early girl

Saturday Amy and I drove to Asheville, NC to visit the Fresh Market. It's a regular jaunt for us. We crave their gourmet stock. We by-passed that exit, as Fresh Market is on our side of Asheville, for a trip into the heart of Asheville to try Early Girl Eatery. I recommended it to Rachael a few weeks ago without having eaten there. Also told her not to miss Salsa's or Tupelo Honey, but I'm not sure where she ate, exactly.

We decided to go there in the car, on the way. I couldn't recall where it was, possibly on Wall Street. Called Ian and he looked it up online. Eight Wall Street. But, he told us they only serve brunch on the weekend. That had to do.

Amy chose the Cobb Salad. It's one of my favorite menu items, too. It looked great.

I went with the Avocado and Sprout sandwich. Making a decision was tough. It was between that and the Vegan Tofu Scramble. But, the black eyed pea hummus on the sandwich made the decision clear. Don't like black eyed peas so much, but I'm always willing to try an old standard cooked in a new fashion.  Amy and I both love food. Love to eat, love to try new things. She's the perfect dining partner.

We ordered another entree to split, believe it or not: Spinach Potato Cakes with red tomato gravy. It was the red tomato gravy that we had to try. And it was divine. The best non-meat gravy either of us had. Everything was good. I ate half my sandwich and half the potato salad that accompanied it. Sadly the potato salad was not that great. It lacked zing. It lacked flavor. It was bland. That is the kiss of death for potato salad. The eggs that came with I ordered over-easy, but not until Amy ate hers did I remember that she doesn't like hers that way at all. When we were in Seattle she asked for her eggs cooked hard for her eggs benedict. But she was a good sport. We split the biscuit, too, and it was very good slathered with orange marmalade in our pot.

She let me choose dessert. Of course, our waitress was itching to get rid of us and handed over the bill before ever asking if we needed anything else.  I told her that we were getting dessert. There were four to choose from: red velvet cake, brown sugar pound cake, three chocolate something or other cake, and chocolate coconut cake. For me, the decision was almost automatic: red velvet cake. But, I can have RVC almost any day of the week. That Chocolate Carrot Cake was something all together different and exotic. Amy was surprised when I chose chocolate, since I am not a chocolate fan.

It was perfection. The best dessert I've eaten in ages. At least since I was in Seattle in January. It was super moist and warm. They keep their cakes under glass at Early Girl. Refrigeration, though a food saver/preserver, does horrible things to cakes and veggies and all sorts of other edibles. The cake was moist and dense and perfectly balanced: not too sweet, not too tart. The icing was cream cheese. My favorite. But, I swear there were coconut flakes mixed in, and a very curious lemon flavoring.  Then the side of whipped cream was... well, the whipping on the cake.

Much of the time I rue eating dessert. So many wasted calories for a crappy sweet thing that disappoints me terribly. But this time was different. That cake was worth every calorie.  Every. Calorie.

We were so full we needed rolling out of there, but our waitress, while efficient, was not so accommodating.  She gave me a queer look when I asked for a piece of wax paper to wrap my half-sandwich in to take home. She substituted paper napkins, instead. Yeah, I don't want to carry a bulky box around in my hand when it's much more efficient to wrap it and tuck it into my pocketbook.  EGE prides itself on local farmers, sustainable agriculture, diverse southern cooking, and healthy eating. Somehow Styrofoam seems wrong in a place espousing those values. And I don't know all the arguments for or against it, but I don't like it. I don't want to touch it. I don't want it in my house, in my landfill. But restaurants always want to pawn it off on their customers.

That perfect piece of cake got me started on a quest to find the perfect Chocolate Carrot Cake recipe. Haven't made it too far. Found a few online and most are made in Bundt pans, which is unlike the double layered type I ate. I'd rather browse indices of my favorite cookbooks. Am afraid I won't turn up a thing there, either, though. EGE offers several recipes on their website, but not THAT one.

Comments

[LLA]

Love the sound of this place - have to keep it in mind...

What was the final verdict on the BEP hummus? I do love some BEPs (and oddly, I'm not a huge fan of hummus, but love it when it's made with BEPs...) which is strange because I never had them as a child. Seems my mom hates them. We eat them a lot - Schecky loves them, and it's a great excuse for buying chow chow every time you see some for sale!

[LLA]

Me again - just went over and looked at the EGE menu.

Sweet Cracker Sandwich - not a thing on there that I wouldn't eat and enjoy! Thanks for the introduction...