Stu Helm: Food Fan

Episode 200: The Last Podcast

THE LAST PODCAST This is the very last episode of the Food Fans Radio Show & Podcast and was originally recorded on 07/06/2025 with my usual co-host Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville [https://www.twistedlaurel.com/downtown-asheville/]… ..and on 07/04/2025 my original co-host Chef Joe Scully of Chestnut and Corner Kitchen… 00:00 - 00:45 THEME SONG: Cheesewagon by The Derita Sisters [https://www.discogs.com/artist/429549-Derita-Sisters]00:46 - 06:11 INTRO: Let’s Banter! (w/ Shout-Out To Secret Agent 23 Skidoo [https://secretagent23skidoo.com/])06:12 - 11:51 FAMILY REUNION: Doing it Right at The Wrong Way [https://www.wrongwaycampground.com/], featuring New Stock Pantry [https://new-stock.square.site/], Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ [https://bearsbbq.com/asheville], Asheville Food Tours [http://www.ashevillefoodtours.com] & Hole Doughnuts [https://www.hole-doughnuts.com/]11:52 - 13:23 THE PADDY RIELS DIET: Eat Meat, Work Out Like A Maniac13:24 - 24:07 WHERE’D YA EAT? Birdie’s [https://birdiespizza.com/], Pollen [https://www.pollenavl.com/], Back Porch Bakery [https://m.facebook.com/backporchbaking/about/], Garden Party, Walnut Family Bakery, Mother [https://www.motheravl.com/], White Duck Taco [https://whiteducktacoshop.com/], Wildwood Still [https://www.wildwoodstill.com/], Table [https://tableasheville.com/] & How An 18 Year Old Kid Learned That He Could Love Steak Tartare24:08 - 24:47 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank [http://www.mannafoodbank.org/]24:48 - 47:35 INTERVIEW: Catching Up With Chef Joe Scully From Chestnut [https://www.chestnutasheville.com/] And Corner Kitchen [https://thecornerkitchen.com/]47:36 - 52:35 SAUCE TALK: Make Sauce, Make Friends, Find Love52:36 - 56:29 LONG GOODBYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners56:30 - 58:03 PLEASE SUPPORT WPVM 103.7fm [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU]! THE NEWSLETTER The Newsletter will continue even after the Podcast ends. Please enjoy! WHERE TO GO WHEN You Want To Throw A Party By The River… If you need an awesome and very "Asheville" venue to host a party at, I want to strongly suggest Wrong Way River Lodge & Cabins [https://www.wrongwaycampground.com/] located down on Amboy Road, along the French Broad River. The space is very nice, with a large porch and patio, a beautiful view of and easy access to the river walk, as well as a room for tables, chairs, food and dancing, and a small warming-up-and-keeping-cold kitchenette. Dawn & I celebrated our 20th anniversary there together with friends and fam from out of town, some of whom stayed in the cabins and reported to us that they are very nice inside. Wrong Way allows outside food, so we had our party catered by our friends at New Stock Pantry [https://new-stock.square.site/], who laid out an amazing charcuterie board, as well as some other snacks for our guests. The owner of Wrong Way, Shelton, was a pleasure to work with and we had a very nice experience all around! High recommends for both Wrong Way & New Stock! WERE TO GO WHEN WHEN you want to party with a preroll & some pie… Dawn & I recently drove to Garden Party [https://www.shopgardenparty.com/] on Haywood Road, where there was a pop-up featuring Chef Camille Cogswell's Walnut Family Bakery [https://www.walnutfamilybakery.com/]. We bought some super delicious pie, and I got a sweet little preroll to smoke at home. Garden Party is a really fun shop, and I love what they're doing there, including their support for, and printed materials about, Equity Initiatives. To learn more, you can visit their website [http://www.shopgardenparty.com]. It seems like Garden Party hosts fun food & art pop-ups regularly, so I recommend following them on social media [https://www.instagram.com/gardenpartyavl/] to see what they’ve got going on next! WHERE TO GO WHEN you want deep, comforting, flavorful and very satisfying Mexican and Latin fare right in the middle of downtown… I've been bringing my Asheville Food Tours into Mountain Madre Asheville [https://mountainmadreavl.com/] lately, as well as grabbing lunch there with the other tour guides. The tour guests will often name the empanadas as their favorite bite of the tour, and the guides love them too! Chef Alejandra really knows how to pack a lot of flavor into an empanada and she switches-up the flavors regularly. They also come with a creme sauce that is to die for. The last time I went for lunch, we also shared the enchiladas. Delicious! And very filling. There's lots of seating, including a lovely patio, the service is fast and friendly, and the bar specializes in tequila and mescal drinks, for which they are quite well known. Recommended. ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: Did you know that you can book a private tour of downtown Asheville with me for as few as 2 and as many as… oh, let’s say 100… people? True stories, Yo. If you want more info, please contact me at stuhelmavl@gmail.com [http://stuhelmavl@gmail.com/] and I’ll get right back to ya! Come experience a day in Asheville the way that I do: Through food! Stu Helm: Food Fan is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Stu Helm: Food Fan at stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe [https://stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 199: The Penultimate Show!

