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Rhubarb's relaunch of Sunday brunch service is cause for celebration and an edible ode to local growers, makers, Appalachian culture, and scratch-made biscuits, the foundation for spreads that includes house-churned sorghum butter, pepper relish, and country ham-pear chutney. Speaking of ham, chef John Fleer's favorite pork smoker - East Tennessee's Allan Benton - makes multiple appearances through the menu, which leans to savory, but grilled coconut and rum bread pudding is a sweet standout.

Getting back into travel in our new COVID-19 world can be uncomfortable. The constantly changing guidelines make it difficult to plan far in advance, and hard to know what will feel safe. But after lengthy lockdowns and a year of isolation, I don't think I'm alone in feeling eager to take a weekend away.

Announcing our 2020 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists! Read on for the semifinalists in all categories, from Outstanding Restaurant to Rising Star Chef. We'll announce the final Restaurant and Chef Award nominees, as well as the nominees for our Media and Restaurant Design Awards, in Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 25. The nominee announcement will begin at 9:00 A.M. ET and will be streamed live (check back soon for details). Nominees will also be announced in real time via our Twitter feed.

Hospitality industry veterans, Max Trujillo and Matthew Weiss, get behind the scenes of North Carolina's burgeoning food and beverage culture. Hear from local chefs, sommelier's, distillers, farmers, brewers and the whole lot of them in the NC F&B podcast.

For Chef John Fleer, a modern Sunday supper with family and friends is never on a Sunday. That's when he's cooking for customers. But the day itself isn't the point: It's the talk around the table that really feeds us.

The sweet smell of fried dough punches me in the nose, and I want a bite-now."Wait a second," says the baker, dancing at her station, slinging doughnuts like a juggler.

Discussions about the best restaurants in America are all too often summed up in six words: New, York, Los, Angeles, San, and Francisco. Or maybe eight if you throw in Austin and Seattle. But as farms get closer and closer to tables and as more of us are putting a premium on experiences that feel authentic, smaller cities are getting new attention as exciting, one-of-a-kind destinations. And here's what these places can offer that the big cities lack: a truly local, unique meal. Maybe it's lunch on an island in the middle of the Pacific. Maybe it's dinner in the foothills of Appalachia. These towns are relatively undiscovered as food-first destinations-except by the locals who eat there. And that's exactly what we love about them.

Southerners make barbecue, fried chicken, and biscuits better than anywhere else in the world. But anyone who thinks Southern food is limited to those dishes hasn't been here in awhile. Our ever-changing region is at the forefront of what's new in the food world, and this list of our readers' favorite new restaurants is evidence of that. As part of our annual South's Best Awards survey, we asked for your favorite recently opened spots, and you responded with a list that is as diverse as the South itself.

From nationally renowned fare to local love, charismatic Asheville, NC, is weaving history with hipster to create one of the South's most dynamic destinations. On the city's vibrant streets, you'll find talented musicians, colorful art deco architecture and local shops perfect for perusing. And that's just downtown.

Rhubarb owner chef John Fleer and his team pride themselves on being pioneers of locally sourced ingredients, many of which are wild foraged from the forests of Western North Carolina. This fall the restaurant is featuring dishes made with mushrooms collected by forager Craig Hastings, who tracks his mushrooms 30 miles away in Waynesville.

The Asheville, N.C., chef celebrates dads with a whole roasted red snapper that packs a ton of flavor; Wine Spectator recommends 7 great Rhône whites to match

You know how to EAT THIS CITY. With top chefs as tour guides, you've learned how to scout out hot spots for breakfast and brunch, where to go for a delicious date night, and how to feast like a local liege in the cities you love. But where do you wash it all down? Do you know how to find the best brewpub? Uncover who makes the meanest bloody marys and the most sparkling mimosas?

Farmer Jason Davis from North River Farms in Mills River says that last year was the worst he has had in more than 20 years of growing food. Last year's monumental rains hurt a lot of our local farms and farmers, and whether that was all related to climate change or not, the fact that May 2018 was the wettest May on record was devastating to our local food crops, and yields were way down.

You can thank George Washington Vanderbilt III for putting Asheville, North Carolina on travelers' radar. After the Manhattanite visited and fell for the Blue Ridge Mountains, with their dreamy splendor and curative climate, he built the Biltmore House between 1889 and 1895. At 178,926 square feet it was, and remains, the biggest privately owned house in the U.S. Where once it drew throngs of guests, now it draws tourists. Walk through the banquet rooms overlooking the mountain range, and it's clear this setting was designed for socializing over drinks.

