Stephanie introduced me to several new things in Clayton, including her friend Jenny who runs Fromage. We started off with a sandwich at the Fromage booth at the Clayton fair. That's Jenny's mom showing us our roast beef and brie sandwich. The sandwich was element and I snuck a taste of their chocolate and peanut butter fudge thingie, which was wonderfully rich.
I took myself to dinner at the restaurant, which is located on a quite side street just down the hill from old main street, and proceeded to overindulge.
I started with a cheese platter. I'm always a sucker for goat cheeses but I also particularly loved the Wisconsin cheese on the left. The fruits and nuts were a superb complement.
Next came the tomato bisque soup. This one was surprising: very creamy and fairly salty. I really liked the combination, it's just very different from the tomato-centric way I make a bisque. (I just take a jar of homemade tomato sauce and throw in a little cream and some herbs.)
I really didn't need an entree, but I couldn't resist the pesto with happy pork belly. The meat portion isn't quite as overwhelming when you consider that a lot of it is fat (my mom trained me to cut off the fat), but it was still very generous, as were the portions of all the courses. The pork was succulent and tender. The pesto did an excellent job of balancing the basil with the cheese and nuts.
I couldn't make it to the dessert course; perhaps next time. Fromage is largely a lunch place, as with many of the establishments in Clayton. But they serve dinners on the fourth Friday and Saturday of the month all summer.
Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.





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