From the WRAL website:

BBQ pit master Mitchell to open new restaurant in Durham
By Kathy Hanrahan

Published: 2013-05-14 17:53:00
Updated: 2013-05-16 14:46:14

Posted: May 14
Updated: May 16

Durham, N.C. — Ed Mitchell, the barbecue pit master who helped bring national attention to The Pit in Raleigh, is opening a new restaurant this fall at American Tobacco Campus in Durham, ATC announced Tuesday.

There was a review of some Hot Springs restaurants in the Asheville Citizen-Times last week that can be found at:
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/...

If that doesn't work, it's in the Asheville Scene part of the website. I think that non-subscribers get 10 free articles per month.

You may have visited an older Ingles in Innsbruck Mall on Tunnel Road if it was a few years ago. It was pretty dreary and it's gone. They built a brand new store on the old WalMart site just east of the tunnel on Tunnel Road 2 or 3 (?) years ago. There is also a good sized Ingles on N. Merrimon Ave and it's just across the street from Fresh Market. The 2 Ingles stores are not identical in what they carry; it seems that they may be fine-tuned to their neighborhoods.

And a couple of miles south on Merriman will be a new Harris Teeter and a new Trader Joes. I saw the buildings were almost completed when I drove by a couple of days ago. Greenlife, an independent that was purchased by Whole Foods, is next to the new Trader Joes. Whole Foods is building a new 35,000 sq. ft. store on Tunnel Road but I think that's in 2014.

And the list goes on: Aldi (2), Earthfare (2), Bi-Lo, Grocery Outlet (2 or more), a Super WalMart, numerous tailgate markets all over the area and the NC State Farmers Market on Brevard Road. And I probably missed some.

And maybe Publix as I saw Harris Teeter is in play and likley to be acquired by someone like Kroger or Publix?

I agree 100% on CR as I think their methods have been flawed forever. If you never travel outside your home area or look at other stores you may never see an outstanding chain (like Wegmans) and think your local store is great. And it's probably not. Ask any Rochester, NY expatriate what they miss the most from their move and the most common answer is "Wegmans". And it took forever for Wegmans to get to #1 in the CR poll.

The Publix I've visited are okay but I don't see anything special about them. I just got back from Tucson, AZ and would put them in the same category as Safeway, Fry's (Kroger) and Albertson's.

And the Asheville area has or is going to have Trader Joe's, Harris-Teeter and a bigger & better Whole Foods. Other than price competion, what would a Publix add to the area?

Amazon carries every one of the 6-8 recommended items that I checked a few minutes ago.

Rod's KC Barbeque has been at the Sunday market at St. Phillips Plaza for years;

Update on the truck at Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian, 64 Merrimon Avenue in Asheville:

It is now there on Thursdays & Fridays as well as Saturday. He picks up fresh seafood on the coast the evening before it is available here.

He will be at this location for the "winter" and then does a tailgate market. I think that it was Weaverville.

Contact info is Dave Ingle, 828 777-1713, Freshseafoodnc@yahoo.com and www.freshseafoodnc.com The website comes up as "Fresh Seafood Express" and contains lots of information.

We were there last Friday evening which was their second night open. We usually don't try someplace that early in their life but the other places we checked on Merrimon were packed.

They are still waiting for a liquor license which will be wine & beer only.

The shrimp & grits was excellent. I found the rice & red beans with sausage a bit dry and it could have stood more seasoning . We enjoyed our meals and the service and will return.

Their menu is on Urban Spoon and background articles on line from the Citizen-Times and Mountain Xpress. He was the chef at Avenue M before this.

There is a truck parked in Vinnies' Neighborhood Italian Restaurant parking lot on Merrimon on Saturdays that is selling seafood that I understand comes fresh from the coast. We have friends that make the trip from south Asheville to buy there.

There are also people at the Wednesday tailgate market behind the Chamber of Commerce that bring fresh seafood from the coast that day. Of course they won't be open until sometime in the Spring. Carolina Wild Seafood website.

Have you tried Greenlife? Their seafood section looks good. Or Earthfare?

Okay, once again, there is not one Maricos, not 2, but 8 locations showing on their website. They all used to be family owned that were franchised to by the original owner on Grande. Not sure about the family connection now.

But I've been to 4 of the locations over the years and there are differences between them. I believe that the 22nd. Street location didn't take credit cards or maybe the one on 6th. Avenue.

But the original on Grande has always taken credit cards; I called them today to be sure.

And, IMHO, Grande has always had the best food. I think that the menus are the same or at least similar but the preparation and sevice was not consistent from location to location.

Check out Metro restaurants/McMahon's website for their Christmas day dinner special.

MapQuest shows it just south of Broadway on Riverside Dr. South of UNCA. Never been there so I can't add anything else.

www.bywaterbar.com/

I had somewhat an opposite experience at The Junction a few weeks ago; both my appetizer and main course were so overly salted that I had a problem finishing them. The dining room is also very loud. One table of 4 was so loud that it was difficult to converse at our small table. I can imagine what it will be like on New Years.

The Trader Joe's will be on the southwest side of the intersection of Merrimon and Chesnut. Harris-Teeter is building a large new store on the north side of that intersection. And TJ's will almost be contiguous with Greenlife. I think that it will be a traffic nightmare! I can't believe Greenlife will be open after the Tunnel Road store opens.

I can't really address the location issue other than to note that there's a fairly new Earthfare store in the south that would seem to offer strong competition to Whole Foods. The only possible competition that I can think of on Tunnel Road is the Ingles near the tunnel.