There's a time and place for a fancy multi-course meal, and it's wonderful to visit a new restaurant or try a new cuisine, but sometimes all we want is something warm, comforting and familiar. It turns out that world-class chefs with Michelin stars and James Beard Awards aren't too different from us in that regard. We asked them to share their favorite comfort foods and the stories behind them. Here's what they had to say:

Pastry Chef Kaley Laird of Rhubarb and its sister café-bakery-pantry, The Rhu, in Asheville, NC are dishing up some delicious matcha sweets. Check out these awesome green creations that are flavorful and boosted with antioxidants from the ground green tea powder.

Southerners make barbecue, fried chicken, and biscuits better than anywhere else in the world. But anyone who thinks Southern food is limited to those dishes hasn't been here in awhile. Our ever-changing region is at the forefront of what's new in the food world, and this list of our readers' favorite new restaurants is evidence of that. As part of our annual South's Best Awards survey, we asked for your favorite recently opened spots, and you responded with a list that is as diverse as the South itself.

Curate is a hip dining spot in downtown Asheville, owned and operated by award-winning chef Katie Button, who also manages the city's acclaimed Nightbell and Button and Co. Bagels restaurants. The restaurant, which is housed within a restored 1927 bus depot, focuses on Spanish tapas service, named in honor of a word that translates as cure yourself in Spanish. Delicious seasonally-rotating menus highlight hot and cold small plates, including charcoal-grilled selections.

50 Reasons We Love Summer in the South

Before I put this list together, let me preface it by saying that Mother's Day gifts - and restaurant spots - are not one-size-fits-all.

The diversity of North Carolina makes it a top destination for tourism and the extra beautiful mountain region makes the the top of the list for places to visit within the state. The best way to see what North Carolina's mountains offer is by experiencing them through scenic drives and stops in the cities that offer quaint places to stay, incredible restaurants, and lots of activities to fill your time.

hubarb's tart flavor makes it a natural fit for both savory and sweet dishes alike and the rhubarb dishes popping up on menus this season go way beyond the classic strawberry-rhubarb pie. At Chicago's LH Rooftop, Executive Pastry Chef Samantha Santiago Torres makes a summer version of baked Alaska with chocolate and rhubarb ice cream and pistachio sponge cake, while at Espita Mezcaleria in D.C., the...

The lilting accents, the stiff drinks, the lingering meals-nearly everything about the American South asks us to slow down. The key to enjoying the region is not to rush. That goes for the Blue Ridge Parkway, too. With a speed limit that rarely exceeds 45 mph, the meandering, artfully laid-out, two-lane highway politely demands to be savored. It's no surprise that people travel from around the world to experience one of North America's most iconic routes.

The executive pastry chef at Asheville's Rhubarb recalls her early career, and the moment Frank Mirabile taught her an important lesson about working with people.

Southern American cities like New Orleans, Nashville and Austin may get a lot of love, but Asheville, North Carolina, is coming in hot these days thanks to a thriving culinary scene of rising chefs with pedigreed backgrounds, a booming craft brewery business, eclectic arts and music offerings and quirky-cool sensibility.

Hungry? The South is packed with thrilling foodie destinations. That should go without saying but say it, we will, and few regions on the planet blend culinary quality and homely comforts like here. Asheville is very much at the forefront of this, and North Carolina's creative hub is all about brilliant restaurants that are focused on foodie innovation as they are, you know, good food. The best of both worlds? Welcome to Asheville.

In southern Appalachia - the mountainous region that stretches from West Virginia to Mississippi - the trendiest food movements are nothing new. Farm-to-table cuisine, whole animal meals and preserved vegetables are practices that go back generations, to a time when using the local bounty and canning foods throughout the year was done out of necessity, not an evolving public moral consciousness.

Chefs are adding complexity to dishes with these interesting preserved elements.

"The lamb ribs from Rhubarb restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina perfectly walk the line between savory and sweet. And that line is succulence. I'm going out on a lamb here and saying these are the best ribs I've ever had," says Hannah Hart, host of the Food Network show I Hart Food.

