My
recent post featured some fantastic foods from our trip to Asheville, but I saved the best of the best for it's own post. We had the opportunity to meet the awesome John P for brunch at
Plant.
First up: A cinnamon roll for the table. This is what I call a great start.
My biscuit and sausage sandwich, which was far greater than the sum of it's parts. And those are white cheddar cheezy grits on the side, which I fell in love with on first taste. Yes, that would be my first taste of grits as I think they should be. Now I see what all the fuss is about. The biscuit was so light and tender and the creole sauce and vegetables were wonderful with the sausage.
Jim had the scramble, which was perfectly seasoned and even had greens. My kind of scramble. It came with terrific home fries, sausage with gravy, and a small salad. Of special note: Jim didn't use any salt or pepper. It was that big and bold!
We also had a trio of ice cream flavors for dessert. The peanut butter was my very favorite.
As you can tell, we loved
Plant. So much that we went back for dinner on the last night of our trip.
We started with the Cheese plate, which John P had recommended. It's only on the dinner menu, and is elegant and delicious. House-made cheese, of course.
We followed that with the Flame and Herb Seitan Skewer with fried banana (this tasted caramelized) and chardonnay salt. Jim hates bananas and liked it here and in the ice cream. It was very impressive and made it even harder to choose our entrees. Most of you probably know that as vegans, we're not used to many options in restaurants. Besides that, it was our last night which ups the ante (and caused the two appetizers!).
Jim went with the Berger and wonderful Truffle Fries. It came with horseradish mayo (yum!) and onion tumbleweed. The burger had great taste, but could have been a tiny bit firmer. I admit to having a thing about texture, so this is probably just me nitpicking.The rest of his dinner was terrific.

I had the Peppercorn Crusted Seitan, truffled cauliflower, grilled broccolini, tomato and wine sauce, and shiitake bacon. Every component of this email exceeded my expectations. And I mean by leaps and bounds. I'm thinking the seitan is house-made (unconfirmed at this time) has the best texture of any seitan I've ever had. It is better than Ray's. Even if it''s not house-made, Chef Jason gave it star treatment with a flavorful, crisp, and delicate coating. I don't even like truffle oil and I loved the cauliflower, as well as Jim's fries. Clearly the Chef knows when to hit hard and when to step back a little. I'm convinced there is some trick to the grilled broccolini, but have no idea how to crack the code. It was so much more than just grilled. The sauce? Well, it was just perfect. And shiitake bacon?!?!? I had that on my grits and determined at that time that I'd love to make it a staple in my home.

At this point, we're about ready to roll out of the restaurant, but when offered a glance at the dessert menu, well, we had to just take a look. Tempted to order one of everything, we negotiated down to the the cranberry apple pie. This is a personal favorite combo of mine, and one that I have a recipe for in our upcoming baking book (the one that is co-authored with
Celine Steen). The crust was flaky, the filling was just right, and the sauce really made the dish.
On the way home, Jim and I were discussing all the meals we'd had and what the highlights were. When I asked what his favorite meal was, there was no hesitation before he said "Yours, at
Plant." Of course, I agree. Other don't miss foods were the tempehalo wings at
Rosetta's, the banh mi and jalapeno onion fries at
Laughing Seed, and the olive oil chocolate cake at the
French Broad Chocolate Lounge.
My only regret about
Plant is that I didn't get to try the Reuben. Next time! If you are in the area and plan to visit, I'd suggest making reservations. When we were there on Sunday for brunch, we asked about Tuesday for dinner. While they had no reservations at that time, there wasn't a table to be had by the time we left. They were also packed for the Sunday brunch. Make reservations so you won't miss out.
I'm eagerly anticipating our next trip to Asheville. Thank you for sharing your immense culinary talents with us, Chef Jason.
Update (5/13): The seitan is Ray's. Thanks to
Jackie Smith for finding out.