 |
|
| Office: | 828-771-7962 |
| Cell: | 828-242-9589 |
| Contact Kathleen | |
| Quick Search | |
Enter identifying MLS
numbers below
 separated by commas and click-on Search: |
|
It's always fun to go somewhere new, but's it's a hassel when not knowing where you can the necessities in life when you want them! Where to go to get a good steak, a great ice cream cone, or even find a well-stocked grocery store while you're traveling can make things far easier. What places are good, and what we would have wished to have passed on, are good things to know about beforehand. Especially when you're thinking about moving here and making a piece of your favorite Asheville Real Estate your home, it's always handy to quickly know where it's recommended to "get stuff" and become familiar with the best places to shop and eat, and well, generally live within our communities.
So, with that in mind, I've taken the opportunity to share with a few of my favorite things in Asheville that may interest you, especially if you're new in the area and would like a few recommendations as to what are the best Supermarkets, Dry Cleaners, Pizza Places, etc, and what to expect: (The following are unsolicited opinions and represent my own personal feelings alone.)
It's my hope that as your Asheville Real Estate Broker and Realtor, this convenience will make your real estate experience even more pleasant and satisfying, and give you a hand in getting to love Asheville as I do.... Also, check out my Asheville Useful Links page which features a lot of other information about Asheville, such as handy links for getting your automobile and driving license changed, etc, that just makes everything easier.
My
Favorite Dry Cleaners:
For the best quality cleaning care and consistent customer service,
go to
Swannanoa's Cleaners: 6 locations around town.
They've been here since 1900! Call for your nearest location:
274-7550.
Frankly, the others are often not that knowledgeable, consistent, or friendly....
My
Favorite Specialty Cheese Market: And if you really like cheese the way I do, try visiting
Ferrence Cheese, Inc.
on 174-A Weaverville Hwy,
call 828-658-3101, (retail and wholesale) who offer the best selection of cheeses in
Asheville for over 40 years; offering up to 230 varieties of cheese to select
from, including sealed quarter rounds of aged Parmigano Reggiano (the real
thing), Pecorino Romano, Locatelli Romano, Asiago, Fontinella, Double and triple
cream Brie's, Camembert's, assorted sharp cheddars, good imported canned Virgin
and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and fine chocolates. Also,
Earth Fare
supermarket (see below) on the south side of Asheville on Hendersonville Road
has a surprisingly if not tremendous cheese department with offerings from all
over the world, especially full rounds of Parmigano Reggiano and some of the
sharpest cheddars you'll come across.
My
Favorite Ice Cream Parlor-Store:
If you like ice cream as much as I do, try visiting
The
Marble Slab
Creamery,
located in downtown Asheville at 14 Biltmore
Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801; Tel:
828-225-5579, and their newest locale
on Hendersonville Road at Gerber Village. It's great to find
a place that really does make its own Fresh Ice Cream
(a special process that takes 2 days to harden at -20 degrees and then brought
back to 0 to 5 degrees for serving), from scratch with all natural
ingredients right there on the premises, and then served up in a home-made
freshly baked and rolled waffle cone (choose your flavor of cone as well)!
Real Super-Premium Homemade Ice Cream made just like when you were a kid, in a
host of 44 nostalgic flavors (including Double Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Cinnamon,
Butter Pecan, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Mint, Maple, Egg Nog, Banana Rum,
Chocolate
Amaretto, Apple 'n' Spice, Old Fashioned Strawberry, Coconut, and even Bubblegum to
name just a few!). And they go the extra mile with loads of delectable
toppings that they then hand blend on a frozen cold marble slab (kept at 28 to
30 degrees) right before your eyes. It just doesn't get better!
Unless of course, you're addicted to other desserts as well, including
nonfat Soft-Serve Frozen Yogurt, Smoothies, Shakes and Malts, Sundaes, Banana
Splits, Ice Cream Cakes and Pies, Homemade Cookies and Brownies, Fresh-Baked
Apple Pie and Gourmet Coffees, because they serve all of these as well....
So, you better plan on spending some time there! Also, you must try
French Fryz on Hendersonville Road, just a half block south of Long Shoals. A
better homemade ice cream milk shake cannot be had in all the world!
This is a must for ice cream milk shake hounds! They serve their own charcoaled grilled hamburgers
and hotdogs as well, and their French Fries are all hand cut and prepared--never
frozen..., tasty, salty and hot!