THE PODCAST The podcast above was originally recorded on 07/28/2025 with my usual co-host Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville [https://www.twistedlaurel.com/downtown-asheville/]… 00:00 - 05:24 INTRO: Climate Change & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy05:25 - 10:44: ANNOUNCEMENT: Putting A Cap On This Baby10:45 - 11:25 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank [http://www.mannafoodbank.org/]11:26 - 32:37 FOODIE GAMES: How Many, Name That Sandwich & Lightening Round32:38 - 33:30 MOWABC SPOT: Please Donate & Volunteer for MEALS ON WHEELS [https://www.mowabc.org/]33:31 - 40:10 WEMO CONCLUSIONS: The Price Of Eggs Will Go Up & Down & Birds Are Gonna Die By The Millions40:11 - 45:55 WHAT A WORLD: Ice Cream Sandwich Recall & Ozzy Burrito45:56 - 50:39 CELEBRITY CULTURE: Dinner With Bourdain50:40 - 52:08 BIG WIENERS & GOOD VIBES: Bear’s Throws A Party52:09 - 54:14 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU]!54:15 - 55:48 WPVM SPOT Please Donate to WPVM RADIO ASHEVILLE [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU] THE NEWSLETTER SANDWICHES! If you want to have a classic deli counter sandwich experience in downtown Asheville, head on over to The Asheville Forager [https://www.ashevilleforager.com/] grocery store and deli on Wall Street! I went recently with my fellow tour guides from Asheville Food Tours just to check it out, and we ended up getting a TON of food in the form of a full-sized Italian grinder (it was literally as long as my forearm!), a 1/2-sized "Bunkum" (it was still huge) and their enormous Pastrami Rueben. These sandwiches were AWESOME! The Italian took me straight back in time, to my teens and twenties living, working, and attending college in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a very authentic representation of the kind of food offered by the delis and restaurants that I grew up with in New England. The Rueben was outstanding. Epic in proportions, perfect in execution and overflowing with meat and flavor! I was too full to try Sarah's Bunkum grinder, but it looked and sounded just as good as the other two, and she crushed it. The atmosphere is lovely, the setting is clean and bright with fun decorative details, and the grocery store is filling up with excellent local, regional, national and international food options for us! Super high recommends for these sandwiches, and for the whole experience. Thanks, Asheville Forager! You're a very welcome addition to downtown! NEIGHBORHOOD JAM: We did one of our favorite things last week, and visited our neighborhood pizza place, All Souls Pizza [https://www.allsoulspizza.com/] on Clingman Ave in the River Arts District, where we got our three standard go-to items: The Honey pizza, with pepperoni, tomato sauce, peperoncini, mozzarella, and local honey, along with the large Bibb Lettuce Salad with radishes and herb vinaigrette, and two soft-serve cones! We do this exact same routine at least once a month and it brings us a lot of joy and comfort! We love the food and the staff and owners of All Souls. Chef Brendan and his crew are making some of the best food in town, and have been for many years! And, yes, my soft-serve was dangerously droopy, but I attacked it with all the speed and precision I could muster, and got it taken care of without losing a drop! 🙂 FANCY BURGERS: Yes, no big surprise, we returned to Mother [https://www.motheravl.com/] on the South Slope for dinner, where we enjoyed another outstanding meal. We shared the house bread, a panzanella salad, and one if their insanely delicious and very popular lamb burgers. We were seated at the bar, and I must have seen a dozen burgers come out of the kitchen that night! Word is out about this restaurant, and this burger. It's big and juicy and savory and just melts in your mouth. They dress it with whipped feta, harissa aioli, pickled fennel and local greens. It's in my top five favorite burgers right now, and in my top two "fancy burgers," along with Table. Spendy, yes, but worth the splurge every once in a while in my opinion, and the opinion of a dozen other people that night at least! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ EATING SKULLS: If you're like me, and you think that eating chocolate skulls is always appropriate, The Chocolate Fetish [https://www.chocolatefetish.com/], located on Haywood Street in Downtown Asheville has their Halloween stuff out already! But if you’re thinking, “Well it’s not even September yet!” You’re right, they’ve got a big jump on Halloween, and if that upsets you, please ignore the fact that they also have their chocolate turkeys out for Thanksgiving already! Here’s how I feel: I like shapes. I like chocolate, and I’ll eat turkey-shaped piece of chocolate any time of year! NEW FAVE RIBS: We got some insanely delicious char sui ribs from Wildwood Still [https://www.wildwoodstill.com/] https://www.wildwoodstill.com/on a food tour recently. So flavorful and cooked to come right off the bone. Chef Austin and his crew are kicking out some of my favorite jams in Asheville these days, and these ribs are now my new faves. This is the tour-sized portion. A regular order has four ribs. I recommend both the restaurant *and* coming on a tour with me or Sarah and Asheville Food Tours [http://www.ashevillefoodtours.com]! — end — Get full access to Stu Helm: Food Fan at stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe [https://stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 198: Latin Fare, Birthday Season & Saucy Hawgs

THE PODCAST The podcast above was originally recorded on 07/26/2025… 00:00 - 02:04 INTRO: Stu Flying Solo, Mostly02:05 - 05:45 CORRECTIONS: No Theme Song And Latin Fare at Tienda El Quetzal [https://order.toasttab.com/online/tienda-el-quetzal-inc-150b-weaverville-road]05:46 - 18:55 WHERE’D YA EAT PART 1: The Rhu [https://the-rhu.com/], Old Europe [https://www.oldeuropepastries.com/], Mamacitas [https://www.mamacitastaqueria.com/], Wadadli Desserts [https://www.instagram.com/wadadlidessertoasis/?hl=en], Cúrate [https://curatetapasbar.com/], Miyako House [http://www.miyakoasheville.com], Mother [https://www.motheravl.com/] & Dram [https://www.dramapothecary.com/] 18:56 - 26:30 THE PIZZA GUY! Beer City Pizza [https://www.instagram.com/beercitypizzaavl/]’s Saucy Hawg is Back!26:31 - 34:26 WHERE’D YA EAT PART 2: Birthday Boogaloo The Market Place [https://marketplace-restaurant.com/] and Happy Belly Food Truck [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Happy-Belly-Food-Truck-Company-61563862696016/]34:27 - 35:07 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank [http://www.mannafoodbank.org/]35:08 - 46:46 LUNCH WITH LUCHO: An Asheville Multicultural [https://www.ashevillemulticultural.com/] Road Trip To Ay Caramba! Mexican Grill [https://www.aycarambaavl.com/] [sorry about the chainsaws]46:47 - 49:13 OUTRO: Chainsaws & Big Wieners 49:14 - 52:37 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU]! THE NEWSLETTER Asheville’s food scene is amazing, and like the universe, it is ever-expanding, which is awesome, but creates a dilemma for locals and visitors alike: Where to eat? With so many choices it can be overwhelming! Here are some recommendations… THE MARKET PLACE: Where to eat when you want a special experience.My wife and I were both born in July, and we celebrated with a wonderful meal at one of the best restaurants in the whole dang country, The Market Place, where every bite, from the local meats and cheese board to the Pavlova for dessert! The meat & cheese board was huge, and at first we were, like, "let's take half home," but nope! We pretty much crushed it. It was too good not to! Next we got the tuna crudo with a very mild and delicious aji amarillo sauce, plus plums, purple potato chips, benne seeds, coriander, and olive oil. Super fantastically yummy! I could have eaten 10 more plates of it. For our entree, we got the pork coppa steak, aka slow roasted cheshire farm pork with Mexican-style street corn, coriander crema, blistered shishitos & spicy tomato relish. It was great, especially the street corn & crema, which I could eat by the bucketful. We were stuffed by the end of the entree, but what could a little ol' pavlova hurt? Oooftah! It was huge, but light & airy, and the cold sharp fruit sorbet contrasted perfectly with the super-sweet & crunchy meringue. It was the best pavlova I've ever had & I'll probably have a pavlova-ian response whenever I think about from now on! Ha! Sorry. Anyhoo, this meal was excellent all around, including food, drinks, service & atmosphere! It's a large and very lovely space with a lot of diverse seating. Thanks, Chef Dissen and crew! Y'all are doing great things and we appreciate you! ❤ HAPPY BELLY FOOD TRUCK: Where to eat when you want to treat yourself to an awesome decadent smash burger!One