ASHEVILLE - John Fleer, whose sure hand with Appalachian ingredients drives Rhubarb and its bakery The Rhu, has a new restaurant in the works.

Farm-to-table and hyper-local cooking has been on trend for so many years that many in this category don't see themselves in terms of a movement anymore, but as people making food as food is supposed to be made.

Southerners make barbecue, fried chicken, and biscuits better than anywhere else in the world. But anyone who thinks Southern food is limited to those dishes hasn't been here in awhile. Our ever-changing region is at the forefront of what's new in the food world, and this list of our readers' favorite new restaurants is evidence of that. As part of our annual South's Best Awards survey, we asked for your favorite recently opened spots, and you responded with a list that is as diverse as the South itself.

Asheville is one of The South's Best Food Towns, selected by the editors of Garden & Gun. See all of the cities here. Do you agree with our picks? Disagree? Have your say on Facebook orTwitter. #SouthernFoodTowns

Our farm came with a generations-old planting of rhubarb. Thick clumps of red-gold stalks with heart-shaped green leaves rimmed the inherited garden. Our neighbor Roy planted the perennial vegetables as a young man, and even though the land was under our cultivation, he still had a stake in making sure his rhubarb survived.

More and more in my travels, I'm discovering that destinations are really upping their game when it comes to their food scene. Asheville is no exception. Food isn't what first comes to mind when I think of Asheville, but my Asheville food tour showed me that this North Carolina city definitely has it going on!

Discover some of America's best dishes with YouTube star Hannah Hart. She samples huevos yucatecos, lamb ribs and kimchi mac and cheese all across the country.

Asheville offers incredible variety when it comes to food and drink, but deciding where to eat (and once there, what to eat) can be overwhelming. Here's a guide to some of the best places and dishes to eat in Foodtopia.

Would you rather be home for the holidays or gone? If you chose the latter, you're not alone. Call it the new holiday and winter tradition. Fueled by demographics, the sharing of photos on social media and shifting consumer trends, more Americans are choosing to take a trip instead of gathering at home.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - A well-stocked home bar can make or break a holiday party. From trendy cocktails to classic combinations, a little mixology can go a long way toward memorable entertaining in Western North Carolina.

Award-winning restaurants, crafty cocktails, and so very much beer awaits you in this North Carolina gem.

Ah, autumn. The season for cozy sweaters, apple picking, foliage admiring and, of course, pumpkin spice... everything. The pumpkin spice latte, in particular, is so pervasive that it has become synonymous with all things basic. (Google the beverage, and you'll find a lot of jokes about white girls in yoga pants guzzling Starbucks and telling you their favorite things about fall.)

For the second year in a row, Ole Shakey's Getaway's Great American Jerk Off looks to honor and celebrate an American tradition that dates back centuries. The competition invites both professional and amateur chefs to shave, strip, season and dehydrate their meats as a way to showcase and highlight the wide range of flavors and interpretations available in beef jerky.

Metaphorically, the tables were set months ago as chef John Fleer began to dream up what would become A Seat at the Table. This inaugural event was held on the evening of May 9 at Fleer's The Rhu and Rhubarb. The event was invite-only and sold out weeks in advance.

Saturday, May 6, marks the start of the 13th annual Asheville Artisan Bread Bakers' Festival on Asheville's A-B Tech campus. The two-day event offers the chance for bread enthusiasts and professional bakers to get together and celebrate bread, hone their baking techniques, explore ideas and network within the artisan bread community.

Asheville has a lot of nicknames - Foodtopia, Ashevegas, Sante Fe East. But "quirky" is the name it really earns. An easy two-hour drive from Charlotte (everyone has their favorite route, but the simplest is I-85 to U.S. 321 North to I-40), it's close enough that you can spend a day or a weekend.

In creating the recipe for a James Beard Foundation Awards finalist, the city of Asheville is starting to appear regularly as a key ingredient. Often described as the Oscars of the culinary world, the James Beard Foundation Awards honor the best in cuisine and food literature.

ASHEVILLE - Local chef John Fleer of downtown Asheville's Rhubarb is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Southeast 2017.

Southerners eat fried chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is why so many of us are self-professed experts. For this list, though, we turned to real professionals-seventy-some people who truly know fried chicken, from chefs with their own famous recipes to seasoned food and travel writers and G&G contributors.

