In the middle of a very residential area in Woodfin is a little vegan oasis known as Gallivant Coffee. I went here early on in my move to Asheville, partially because it was so close to my home and partially because the name is just so fun – it sounds like the coffee you get at their shop is going to fuel you for a big adventure. With so many lovely hikes in the area, it only makes sense to have some adventure juice handy.  If you haven’t been, you’re in for a treat – the coffee is selected by the owner himself and roasted in small batches, meaning that…

Work as a remote, flexible-schedule worker for long enough while parenting a toddler, and you’re simply going to have favorite coffee shops. While I think most of them want to be known for their flavorful drinks, tasty snacks, and soulful ambiance, many of us simply need somewhere that serves up caffeine while not kicking us out for tapping out a few emails while we sip.  I have reviewed a few places in Asheville that don’t offer public Wi-Fi, and I can’t blame them at all – there is something really lovely about a space that is entirely focused on connection and food and drink.  However, when I can find a…

We’ve seen what a craft beer scene can do for a city, and at its heart is a tourism rooted in what you cannot get anywhere else. After decades of finding reliable chains for everything from hotels to restaurants, many tourists are now craving the hyper-local, the well-thought-out, and the totally unique. For craft breweries, making their own product on-site gives them this assurance, but it turns out, you can do something similar for wine. The owner and team of plēb urban winery have set out on a frankly audacious mission: in an area that doesn’t have hundreds of years of winemaking history, they are working with all the growers…

In the “Harry Potter” books, there’s a magical element to the wizard school called the Room of Requirement. If you run down a particular hall while really needing something quite badly, you’ll find yourself face to face with a door that wasn’t there before.  When you open it, the room provides what you need: a broom closet if you need to hide, a training room if you’re trying to defeat a dark wizard’s long-term plot for world domination, etc. I like to think that PennyCup in Asheville is my Coffee Shop of Requirement. It seems to always be located right where I need it. They have a shop located right…

One of the things I love about Asheville compared to where I used to live is that there is more than one of most everything. There are multiple restaurants for Indian food, Thai food, Mexican food, and even multiple top-notch pizzerias within 5 minutes of my house. Spoiled for choice, we are here!  Nowhere are we more blessed than in the fact that we have multiple high-quality dessert shops here in town, offering everything from ice cream to cake to sweet beverages… and at Asheville Chocolate, you can get all of the above. My journeys around Asheville take me down Broadway frequently, and I’ve often admired the beautiful sculptural details…