Sunday morning in July I received a text from my friend Dave, who owns The Happy Belly Food Truck Company inviting me to come grab a free burger for my birthday. I was very very excited by that invitation and quickly beat it on down to the Hi-Wire Brewing RAD Beer Garden on Lyman Street, where I found the truck, ordered the deluxe slap burger, and enjoyed it to the absolute max!!! The only word for Dave's burgers is "gah." It's a five-gah burger. Huge, messy, cooked perfectly & absolutely packed with flavor! The deluxe has dressed LTO, American cheese & happy belly sauce. I added caramelized onions, aaand totally CRUSHED it. I stuffed the entire thing into my tiny body, commenting to Dawn the whole time. "Good lord, that's a tasty burger." "Fuuuuhhhhck me." And of course, "Gah." If you like big, messy, decadent, indulgent & super duper delicious smash burgers, I highly recommend this one! Thanks, Dave, you're the best, Mang! ❤️❤️❤️ AY CARAMBA! Where to eat when you want to real Mexican food.Y'all, I did something super fun that I haven't done in a while: I went on an Asheville Multicultural tasting with my good friend Lucho! We drove out see Chef Enrique at Ay Caramba Mexican Grill in Leicester, where we sampled a bunch of delicious Mexican & Meximerican foods! Chef Enrique Pérez (L) is from Jalisco, Mexico and is a graduate of the Centro Integral De Gastronomía in La Piedad, Michoacán. To say that I feel very lucky to be able to eat this chef's food way up here in Asheville, WNC would an understatement! It’s always a pleasure to see him, and this time I had the extreme honor of meeting Don Federico (R), who is the patriarch of what might be Asheville's biggest family-owned restaurant dynasty. Of course the food was amazing, as always from this Chef! The highlight of the tasting was definitely the whole fish with shrimp and octopus, or "mojarra con mariscos y salsa cucaracha" which was smothered in a deep red spicy sauce. It was truly spectacular! The octopus was cooked perfectly and was very tender, and likewise, the shrimps were also cooked just right, as was the fish itself, which was white, and chunky/flakey. Everything was offset by the sliced avocado and other fresh crispy vegetables and rice. It had a "wow-factor" for sure, and is a superstar dish in my opinion. Lucho and I both enjoyed the very authentic Mexican style street tacos (above), and I also really loved a dish that I was told is not a Mexican thing, but is on the menu, because "Americans like a lot of melted cheese!" 😂😂😂 It was bubbling when it came out and was essentially a piping hot cauldron of cheese and crumbled up house made chorizo with a little bit of salsa fresca on top. I called it a "deconstructed Mexican cheeseburger," and Lucho did not disagree. Chef said he thought I might like it, and I felt seen. So, folks, whether you want sone of THE most authentic Mexican food in Asheville, or some more Americanized fare, Ay Caramba and Chef Enrique have you covered. Super nice and friendly people, really great food! Thanks, Chef, Don and Lucho for another fun and filling Multicultural adventure! 🙏❤️🌮 ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: Experience Asheville the way that I do: THROUGH FOOD! Sign up for a food tour with me, and I’ll feed ya some real good stuff. — end — Get full access to Stu Helm: Food Fan at stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe [https://stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 197: The 3rd Condiment Mystery

THE PODCAST The podcast above was originally recorded on 07/07/2025 with my usual co-host Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville… 00:00 - 09:20 INTRO: Sneaky Busy Thursday, 4th of July Friday & Bananas Saturday09:21 - 11:10 EMPATHY FOR TEXAS: And Our Friends Here in North Carolina12:11 - 22:01 ROAD TRIP: Marshall Is Open!22:02 - 24:00 OTTO INTERRUPTION: Coco Update24:01 - 24:53 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank [http://www.mannafoodbank.org/]24:54 - 39:04 DUNNING KRUGER REPORT: 3rd Condiment Mystery Solved!39:05 - 52:15 WHERE’D YA EAT: Stone Bowl [http://stonebowlasheville.com/], Recess Coffee, Hell or High Water, Dairy King, Tienda El Quetzal, La Tropical, All Souls Pizza [https://www.allsoulspizza.com/menu], Lingle Bros Hot Dogs [https://www.linglebrothers.com/], DayTrip [https://www.facebook.com/p/DayTrip-61566525922526/], Asheville Forager [https://www.ashevilleforager.com/], Lobster