My
Favorite Supermarkets:
The Fresh Market out on 944 Merrimon Avenue (Tel:
252-9098) in Northeast Asheville is clearly the best overall specialty Supermarket
in town for the best fresh
cut meats featuring fully marbled USDA PRIME AGED BEEF, as well
as the more economical USDA
Choice Beef (the next USDA grade down), large organic chickens, turkeys, fresh lamb, excellent cuts of
NC Pork and slab
bacon, all in their old-style butcher section, as well as fresh Fish (Seasonal Ocean and
Fresh Water) and great year-round
fresh
produce (consistently the best in Asheville), fresh baked breads and
pastries, fantastic customer service and quick check-out, although a little low on sundry
items and their Deli is a little disappointing but sufficient, except for their wine selection,
which offers an outstanding selection. For sundry items go to
Harris Teeter
(so-called upper-end supermarket) on Hendersonville Road right by the Blue Ridge Parkway who also feature fresh
baked French and Tuscan Breads, as well as a fairly good wine selection, or try
Ingles Supermarkets. Ingles
is a
large, modern, and very clean NC chain
comparable to any chain in the USA with great store-to-store consistency
offering most common national brands, and you can conveniently find one all over
Asheville. Their newest to open soon is the largest in NC, located
directly across from Earth Fare on Hendersonville Road and Mills gap.
Go to
Earth Fare
---
2 Asheville locations: First, newest and finest on Hendersonville Road
right before Mills Gap Road (across the street from Ingles), and the second in the West Gate Shopping Mall for
Organic, Natural, and especially Whole Bulk Foods, offering a good selection of Nutritional Supplements,
Nutraceuticals, and Homeopathics as well, although you pay full retail.
Also stop in at the
WNC Farmer's Market
right off of I-40 and Brevard Road for good selection of local specialties
(local honeys and jams) and
Seasonal Produce as well. It's also recommended that you travel to
Sam's Club for
a variety of bulk foods and household items, with a good meat section and a
friendly staff of butchers that offer a broad range
of cuts of Choice Beef, Pork, Lamb, and organic Chicken, as well as fully
prepared
foods such as rotisserie roasted chickens (the best in town!),
Koshered Hot Dogs" (Hebrew National---juicy and fantastic on the
grill if you're a hotdog lover!), some seafood (fresh shucked Oysters, lump Crab
meat, whole slabs of farmed Salmon,
frozen King Crab & Shrimp, and an excellent offering of fresh fish every
weekend,
including fresh caught haddock, swordfish, Clip, Grouper, NC farm fresh Tilapia, Catfish etc.), fresh baked
Hoagie Rolls and assorted Muffins, as well as other specials throughout the
year, including bulk vegetables (potatoes,
onions, etc), Hearts of Romaine, Peppers, Mushrooms,
Artichokes, and the
standard fruit fare of apples, grapefruits, oranges, etc,
and a large frozen foods section including a smorgasbord of hors d'oeuvres &
snacks, and a fair selection of cheeses (St. Andre's Triple Cream Brie, Havarti,
Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar, etc.) at a good price.
My Favorite
Hotels: Two Hotels stand
above all else in the area:
The Inn at Biltmore Estate (1-800-624-1575;
$229-$449
per night) and the
Grove Park Inn-Resort & Spa
(1-800-438-5800; $90-$730 per night). Both are as
good, if not better, than Ritz-Carlton's in accommodations and amenities.
The Inn at Biltmore Estate, a 4-Star and 4-Diamond Hotel, is actually
beautifully situated within the Biltmore Estate itself, and offers all the
comforts and fun of a fine Estate over a hundred years ago, with its own winery,
extensive gardens, the world famous Biltmore House, and a host of other
activities. The Grove Park Inn-Resort & Spa also has a fully
functioning Health Spa housed within its facility, its own prestigious 18-hole
Golf Course first opened in 1899, and is of international fame for the last 100
years. Quite adequate, if not beautifully appointed rooms, can be found at
the
Renaissance Asheville (1-828-252-8211;
$129-$179 per night) in the heart of the City, and pleasant accommodations are
had at the
Biltmore
Inns (1-866-613-9330; $45-$105 per night) with an
adjoining TGIF's for
fast and good food fare. Also quite accommodating is the
Hampton Inn (1-800-255-9220) on Tunnel Road just
outside the City.
A comfortable
Super Eight Motel-Biltmore East (828-277-1800)
also on Tunnel Road allows you to bring your pets into your rooms, if need be:
this motel will give you a 10% discount realtor rate when requested. A
complete line of Asheville's Hotels can be found also by
clicking here. And
all of Asheville's Bed & Breakfasts can be found
here.