Whole Foods has announced that they will open a new 35,000 square foot store on Tunnel Road in Asheville in 2014. It will be on the site of a K-Mart that is closing in January, 2013 and is directly across Tunnel Road from Asheville Mall. It will be new construction.

They also said that they will keep their Greenlife store open at its current location on Merrimon Avenue. That's hard to believe as the the traffic congestion there is already bad enough without the new Trader Joe's and Harris-Teeter being open yet.

Why don't you just call them? There are 6 other Maricos locations in Tucson according to their website. The original on Grande has been there forever and is the best out the 3 or 4 that we have tried. Their number is 520.623.3563.

We haven't been yet, but different friends have reported good things after lunch visits.

It's been my understanding that most of the laborers working on the expansion of the Erie Canal from 1903-1918 were recent immigrants from Italy and many of them settled along the route of the canal during or after its completion. And that's the source for all of the Italian restaurants along the canal.

My mother grew up on a farm near a little town (Port Gibson) east of Rochester and said there was a large work camp of Italians working on the canal nearby in 1917. That was the first time she had pizza. Wow, almost 100 years ago!

We agree with your assessment across the board and have been going to Vinnie's for a few years. The Rochester, NY area has lots of what you refer to as "neighborhood" Italian restaurants and Vinnie's is the only one we've found in Asheville that matches up with the best there.

I usually can't get past the Carbonara or the "Sunday" gravy plate but also thought that the Pasta Fazool was among the best that I've had. The only problem is I usually can't try more due to the generous portions. 1/2 price bottles of wine on Monday night and the club rewards are a bonus. Also like the reasonable prices.

I would agree with either Bridges BBQ in Shelby except the best/fastest route from Charlotte is I-85 to 321 north to Hickory and then I-40 to Asheville. That was doesn't go through Shelby.

And it's only about 2 hours from most areas of Charlotte; why not eat in Asheville with many, many choices?

Sorry that you weren't able to find Blue Plate in the Triangle area but thanks for mentioning it. I saw it on the shelf in a local Asheville Ingles and bought a jar out of curiosity. I'm converted; I really like it. Now the only problem is 2 jars in the refrigerator as the Hellman's fan in the house won't change.

Glad you were able to speak with Took and her husband; they were not at the stand when I was at the market yesterday. I saw her leave just as I got there to track down a customer. I just looked at the Little Bee website and it doesn't have the same telephone number as the restaurant in the gas station and actually makes no mention of a restaurant. All the website references are to the tailgate market location amd time. Pretty confusing; at least for me.

They are set up at the tailgate market across from Laurey's and the Asheville Wine Market on Biltmore Avenue from 2PM to 6PM on Wednesday afternoons. Only! A selection of some takeout plus sauces (which I didn't see).

So it seems that the Thai restaurant in the gas station that you didn't care for was The Little Bee!

I just called thephone number listed for them (828) 681-0710) and the gentleman who answered said they were still in the Exxon station on Sweeten Creek Road.

Here's the website comment:
"For special requests, call a minimum of 3 days in advance for pick-up the following Wednesday.
Wednesdays 2:00-6:00 PM at the French Broad Food Co-op
76 Biltmore Ave., Asheville, NC
Located next to the French Broad Food Co-op; across the street from The Orange Peel."

Looks like thet're still in the South location, but I'll stop by this afternoon to confirm.

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This somewhat off the subject, but has anyone compared the products sold by Trader Joes with those in Aldi? Trader Joes is owned and operated by a branch of the Aldi stores from Germany while Aldi's in the US is owned and operated by the other branch of the Germany Aldis.

I've been meaning to check out Aldis as they, not surprisingly, also sell mostly their own branded product and are inexpensive, probably more so than TJ's.

Now that it looks as if Asheville is getting Trader Joes, it's time to start wishing for a Wegmens here! They have been the #1 grocery store in Consumer Reports rankings for a number of years and were just named as one of the top 16 cult images in the US. Ask anyone who moved from the Rochester, NY area out of Wegmens service area what they miss the most and it's invariably Wegmens. They're that good. Anytime we are in their area we have to make a pilgrimage to one of the stores.

Mapquest has the drive from Greenlife in Asheville to Knife & Fork as 50 miles and 1 hour & 2 minutes. With the construction on 19E it probably takes a few more minutes now but no where close to 2 hours. I've been up there from Asheville a couple of times lately via that route.

The trip via I-40 and 226 is a couple of miles and a few minutes longer. If you like narrow curvy mountain roads that the way to go! No me.

There is an article about it in today's online issue of the Asheville Citizen-Times. It says that La Caretta, Benjamin Moore and the small shopping center on the SW corner of Merrimon & Chesnut have all been purchased by "not named" and the tenants have all been given notice to move. There has been a permit request to the city to build a new 13,000 sq. ft.retail store on the location.

No comment from Trader Joes.

The traffic is bad enough around Greenlife now; it will be really great with 2 new, popular stores next door!

I have not been there. The chef/owner has been around the Asheville restaurant scene for quite some time so I'm sure he knows what he's doing. There has been a succession of restaurants at this location over the years; hope that this one makes it.

One of the good problems about living in Asheville is that there are more excellent restaurants here than my constitution can handle so my list of new places to try is quite long!

Both restaurants have their menu's on the internet and both are on OpenTable. As a followup to the reservation suggestion by Eric, I just looked at Curate on OpenTable and there is no seating available tonight after 4:45 PM. Zambra had times available.

We were at Curate this past Sunday and my wife was ready to go back Tuesday (they're closed Monday's) and have the same meal all over again.