Trap [https://thelobstertrap.biz/], Mother Bakery [https://www.motheravl.com/] & Mountain Madre [https://mountainmadreavl.com/]52:16 - 54:51 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm!54:52 - 56:25 WPVM SPOT Please Donate to WPVM RADIO ASHEVILLE [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU] THE NEWSLETTER I ❤️ MARSHALL, NC - Y'all, we paid a visit to little ol' Marshall, NC not long ago, and tried to spread the love to as many places as we could while we were there. We popped into a cool little shop called On Your Bike [https://www.facebook.com/On.Your.Bike.NC/], where we got some very delicious pastries to bring home. We can't wait to go back to try more! Marshall is so cute and charming, and is making its come back for sure. If you can get out there, please try On Your Bike! While there, we also stopped into MAL'S bar [https://www.malsbarmarshall.com/] because we heard they serve hot dogs, and we had heard right! Even though I don't drink anymore, a good old fashioned hot dog-serving dive bar still feels like home to me, and Mal's sure did fit that bill! Just swap my beer for a root beer, and I'm allll good. This hot dog was also all good! A Nathan's Famous, heated up on rollers, and served on a basic trashy white bun. I added sriracha mayo from the condiment basket and it was perfection! Thanks, Mal's! And folks, please be sure to pay a visit to Mal's bar the next time you're in Marshall, grab a dog, and a beer of some kind, and maybe even sign up for one of their arm wrestling competitions! 💪 We visited as many little shops and restaurants in Marshall as we could squeeze in, including Zuma Coffee [https://www.zumascoffee.com/], where we stopped for cortados, a tiny key lime pie, and a cookie, all delicious! We also went to Zadie’s [https://www.zadiesmarket.com/], where Dawn had a drink and we shared a refreshing dish of chickpea and cauliflower salad. On the way out of town we stopped into Madison Natural Foods [https://www.facebook.com/madisonnaturalfoods/] to grab a few groceries to bring back to Asheville. This trip to Marshall was too short, and we didn't get to do all the things, eat all the food, or go to all the places we wanted to, so we can't wait to go back for an overnight stay at Old Marshall Jail Hotel [https://oldmarshalljail.com/] so that we can spend more time enjoying this little gem of a town. Please visit Downtown Marshall, NC if you can, and show them some love. ❤️❤️❤️ LATIN LUNCH: Thank you to The Line Cook Perspective [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-line-cook-perspective-61550930116622/] for posting about La Tropical [https://latropicalicecream.com/] ice cream, "A little piece of Mexico in Asheville," on Weaverville Road. We were out that way for some other reason and recognized this place from Facebook, so we stopped in and wow! It's a wonderland of frozen treats from the simple to the extreme! You have to check out their social media and web site to get the full effect of the ice creamy insanity. I opted for one of their all natural strawberries & cream popsicles and loved it. It took me back to my days of living in Chicago, where the popsicle vendors would ride their bikes through my neighborhood, and we'd wave them down for coconut, pineapple, mango, cinnamon, and horchata flavored popsicles. Good times. Super high recommends for La Tropical! Tons of choices, bright, fun colorful atmosphere, and very nice people! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ When my mom heard about La Tropical Ice Cream on Weaverville Road she wanted to go, so we just kind of randomly picked Tienda El Quetzal [https://order.toasttab.com/online/tienda-el-quetzal-inc-150b-weaverville-road], to have lunch at first, because it's right across the street from the ice cream shop. Wow! We were so impressed with our food, and with the whole experience! We were greeted warmly by the folks at the counter, who answered our questions and recommended the daily special of "guisado de res," or beef stew, and these two New Englanders are always down for beef stew! We claimed one of the 4 or 5 tables, and browsed the Latin goods and groceries in the very cute convenient store while we waited for our food. My mom got a tamarind soda pop for us to share, and when the food arrived, we sat back down. The stew was delicious! It had large chunks of tender beef that were cooked perfectly and pulled right apart with just