My Favorite Pizza:
I know it's a "chain," but rather surprisingly,
Papa John's Pizza is the best by a mile---especially
if you tell them not to cut it, and throw it on your own hot pizza stone in your
home oven with extra garlic for extra crisping! Fantastic! Best
crust by far ---
from their own homemade dough that takes 3 days to cure and rise ---
"L'ancient" method of rising. Now that's real Italian and hand thrown! Thin and Original Crust (not thick crust: Chicago Style). Fairly good
spicy sauce and condiments; offering
mild as well as hot Italian sausage. Better consistency than any in town,
even better than the so-called specialty pizza places, and they
deliver! 3 city-wide locations.
My Favorite Submarine Sandwich:
Founded by Firemen, Firehouse Subs are the best by far.
Everything is oven-steam-baked and oven-broiled (except chicken salad and tuna
salad subs), so the subs are always hot, juicy and the most flavor-filled
around. Lean Smoked Brisket and Pastrami, as are all meats, are always
separately steamed and then oven-baked in the sub. Always tender.
Always juicy. Meatballs/sauce are spicy and hot. Closest thing
to NYC you can get. Steak sub with melted provolone, sautéed onion and
bell peppers is right out of Philadelphia. Generous portions (much
better than Subway), fresh bread/sub rolls have excellent crust to crumb
ratio (nicely proportioned) and room enough in the place to sit down and eat
while on the go. Two city locations: Tunnel Road and Long Shoals Road.
My
Favorite Restaurants:
Please note: I like good
service with good, rich and tasty but simple fare, and I'm not impressed with nouveau-trendiness
(as in "vertical" food placement)
which seems rampant across the USA. With that in mind I can recommend
two places for seafood: The Lobster Trap
in downtown Asheville, (828-350-0505) voted #1 in WNC: great for its rustic
fresh oyster bar, clam steamers, Maine lobsters--clam-bake style, and other
fresh assorted seafood, offering good food in an informal atmosphere.
Out on Long Shoals and I-26,in
the Biltmore Park Town Square, there are a fine selection of
restaurants (clustered around the Movie theatres) that are worth attending
to for a night out on the town. One in particular is P.F.Chang's China Bistro,
an absolute must for upscale great Chinese Cuisine. Excellent quality,
great menu and assortment of authentic Asian bistro and popular
Chinese vendor "street-foods" from the grill, steamed and stir-fried.
Double fried noodles are fantastic, and their garlic noodles scream as well.
Good roomy seating with modern Asian decor. It's one of the
consistently best
Chinese restaurants there are in the U.S.A.--- most popular in Arizona and
California. Carrabba's Italian Grill on
10 Buckstone Place,
just off of Tunnel Road (828-281-2300) and a second location
out off of Airport Road, just a stones throw from Lowes and Best Buy, is
consistently good for Sicilian Italian food, though they serve dinner only. In the heart of downtown
Asheville is Da Vincenzo's Restorante & Bistro
(828-254-4698) offers a good Northern Italian menu which is a little more formal
and upscale with its own adjoining Bistro
Bar and nightly live music; serving dinner only; call for dinner reservations to
avoid disappointment. At 620 Hendersonville Road is
Province 620 (828-277-0355) which offers a delightfully large and varied
solid American menu, catering to fresh fish and thick hand-cut steak eaters alike;
all large portions uniquely served with music from the 40's. Finally,
Frankie Bones further out on Hendersonville road in the Gerber Village
Center offers a robust American-Italian upscale menu open for lunch and dinner 7-days a
week, and also serving Sunday Brunch---it's best to call for dinner reservations
(1-828-274-7111) as it is very popular
locally. On the more informal side of things, of course our local
TGI Fridays at Biltmore Village and Ruby
Tuesdays on the Airport Road (across from Carrabba's) are always good for prime burgers,
steaks and
salads, as well as Tripp's Restaurant
in the center of Downtown. For a good thick
hand-cut steak when you're in a hurry
(and just stone's throw from TGI Fridays) is the Texas
Roadhouse; it is surprisingly good (though there is no prime beef
offered) and very, very casual if you don't mind castaway peanut shells
on the floor--but the peanuts are good!
My Favorite
Pharmacy, Vitamin & Supplement Store:
Fortunately, Asheville has
Nature's Pharmacy an excellent
on-site Compounding Pharmacy that deals informatively and professionally with
their clientele, offering single and combination herbs, Homeopathics, as well as
fulfilling prescriptions and compounding them right within their own lab. I
also recommend the online shop called the
Vitamin Shoppe,
which offers great variety (all the brands) as well as good discounts, including
40% off retail of their own Vitamin Shoppe label. They ship nationwide,
keep
your old order so that it's easy to reorder and are consistently of higher
quality than most others according to those in the know! The best place
(on or off line) for over-the-counter Free Form (non-configured) Amino Acids is
JoMar Laboratories offering pharmaceutical grade amino acids in capsules and in powder form:
their "21 Pure Form" formula is an "essential" for me.