Mountain backdrops, hippie charm, and literary bona fides have enthralled generations of Asheville visitors. Add a craft beer boom and thriving arts scene to that scenic history, and the appeal of the city and its lively neighborhoods has never been quite so sky-high.

The James Beard Foundation announced Wednesday its list of Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists for the 27th annual James Beard Foundation Awards. Asheville had two semifinalists this year, both in the Best Chef Southeast category. John Fleer, chef of Rhubarb and The Rhu, is vying for the same title as Elliott Moss, the Buxton Hall Barbecue chef who this year also released his first cookbook.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) - A local restaurant owner has more than just a connection to Mary Tyler Moore. Rhubarb's owner John Fleer used to be her personal chef.

Asheville's food scene is exploding. But there's something else drawing crowds to this postmodern utopia that celebrates both its regional past and the global zeitgeist.

To be sure, food is the centerpiece of Susi Gott Séguret's luxurious new book, Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America. The pages, awash with rich images of Madison County vistas, pop with over 100 recipes that let fresh Appalachian-grown ingredients shine.

On one side of the bar, primitive tools and shield-like menu boards evoke a medieval times vibe opposite framed pictures of Tom Selleck and Sloth from The Goonies - who are also painted in a mural on a full side of the building exterior. The sun has just set and though it's our third brewery stop, Burial Beer Co. is the first to become crowded and chaotic.

John Currence, one of the most celebrated chefs in the South, is coming to Asheville Oct. 19 for a special meal at Rhubarb.

Most upscale restaurants have them, as do many neighborhood pubs. They can serve as an appetizer, a dessert (if you want to eat like a European) or even as a meal unto themselves. Cheese plates are as adaptable and unique as the chefs and restaurants that prepare them, so Mountain Xpress recently undertook an exploration of Asheville's cultured offerings.

The past year has been a bit of a whirlwind for Rhubarb pastry chef Kaley Laird. While working last year as executive chef at San Francisco's Aveline, Laird decided she needed a change. She quit her job, and, while planning a cross-country trek to reunite with her family in New York City, she thought she might as well also try out for the Food Network program "Chopped."

Asheville is a lovely town in North Carolina where hipsters meet farmers, artists meet artisans, street food meets street people, and where adventurous restaurants lure masses of hungry tourists.

Anyone on the East Coast who hankers for a San Francisco-styled getaway without the five-hour plane ride should consider Asheville. It's a miniature version of San Francisco with its sophisticated culinary crowd, abundant outdoor offerings and legions of craft beer (rather than wine) enthusiasts. In fact, it is fair to say you could spend the entire weekend visiting breweries (Asheville boasts more breweries per capita than any US city) and tasting from over 100 different selections, but then you'd miss out on the rest of this city's deliciousness.

It was an obvious choice for chef John Fleer to select Chapel Hill cookbook author Sheri Castle to be the inaugural presenter for the new demonstration kitchen at his Asheville anchor restaurant, Rhubarb. Castle's newest cookbook, a small pamphlet numbered volume 20 in the Short Stack Editions cookbook series, focuses entirely on ways to prepare the namesake plant of Fleer's well-known eatery. But in offering myriad ways to cook an underutilized but readily available food grown by local farmers, Castle's book also relates to Fleer's overall mission.

John Fleer, chef at Asheville's Rhubarb, put barbecue sauce on our oysters and pea purée in our pie at his SAVEUR Supper

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (April 12, 2016) - Rhubarb's Chef John Fleer is once again teaming up with Catawba Brewing Co., for the fourth iteration of dinner on the farm at Hickory Nut Gap Farm (HNGF). On Tuesday, April 19, at 6 p.m., the Appalachian trio will join forces for a multi-course beer pairing dinner at the recently revamped event space at HNGF, the Big Barn.

ASHEVILLE - Chefs and culinary leaders from around the country will arrive here next week for the first Chef Action Network salon, focusing on food policies at the state and local levels.

The transformation of the three-floor space that once housed the French Broad Chocolate Lounge to Rhubarb owner John Fleer's newest project, The Rhu Bakery, Café and Pantry, is not yet complete. But even amid the din of power tools, it is easy to imagine it filled with Fleer's planned displays of locally sourced cheeses, meats and bread, and with tables ready for customers to plug in their laptops and settle down with a coffee and pastry. The target opening is in late December.