a fork, no knife needed. The sauce was flavorful, and savory, though very mild in terms of the heat. It was not much different than my Canadian grandmother's beef stew, and both my mom and I loved it! Super high recommends for Tienda El Quetzal! I'm looking forward to going back, trying more of the menu, and picking up some Latin groceries to bring home. BLACK MOUNTAIN - Dawn and I took a little drive out to the Town of Black Mountain not long ago, and before anything else, we stopped into a new cafe / bakery called Recess Coffee [https://www.recesscoffeenc.com/], where we got coffee, a cookie, and a very unique and delicious little miniature quiche. It had a wonderful, buttery, layered crust, and was very hearty and satisfying! Recommend. After our brief stop for breakfast at Recess, we went to Catawba Falls in Old Fort for a walk up the trail and back, and then we returned to the Town of Black Mountain and paid a visit to the new Hell or High Water [https://foothillslocalmeats.com/hell-or-high-water] Restaurant, which is part of the Foothills Local Meats complex, where we heard that one of our favorite people, Chef Eric Morris is the executive chef! We didn't see Chef Eric, but we enjoyed a few dishes from his menu! We stared with the Stone Fruit Salad w/ romaine, tarragon, almonds, ricotta and of course stone fruit. It was cool, crunchy, tasty and refreshing after a hot day of walking. We also got the Low Country Mussels which were just as described, with new potatoes, corn, and bay seasoning, along with the mussels in a very nice broth and a side of bread. We rounded out our visit with an order of the Tortellini with ricotta and sausage, tomato, and anise hyssop, again in a very nice broth. I admit that I don't know what some of those ingredients are, but it was great! I wanted to up-end the bowl and pour the broth directly into my mouth when the torts were gone! Everything was delish and we left feeling full and happy, although there's always room for Dairy King on the way out of Black Mountain, so we stopped in and a classic poop-emoji swirl of chocolate soft serve on a cake-cone. Yay! This is one of my favorite towns in WNC, and if I could live there, I probably would! It just keeps getting cooler. ❤️❤️❤️ ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: Experience Asheville the way that I do: THROUGH FOOD! Sign up for a food tour with me, and I’ll feed ya some real good stuff. — end — Get full access to Stu Helm: Food Fan at stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe [https://stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 196: Doers and Dreamers

THE PODCAST The podcast above was originally recorded on 06/30/2025 with Debbie Sprouse & Vance Goodman from Meals on Wheels, Chef Mike Reppert from Blackbird Restaurant, and Greg Garrison (not pictured) from The Hop Ice Cream… 00:00 - 00:42 INTRO: Solo Intro00:43 - 29:34 INTERVIEW: Debbie & Vance From Meals On Wheels ABC [https://www.mowabc.org/donate]29:35 - 31:18 WPVM SPOT Please Donate to WPVM RADIO ASHEVILLE [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU]31:19 - 42:23 DREAM DISHES: Chef Mike Reppert From Black Bird’s Corn Pie Prt 242:24 - 54:21 INTERVIEW: Greg Garrison From The hop Ice Cream Talks Collabs54:22 - 56:11 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm [https://donate.stripe.com/7sI5lpdZc8aO7mMeUU]!56:12 - 56:53 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank [http://www.mannafoodbank.org/] THE NEWSLETTER DOERS: Please donate to Meals on Wheels of Asheville & Buncombe Co., Inc. if you are able! They do great things for our area and they are needed now more than ever! ❤ “Our kitchen isn’t just where the food is made; it’s where compassion, community, and care come together. Our culinary team starts their mornings early, chopping, stirring, baking, and seasoning with love. Whether it's comfort food classics or seasonal favorites, they turn ingredients into impact. We're grateful to serve alongside these incredible people, who show up every day with aprons on and hearts wide open. 