate all year, the nominees for my 2022 Sweet Treat of the Year award. It was hard to narrow it down…

1. The Worthy Baker – Red Velvet Whoopie pie
2. La Bodega by Cúrate – Xiuxio & Bollo de Crema
3. French Broad Chocolate Lounge – Quintessential Chocolate Cake & Carrot Cake
4. Little Pearl – Creme Brulee
5. The Hop – Yule Log
6. Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates – Truffles
7. Morsel Cookie Company – Birthday Cake Cookie
8. Vivian – Meringue
9. Ivy & The Poet – Black & White Cookie
10. Well Bred bakery – Petite Eclair
11. Cousins Cuban Cafe (Black Mountain) – Various Cookies

HOT SAUCE: One thing I’ve learned in 10 years of blogging about food, is that people make hot sauces. Lotta lotta hot sauces. Sometimes it seems like most people make hot sauces. And they give to ya! People be handing me hot sauces that they made on a regular basis. It’s a good thing I like hot sauces! Here’s my nominees in a brand new category, you guess it: Hot Sauce of the Year…

1. 9 Mile – Red-i
2. Deli Llammma – Llammma Spit
3. Surly Sauce – Smoky Green Habenero
4. Better Thymes – Green Apple
5. Firewalker – Runnin’ w/ The Reaper
6. O’Yeah! – Hot Sauce
7. Ghost Dog – Cayenne Garlic

FOOD MAKER OF THE YEAR: Anything from pickles to pork rinds might come under this category from year to year. This year, I split hot sauces off into their own category, so here are the nominees for 2022 Food Maker of the Year…

1. Adam Anson – The Matzo Man
2. Pasta & Prana – Hemp Pasta
3. The Well-Seasoned Table – Gingerbread Sugar et al
4. Legally Addictive – Gingerbread Graham Cracker Cookies

N/A BEVERAGE MAKER OF THE YEAR: I quit drankin’ alcohol many years ago, and it was one of the best things I ever did. If you’re struggling with booze, I know you can conquer it, because I did, and I suck at doing hard things! Get some support, and stay strong, it’s life changing! Anyhoo, since I don’t drink I can’t review all the wonderful looking beer, wine, cider and cocktails we have in this city, but we also have some stellar NA beverage makers, so here are my nominees for NA Beverage Maker of the Year 2022, and yes, I included the three cafes that I frequented most often last year. Maybe next year I’ll bring back some coffee categories.

1. Ginger’s Revenge – N/A Flight
2. Devil’s Foot – Canned Sodas
3. Cultura – NA Cocktails
4. Cultivated Cocktails – NA Cocktails
5. Summit Coffee – Cappuccino
6. Times Bar Cafe – Cappuccino
7. PennyCup Coffee – Cappuccino

FOOD EVENT OF THE YEAR: I didn’t attend a whole ton of events in 2022, and I only co-produced one. The events I did attend were all really fun, so I’m nominating them all for a Food Event of the Year award. Don’t worry, I’m not about to hand myself an award (Sorry, Shay!), but that was a really fun event!

1. Chow Chow – Corn Brunch
2. Chow Chow – Food Stories Dinner
3. Cultura – Cultivated Community Dinner Series
4. Shay Brown & Stu Helm – 2022 WNC Pizza Fight
5. Tall John’s – Soft Opening
6. Outdated Video Box – Grand Opening

FOOD TRUCK OF THE YEAR: Love me some food truck food. They ain’t always easy for me to find and get to , so I haven’t tried as many as I would like to, but I did try some really outstanding stuff. Here’s a list of my fave food trucks that I visited in 2022, they are my nominees for my Food Truck of the Year award…

1. Sabora
2. Cream Works
3. Good AF
4. Pasta & Prana
5. Deli Llammma
6. Feta Flav

BEST MUSIC: Music is important. If there’s music playing, in any situation, it’s part of the experience, and can even make or break it. I’m old. I’ve heard the hits of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s 80’s and 90’s until I wanna stab my ears out, so when I’m out at a restaurant, I personally like to hear music that I’ve never heard before, or have only heard on a limited basis. Top 40 songs from the mid to late 1900’s are just insanely boring to me, and can take me right out of my experience. Save The Eagles for your next road trip, Yo. Sometimes, the best music is the music you don’t notice at all, but of the music that I did notice in 2022, these are my nominees for Best Music 2022. Also, I generally avoid live music while dining, so, although Session does have live music sometimes, none of my nominees below include live music.

