Asheville Food Bites: Winter dining advisory, Asheville Celtic Festival, hearty soups
ASHEVILLE - A winter dining advisory; soup and bread specials; and a Celtic festival with traditional fare for the whole family.
Winter dining advisory
Winter is the slow season for the food and beverage industry.
Before heading out to a restaurant, check its seasonal operational hours as some places may have reduced hours. Some establishments use the downtime to take a well-deserved break or for cleaning and maintenance issues, and they may close for a day, several days, or even weeks.
Visit business websites and social media accounts for updates.
Sovereign Remedies at The Parlor
This month, Sovereign Remedies brought back its Soup Kitchen fundraiser, swapping out the regular dining menu with an exclusive soup and bread menu at the downtown bar and restaurant.
Sovereign Remedies has returned to serving its normal offerings, but its all-soup-all-the-time program is continuing at its sister venue, The Parlor, located at Asheville Beauty Academy, 28 Broadway St.
Through Feb. 10, guests may visit the upstairs event room and purchase a soup and bread meal from 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
For each food purchase, 5% of the sales will be donated to a different charity each week, such as Food Connections. For every soup sold, a cup of soup will be donated to a local kitchen serving the hungry, said owner Charlie Hodge.
The menu will rotate soups, stews, chowders and chilis.
One of the dishes in the rotation is the Remedies Organic Chicken Noodle Soup made with Sovereign Remedies' in-house made turmeric egg noodles, Springer Mountain chicken, Seven Seeds Farm carrots, onions, celery, parsnips, garlic, parsley and thyme.
The J4 Beef Stew contains Black Trumpet chestnut mushrooms, russet potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and red wine and topped with fresh herbs.
An assortment of bread is offered and may be added to an order ― brown butter cornbread, rustic pan, herbes de Provence focaccia, fried saltine and garlic naan.
Hot drinks and other beverages are available, too.
Soups are served in artisanal handcrafted bowls by ceramic artist Anne Kimmel, of Odyssey Clayworks, which are also available for sale.
For more, visit sovereignremedies.com and avlbeautyacademy.com.
Asheville Celtic Festival
Asheville Celtic Festival will return for the fourth year but this time as a two-day event Feb. 17-18.
The indoor/outdoor festival celebrating Scottish culture will be hosted at the Davis Center at the WNC Agricultural Center, 761 Boylston Highway in Fletcher.
On Feb. 17, the event will run from 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
On Feb. 18, the festival will reopen from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
“With the growth and response, we’ve decided to go to two days,” said Mark Ferguson, who co-founded the festival with Dave Donnell.
Last year, nearly 4,200 guests attended, and the organizers expect nearly 4,500 attendees on Saturday and at least 2,200 guests on Sunday.
The event will feature family-friendly entertainment and activities, including Celtic music, action-packed armored sword fighting and performances at the Castle. An ax and spear-throwing booth is among the new events featured this year.
The Viking Experience, a North Carolina-based reenactment group, will join this year’s event, too.
“They set up tents as if they were Vikings from the 1200s,” Ferguson said. “They dress up and show handmade items, how they were made and might be used within their culture thousands of years ago.”
Other characters will be dressed in 1700 period dress, and guests are encouraged to wear costumes, too.
Retail vendors will be stocked with crafts, kilts, accessories and other Celtic goods.
There will be opportunities for guests to research their family background and learn about Celtic history and traditions.
Food vendors will serve traditional foods and beverages from Scotch eggs to stouts and ales throughout the day.
The Scottish Cottage and the Celtic Café’s menus feature shepherd’s pie, haggis and mash, sticky toffee pudding, Scotch eggs, Guinness beef stew, fish and chips and more.
Additional vendors include Proving Grounds Coffee, Scottish Gourmet, Infamous Welsh Cookie Company and Buck Buchannan Ice Cream. Fae Nectar will be pouring mead, and Oskar Blues Brewery will bring the beer.
A scotch tasting will be offered for guests ages 21 and older for $45 per day, and tickets may be purchased in advance or added on at the event with the cost of a festival admission ticket. The cost includes three Scotch whisky single malts and three Irish whiskeys.
Tickets are $28 for a two-day pass in advance or $38 at the door; $22 for an advance Saturday pass or $30 at the door; and $15 for an advance Sunday pass or $20 at the door. Passes for children ages 12 and under are $5 per day (ages 4 and under may enter for free).
Two-day VIP and overnight packages are available for guests looking for an all-inclusive, elevated weekend of Celtic fun.
“Even if you’re not into Scottish/Celtic stuff, there’s so many things going on that are fun and appealing to everyone,” Ferguson said.
For a full schedule and map, visit ashevillecelticfest.com and purchase tickets via Eventbrite.
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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville Celtic Festival returns with extra day of fun, more to know
