Transported: Destination, Stoney Knob Café in Asheville, NC

To be “transported”: To be moved from your current location. To be “beamed up” by Scotty (oh wait, that’s teleportation). To have a different experience than you expected. To allow yourself to relax in your current environment and go with the flow. Just….to be.

Granted the above is all my wording, but you get the point I’m sure. We can transport ourselves by plane, train, or automobile to anywhere we choose on this beautiful Earth, or beyond even. We have choices a plenty. Along that road of transportation, as a Foodie, we have another choice to make…where do we eat? I make it a goal to NEVER eat at a chain restaurant when traveling out of town. Lucky for us (sometimes), we have pretty much any chain restaurant you can think of within about a thirty-minute drive from home. Side note***When I say “chain restaurant”, I mean more than two or three of the same restaurants. I wanted to be clear here, because we have some wonderful local restaurants that are doing so well, we are fortunate enough to have more than one of their restaurants around us as they grow. They still have that local, hometown flair (unlike some of the more popular chains)…which is important in my opinion.

Back to being transported…

While traveling, I have become quite fond of two Droid apps. One of which is Urbanspoon, and another is TripAdvisor. This time, I went with TripAdvisor. While glancing through their top-rated restaurants for Asheville, NC, I found Stoney Knob Café listed as number 6 out of 267 restaurants in Asheville! Number 6 isn’t half bad, I’d say! The funny part…Stoney Knob Café isn’t even in Asheville. *wink* It’s actually located in Weaverville, NC. Which, sure, it’s right there on the outskirts of Asheville…but, wouldn’t it be more fair to say it’s in Weaverville so Weaverville gets a little credit for having one of the most amazing restaurants around??? Not to mention another one we went to while in Asheville….it too was amazing, and in Weaverville. *smile*

We pulled up to Stoney Knob Café, located a bit away from the hustle and bustle of Asheville (which I loved, because you can only take so much “downtown” on vacation). We were immediately met with a “Diner” feel from the outside with an extra room added to each side. Should I mention I pulled a little close to the brick sign out front, so the hub had to shimmy out the door when he opened it…hehe. *mischievous smile*

When you walk into Stoney Knob Café, you are immediately met with color from top to bottom, right to left. It was absolutely breath-taking with all of the amazing details in the restaurant. I may have gotten a touch of ADD being in there with all of the elements to look at. You didn’t feel like you were in Asheville anymore (oh wait, you AREN’T!). Let me rephrase that…you didn’t feel like you were in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in the middle of winter, surrounded by a lot of monotone, once you stepped over their threshold.

We had truly been transported…

It was unlike anywhere we had been before, and little did we know that the food was going to prove that fact. Sitting down, it was immediately realized how comfortable our booths were and how clean everything was. The coffee was ordered, and the Brunch menu was reviewed. With menu items like…

• Blackberry Crepes – Two Crepes stuffed with Orange-Cream Cheese topped with Blackberry Sauce & Honey Cream with a choice of Bacon or Sausage.
• Huevos Rancheros – Two crispy Corn Tortillas with scrambled Eggs, Guajillo–Chili Sauce, Black Beans & Cheddar Cheese. Served with choice of Grits, Polenta or Potato.
• The Spinach Artichoke Frittata – Baked open-faced Frittata with Artichoke, Spinach, Onions & Feta Cheese.
• Johnny D’s Breakfast Burrito – Scrambled Eggs, Tomato, Onions, Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Cheddar Cheese & choice of Ham, Bacon or Sausage wrapped in a Sun-dried Tomato Basil Tortilla served w/Salsa.

It wasn’t an easy decision to say the least. I went with the Stuffed French Toast – Two slices of Texas Toast stuffed with Orange-Cream Cheese topped with Blackberry Sauce & Honey Cream with a choice of Bacon or Sausage. The hub chose the Stoney Knob Benny – Two luscious Crab Cakes topped with poached Eggs & roasted Red Pepper Hollandaise Sauce with a choice of Grits, Polenta or Potatoes. For the record…I didn’t write the word “luscious” when describing the Crab Cakes. It was there already, and man oh man was it the truth!

The food…took the restaurant to a completely different level in our minds, as if the décor hadn’t already. The food was delivered with pure beauty, it tasted like pure bliss, and it left inspired smiles for the day of traveling ahead of us on our faces. The way the Blackberry Sauce dripped seductively off my fork tines as I tried to make the entire bite fit in my mouth just left you wanting the next bite even more. I know…it sounds like I was taking big bites, but come on…some of the bites need to have every single element of the dish on the fork, because there is a reason the genius Chefs put them on the plate together in such a perfect combination to begin with. Method to the madness, people. *smile* The Benny…oh the Benny! Back to that word “luscious” and the word’s relation to their Crab Cakes…they aren’t lying to you. They were amazingly luscious. You also know how much I adore a perfectly poached egg (maybe because I leave it to the professionals and don’t make them at home). Everything about both of these dishes was pure perfection, from the “pop” of the poached egg to the Honey Cream to the Red Pepper Hollandaise Sauce. I wish I could order this every morning for breakfast.

Plates were cleaned as if a hungry pup had enjoyed the remainder of the nibbles. Coffee cups were drained empty, good to the last drop as they say. This all signified that the transportation we had just experienced was coming to an end. The time came to journey back over the threshold of which we had crossed earlier, from our blissful transportation to a peaceful world with delightful food and on down the currently monotone mountains and back to our equally monotone piedmont area.

As we took a peak at the rest of the restaurant rooms (the additions previously mentioned), sighed in amazement, and headed back to our own mode of transportation home, we resolved ourselves to the fact that we could only get this experience in one city…Weaverville, NC. Thank you, Weaverville, for offering us a meal we will certainly never forget.

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