I first heard about Chef Katie Button on one of my favorite podcasts, The Trip. I was fascinated firstly by her love of her community and how she was helping out restaurants and people in her area even before the pandemic. Her restaurants are eco-friendly and are living wages certified. She works with Downtown Welcome Table at Haywood Street Congregation to feed adults experiencing homelessness. She has 4 James Beard nominations and so many other accolades that are too many to mention here. Once we planned a trip to Asheville, I knew we had to visit Cúrate. Cúrate is a tapas bar that Katie opened with her husband Félix Meana in 2011.
The ambiance of the restaurant was beautiful. Everything was spaced well for social-distancing and guests had to reserve ahead of time and wear masks when not actively eating/drinking. Our server was so knowledgeable about the menu items and answered our many questions with such grace.
We were seated at a lovely corner table, which gave me delicious light to take pictures of the even more delicious food.
I’ve been enjoying sparkling water lately. This one is my favorite non-flavored carbonated mineral water to date.
We ordered a few different plates so that we could try a little bit of everything. Started with the Endive Salad with Walnuts. I had originally thought that I hated endives. Apparently, I haven’t had them prepared correctly. This salad changed my mind. I would eat this salad everyday if I could. It was that perfect.
This plate of Migas Con Verduras is what brussel sprouts want to be when they grows up. It’s roasted brussel sprouts with fried bread crumbs and cauliflower with a celery root and yogurt mousse. I wanted 10 more of these.
Trucha al horno. Grilled local rainbow trout with hazelnut and parsley picada. I have only had rainbow trout deep-fried. I’m going to start grilling them instead. The skin was crunchy perfection and the meat just melted into your mouth. The hazelnut parsley picada added just flavor to round out the entire dish.
Falda de vaca al horno. Dry-aged skirt steak sourced from local Apple Brandy Farms with served over confit piquillo pepper, garlic, and roasted tomato. I’m low-key sad that I’m not eating this right now. Now I need to start growing piquillo peppers so that I can eat more of them confit. Of course this was amazing.
Pastel de kikos. Molten, gooey corn nut cake with apple cider caramel, fresh sage, and creamy toasted rice ice cream. The perfect ending to the meal. I’ve never thought of molten cakes being anything other than chocolate. Now I have so many creative ideas since this molten corn nut cake was mind-blowing.
When we go back to Asheville, we will be going back to Cúrate. I’m not well-versed in Spanish Tapas, but the tapas that I have had, make me want more. The combination of flavors with fresh, local ingredients was astounding. I cannot come up with enough flowery adjectives. Thank you Chefs and family for making amazing food that lifts up the community, support local farmers, while paying living wages.
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