💛” DREAMERS PRT 1: I’ve talked about this dream dish twice on the radio show, even though I’ve only ever had it on Food Tours. The picture below shows a tour-sized bite, the actual dish is much larger, but large or small, this dish is a dream come true. And I mean that literally. Chef Mike Reppert from Blackbird Restaurant had a dream one night about a very abstract, five-foot tall vegetarian dish, and when he woke up, he started working on it! It took hime four days, but he perfected it, and I mean that it is perfect! One the menu, it’s called Goat Cheese Corn Pie, and while it’s not five feet tall, it is a dream to eat! It’s essentially a very savory, comforting, and delicious stack of roasted corn, goat cheese, Swiss chard, and mushrooms atop a very satisfyingly umami-ish pecan crust, with spinach cream and tomato white wine sauce. It has a “gah factor” of 10 out of 10, and I can recommend it highly enough. DREAMERS PRT 2: One day, Paddy and I went to the SWAsheville food court downtown [https://swmarketavl.com/], where I ordered some chicken tenders from Buxton Chicken Palace [https://www.buxtonchickenpalace.com/], and a single scoop of salted caramel ice cream from The Hop Ice Cream [https://hopicecreamnc.com/] with a waffle cone on the side, and finally lived a dream that I've had for years! How was it? FRICKIN' GREAT! I can't wait to do it again. For this delicious treat you will need the following: 1 order of chicken tenders from Buxton Chicken Palace. 1 scoop of salted caramel ice cream and 1 waffle cone from The Hop Ice Cream To assemble, place three chicken tenders into the waffle cone, fill the rest of the way with ice cream, and top with another tender or two. Tuck in and enjoy! I lived this dream and so can you, only at the SWAsheville food hall in downtown Asheville. I can't wait to do it again soon! 😍😍😍 PIZZA OF THE MONTH CLUB! He hasn't officially announced it yet, but Chef Drew Peterson from Asheville Pizza South (soon to be Beer City Pizza) is going to turn his Pizza of the Month into a Pizza of the Month CLUB, and since I've only missed one month in two years, I feel like I'm already an honorary member! I'll let him explain the Pizza of the Month Club himself when he's ready, but in the meantime, this month's pizza is frickin' awesome, and my wife said it's her favorite one so far! It's called the Cerdo Descardo and it's starts with a deep fried blue corn masa pizza dough topped with Birria marinated pork, cotija & other cheeses, salsa verde crema, pickled spicy radish, fresh diced onion & cilantro, with fresh lime wedges to squeeze all over it. It was like eating a big giant crispy street taco, with the flavors just popping from the first bite, and building on every bite after that. The pickled radish were particularly delicious, as was the crema! The pork was tender, juicy, and subtle in flavor, so as not to overwhelm, but to hold and compliment the punchy vegetable toppings. This was a great pizza, and it's available for the entire month of August! Drew makes the best dang specialty pies I've ever had, month after month, outdoing himself regularly. I'm psyched to be a member of the club in good standing! ❤️🍕❤️ JAMIE AGER FOR CONGRESS: Heeeyyy! Someone from the local food industry is running for congress! I've known Jamie Ager from Hickory Nut Gap [https://hickorynutgap.com/] (due to our mutual interest in food!) for a bunch of years, and he's a real good guy, who's heart and mind are in the right place. He cares about WNC very much. He cares about people. He's a farmer, a business person, and someone who has multi-generational roots in these mountains. I support Jamie Ager for Congress [https://agerforcongress.com/], and I hope that you will learn more about him between now and the midterm elections! ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: This is what the Asheville Food Tours Experience [http://www.ashevillefoodtours.com] is all about, Y'all! I had a really fun group the other day and we all had a blast visiting Table (pictured), Mountain Madre Asheville, Asheville Bee Charmer, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, White Duck Taco Shop - Asheville, Wildwood Still and Sunshine Sammies! The next day I got a very nice text message from one of the managers at Twisted Laurel letting me know that my group came back with their kids! Yay! Food Tours are a win win win situation! I have fun, the guests frickin' love it, and our restaurant partners see the positive results of sharing a little bit of their menus and their stories with the tour guests, in the form of return business and great reviews! ❤️❤️❤️ — end — Get full access to Stu Helm: Food Fan at stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe [https://stuhelmfoodfan.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]