NC Road Trip – Dinner at Cúrate

Our road trip across North Carolina got off to a rocky start, with our Meltdown in Asheville.  Luckily, that was a temporary situation, and we recovered quickly. We had identified two restaurants we wanted to visit, Cúrate in Asheville and The Chef and The Farmer in Kinston.  We spent about 36 hours in Asheville and dined at Cúrate at the end of our full day there. Today’s post reports on that experience.

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Checking out downtown Asheville

Downtown Asheville is the place to be on a warm Sunday evening in late spring.  We had an 8:15 reservation at Cúrate, a local tapas bar, but went downtown early and walked along Biltmore Avenue, checking out the vibe of the city. There were a surprising number of people out on the street.  On one corner was a restaurant with an outdoor patio full of people. A busker played guitar on the sidewalk, entertaining the diners and anyone else passing by. Other restaurants were busy. We admired the artwork in the windows at several galleries, and window-shopped at the Mast General Store.  At the bottom of the hill we found a line of people waiting to get into the Orange Peel nightclub.  Tom Morello, the lead guitarist for Rage Against The Machine, was playing at 8pm.

We crossed the street and took a few minutes to walk through the French Broad Food Co-op grocery store.  It’s been an institution in Asheville since 1974, and even on Sunday evening had a steady stream of shoppers.  Like most of the businesses on Biltmore Avenue, the Co-op is locally owned. It’s part of what gives the city a special energy.  Much of what you find here is from Asheville and created by local residents.

Dinner at Cúrate

Cúrate (pronounced COO-rah-tay) is a Spanish Tapas restaurant, one of two restaurants in Asheville owned by Chef Katie Button.  Her husband, Felix Meana, one of several co-owners of Katie Button Restaurants, is the Wine Director and Sommelier.  Cúrate was one of Southern Living magazine’s “100 Best Restaurants in the South” in 2014.

The building is long and narrow – it was a bus depot in the 1920’s.  The restaurant side has a long marble bar facing the open kitchen. The opposite side of the space is called a “vermuteria y jamoneria” – a vermouth bar and a bar that sells ham and sausages, all of which are on the menu in the restaurant.

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We were seated immediately at a small table in the back of the restaurant.  Not the best table, but our waiter made up for the location. He was quick and efficient, without making us feel rushed.  He explained the menu and answered questions. 

We started with cocktails.  Mary had a vodka and soda – part of her keto diet plan.  Since we were in a vermuteria, I ordered vermouth on the rocks.  This was something new for me. I’d only had vermouth as an ingredient in a martini – never by itself.  But in Spain, vermouth has a rich history as a drink to be enjoyed with friends and family, often before a meal.  Spanish vermouth is a fortified wine that is that is blended with aromatic herbs. It is often accompanied by meats, olives or other salty or pickled snacks.

I ordered a vermut en grifo (on tap).  It had a pleasant aftertaste, similar to port, but with a more herbaceous taste.  I enjoyed it then, and have had it several times since. It is a nice alternative on a hot summer day.

Along with our drinks, we ordered a cheese tray to share.  Mary asked the waiter pick his favorites. He did not disappoint. The tray came with an excellent bleu cheese, a creamy goat cheese that was so much better than we ever find at home, and a Mahoney – a kind of hard cheese cut into little cubes. The plate was dressed with candied pecans, fig and vermouth jam, and crackers.

We ordered two small plates. The first was espárragos blancos, preserved white asparagus tossed in a lemon vinaigrette.  (According to Mimi Sheraton in “1,000 Foods to Eat Before you Die”*, our Guidebook at The Cook and The Writer,  white asparagus is the same vegetable as green asparagus, “asparagus raised to be white are kept covered with soil as they grow so that light does not cause the development of chlorophyll”.) The asparagus was served with what the menu said was a “light as air” mayonnaise and tarragon. The asparagus was soft and the mayonnaise and tarragon were, in Mary’s words, “to die for”.

The second plate was ensaladilla rusa,  a classic Spanish potato salad with carrot, hard-boiled egg, spanish bonito tuna, piquillo peppers, and peas. The potatoes were chopped into very small cubes (not the big chunks found in American versions).  The mix of flavors, with tuna, egg and pepper was unique. It was an ample portion, and I enjoyed every bite of it.

Next we shared an order of albondigas from the hot plates menu.  These were meatballs made with beef, pork, lamb and cured iberico ham.  They were served in a slightly spicy tomato sauce that beautifully complemented the flavors of the meat.  (And they were so good, we forgot to take a picture!)

Along with the meatballs, we each enjoyed a glass of Emilio Moro Tinto Fino, a red wine from the Duero River Valley in Spain.  All the wines at Cúrate are from Spain. Wine Enthusiast magazine named it one of “America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants of 2018”.

To finish the evening, I had to try the merengue de “gin & tonic”.  This dessert was a small bowl of berries that had been soaked in gin, accompanied by a cucumber lemon-lime sorbet, some slivers of torched meringue, a bit of vanilla mousse and some “snow” flavored with Fever Tree tonic and Naveran Dama, a Spanish cava or sparkling wine.  There was a lot going on in that little bowl – more than my palate was able to sort out – but I enjoyed the dessert.

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A good ending

So, despite the rocky start to our Sunday, our dinner at Cúrate was truly memorable. Mary summed up our experience this way, “All in all it was a wonderful way to end a crazy day.”

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Where have you been lately that was unique or fun? What’s the best out of town meal you’ve had lately? Tell us your road trip story in the comments below.

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