1. Session Cafe – Eclectic / Pan-Genre / Obscurities & B-sides
2. Trade & Lore Cafe – Eclectic / Contemporary
3. Mehfil / Dilbar – Classical Indian on one side / Bollywood on the other
4. Izzy’s Coffee Den – Underground / Cutting Edge
5. Buxton Hall BBQ – Vintage R&R, R&B, and Soul, incl. B-sides

BEST DECOR: When assessing my “over-all experience” at any eating establishment, I basically ask myself, “how did my various senses enjoy what just happened to me?” Taste: Was the food yummers? Smell: Were the aromas good, bad or neutral? Touch: Was it clean, or sticky? Hearing: See Music category above. Sight: How’d the food look? How’d the room look? To me, in this instance, the word decor means art, furniture, room design, walls, ceilings, lighting, colors, and doo-dads if there are any. Here are a few places that I noticed how outstanding the decor is, and they are my nominees in this brand new category of Best Decor, 2023.

1. Tall John’s – Homey & Contemporary
2. Mehfil / Dilbar – Beautiful & Comforting (Mehfil) / Fun & Exciting (Dilbar)
3. Neng Jr’s – Tiny but Awesome
4. Session Cafe – Cavernous, Bright, Eclectic
5. The New Tastee Diner – Salon Style Old School Punk
6. Postero (Hendersonville) – Restored Vintage Interior with Modern Elements
7. Andale Way – Classic Mexican Restaurant with “That’s so Asheville” Touches

NEW RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR: New Restaurants are pretty much what I live for. It might take me a while, sometimes over a year, to get to a new place, and it’s really hard to keep up with all the new places that are constantly popping up. Because of this, when I say “new” it might mean that a place opened its doors within the last two years. Even then, I can’t begin to get to them all, but below is a list of my favorite new places of 2022, my nominees for New Restaurant of the Year…

1. Neng Jr’s
2. Island Pan
3. Tall John’s
4. Mehfil / Dilbar
5. La Rumba
6. Andale Way

F & B PERSON / PEOPLE OF THE YEAR: This category is for those super awesome and important people who are not cooking, or making food, but are just as much a part of the Food & Beverage Scene as anyone in the kitchen. My 2022 nominees for Food Person or People of the Year are…

1. Reynaldo Macario – Owner / La Rumba Latin Restaurant
2. Vince Charbenau – Manager / Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville
3. Co-Founders – Asheville Food & Beverage United

CHEF OF THE YEAR: This is one of the hardest Categories for me, just because I know so many great chefs, it’s really tough to narrow it down to one. Also, there are so many chefs that I don’t know, that I’m sure are awesome, but y’know, they’re in the back of the house a lot, so I don’t get to meet them. Amoung those I do know, I try to look at who had a particularly great year, or perhaps a very hard year, that they overcame. Maybe they got accolades and awards from other folks, maybe they expanded, reinvented themselves, or just had a stellar year financially. And of course, the one that made the food I loved the most! All that being said, here are my nominees for 2022 Chef of The Year…

1. Chef Silver Cousler – Neng Jr’s
2. Chef Katie Button – Heirloom Hospitality
3. Chef Meherwan Irani – Chain Pani Group
4. Chef Tom LaFauci – Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville
5. Chef Steven Goff – Tastee Diner

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR: How does a restaurant get to be nominated for Restaurant of the Year? Lot’s of ways. They might be a restaurant that I go to often, never have a bad experience at, and always leaves me craving more. It could be a restaurant that had a particularly fantastic year, in terms of sales, staffing, awards other than Stoobies, and success by any measure. It could be a restaurant that toughed it out, through thick and thin, took some hits, but came back swinging, and stayed gold the whole time. Of course, the food, service, decor, cleanliness, and personal value that I find in the entire experience of being there. Also, I always place a spoon under my chair, and if the server fails to notice it and pick it up, that venue will NEVER be nominated for a Stoobia Award! Just kidding. That’s Michelin. According to legend. Anyhoo, here’s the list of nominees for my 2022 Restaurant of the Year award…

1. Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville
2. Blue Dream Curry House
3. Chai Pani
4. La Bodega by Cúrate
5. La Rumba
6. Tastee Diner

Aaand that’s it for the nominees. Everyone mentioned above did an outstanding job in 2022, and you’re all awesome in my book! Now I’ll leave you all in suspense for a little bit – heh heh – before I announce the winners…