HENRY JAMES WASN'T much taken with Asheville, the small mountain town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. The novelist spent a week there in 1905 as a guest at Biltmore, George Vanderbilt's 250-room French Renaissance home. "It is a strange gorgeous colossus," he wrote to Edith Wharton, "in a vast void of desolation."

In its second summer, Rhubarb is already planting seeds for an expansion. James Beard-decorated chef John Fleer has leased the three-story space on Lexington Avenue that previously was home to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. The FBCL has since moved to a more high-profile spot on Pack Square.

The American South is a land seemingly devised for road tripping. It keeps journeyers rapt with beauty and eccentricity and contradiction: A drive through the majestic Great Smokies can lead to Dollywood; a day spent on an Everglades alligator farm might segue into a night drifting around South Beach. For the food-obsessed, I wager that no Southern road trip itinerary brings more pleasure than a west-to-east trek across North Carolina.

What chef and owner John Fleer does every Sunday evening at Rhubarb restaurant in Asheville didn't originate with a proverbial aha! moment. It began with a graduate school thesis he started writing as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill: the dinner table as a model for building ethical and aesthetic communities. That mouthful, if you will, has evolved into his Sunday Suppers, where diners gather at communal tables to enjoy a three-course meal served family-style, in bowls, rather than selected from a menu and plated in the restaurant kitchen.

Over breakfast at the Beard House in Greenwich Village, James Beard Foundation president Susan Ungaro announced the final nominees for the 25th annual James Beard awards.

There is no better region to eat in than the South. Am I biased? Yes. Do I care? No. And you won't either once you see what these hyper-talented, uber-creative chefs are doing all over the South, from reinventing Southern cuisine in Charleston to recreating the entire dining experience in Atlanta and re-establishing Oxford as the best college town in the world for eating and drinking and wearing bow ties.

ASHEVILLE - The James Beard Award nominations for restaurants and chefs came out Wednesday. Asheville is represented well for a town only 80,000 strong, with a strong showing in the Oscars of the food world.

From a distance, Asheville, N.C., comes across as the Jan Brady of restaurant markets in the South. Charleston, S.C., and Nashville have been hogging the food stage for years now. "There's no Eater in Asheville," says Jacob Sessoms, the chef-owner of Table, one of the top tables in town, referencing the online city dining guide.

After leaving his post at Blackberry Farm, the chef is back with two Blue Ridge restaurants and visions of a new kind of Foothills Cuisine

We asked the chef to design his perfect Asheville day-from first light to lights out

Bon Appétit magazine's 50 nominees for America's best new restaurants 2014, selected by Andrew Knowlton.

Asheville's getting some big love in the food glossies this month. Local chef John Fleer is particularly in the spotlight.

Rhubarb season is relatively short (it's only April through June) but the herbaceous perennial vegetable has become one of the trendiest seasonal ingredients. The tart stalks of deep ruby seem to be cropping up in juices, syrups and pies everywhere.

Chef John Fleer is taking the traditional American idea of family and friends gathering around a table for a Sunday evening meal to a new level. Fleer's Pack Square restaurant, Rhubarb, is reimagining its current Thursday evening Family Meal as Sunday Supper, a celebration of the abundance of area farms in a communal dining setting that is appropriate - and enjoyable - for all ages and includes local farmers as guests.

What makes a great food city isn't necessarily Michelin stars or food trucks per capita. While NYC, LA, and Chicago have always shined brightest, and upstarts like Austin and Portland might be the kings of meals on wheels, there are a ton of cities out there where tradition and innovation mix into unique melting pots... full of melting food.

In the new, regular interview series Behind the Bar, Michael Franco talks to some of the talented men and women who keep the beer, wine and spirits flowing at some of Asheville's favorite watering holes.

Vibrant spring blooms in the northern hemisphere and dazzling autumn displays in the southern make this the perfect season to get outside and walk, hike, or take a scenic drive. Use our editors' list of 10 best spring trip destinations as the launching pad for an active-and colorful-spring getaway. -Maryellen Kennedy Duckett

OpenDoors of Asheville hosts its "Art Affair 2014: One Night in New Orleans" art auction and gala Saturday, March 1. More than a dozen restaurants, bars and social lounges will lend a hand by donating food and beverages to the local charity's annual fundraiser. The goal is to raise vital funds for programs and services to eliminate multigenerational child poverty in Asheville.