In case you didn't know, Amino Acids are critically more important and even more
necessary and essential than plain vitamins, for keeping us young, healthy and
disease free. Lastly, for a great array of astutely formulated
Nutraceuticals, go
to
Life
Extension Foundation and become a member to save up to
40%. Life Extension is a global authority on health,
wellness and nutrition
as well as a respected provider of scientific
information on disease prevention. They supply only the highest quality premium
grade dietary supplements, minerals, herbs and vitamins.
My
Favorite Car Wash:
For the best in the South of
Asheville for detailing and general
cleaning
try
Chammies Car Wash on Hendersonville Road which includes a Jiffy-Lube
bay as well ($10+)! For quick drive-through offering completely automatic bays, try the
Blue Ridge Laser Wash on Hendersonville road--nothing touches
the vehicle but high pressure water--no
brushes or cloths but you get a clean
and thorough wash/wax with no-spot rinse and a blow dry ($6-$10)!
My Favorite Banks:
Two solid banks in Asheville
offer outstanding customer and banking service that go beyond the call of duty.
First Citizen's Bank
and the
Bank
of Asheville are both recommended
without hesitation for all your banking needs. They are as competitive with all
of the bigger national banks (such as Bank of America) but offer a neighborly experience that is outstanding and often unexpected!
These are locally owned and economically conservative.
My Favorite Movie
Theaters:
Carmicke 10 Cinemas:
great picture, great sound and acoustics 
(all theaters feature digital
picture and sound:
DLP-Digital Projection and full Digital THX, Dolby sound), and great,
large, comfortable rocking seats with good viewing;
no difficulty in seeing over the person in front of you--
the best in Asheville, but alas, skimpy and poor popcorn! New:
Regal's Biltmore Grande Stadium 15: All digital picture and
sound in 15 theaters. Good and amply serviced concession stand, decent
popcorn. Stadium seating is generally preferred, but
the seats in this theater are poorly designed --- very narrow and
uncomfortable with little padding --- like sitting in "coach" on an airline.
Makes you wonder who designed the seating for these theaters in the first
place. UA Beaucatcher 7 Theaters: a little
older but still nice (digital sound only-no digital projection), larger seats
with lots of leg room --- second best in Asheville with regards to the theater
experience, but offers a better concession stand & much better popcorn.
Biltmore 6: At the Biltmore
Square Mall, offering 6 average theaters. Regal
Hollywood Cinemas 14: although offering a lot of theaters, good movie
choice, and pretty good
popcorn, in my opinion it often offers a poor (out of focused) picture, consistently bad
sound (muffled), consistently uncomfortable, often broken
seats--especially in the bigger theaters on the aisles--and generally in need of
a serious upgrade! For a current
listing of all movies currently showing (and their showing-times) in all Asheville
movie theaters, Click
here.
My Favorite
Cell Phone Service:
Verizon (Bell) will give you the best coverage
all over the hills and valleys of Asheville and throughout North Carolina.
US Cellular gives the next best coverage, although SunCom (ATT) is new and will soon give satellite
coverage that promises to exceed the coverage of even Verizon..., but that
remains to be seen.
To my mind, US Sprint offers the worst coverage (most sporadic)
in the area.
My Favorite Equestrian
Center: Located on the
Biltmore Estate, the
Biltmore Estate Equestrian Center is the best
horseback riding and boarding facility in the area catering to both eastern and
western riding styles and their clientele, with unsurpassed riding trails (100+
miles), riding lessons, competitions and showings, and numerous other national events
(Show & Endurance).
Also offers hourly western trail rides with supervision and skilled trail guides for all your guests
and friends.
My
Favorite Bicycle Store:
Liberty Bicycles on 1376 Hendersonville Road will take care of all your bicycling needs, with
quick attention to all mechanical and repair problems with on-hand store
mechanics to fit and fix your bike to your personal needs. A wide and
beautiful selection of bikes for the bike enthusiast are always in stock, and
available for any price point, to the casual weekender to the sports enthusiast
for both you and your wheels, as
well as a good selection of accessories and safety equipment and bike
mounts/carriers for your car. Call them at 828-274-2453.
My
Favorite Plant Nursery:
For some of the freshest
plants and best if not largest
selection go to
B.B.Barnes out on
Sweeten Creek Road! You can find
everything that the ardent gardener needs, including high quality hardware and
gardening accessories. Not to be forgotten, Home Depot and
Lowes off of the ring road, I-240, also have good
plants at the right time of the year, and some good sales too! For good
bargains, try the
Farmers' Market as well,
especially in the spring when annuals and perennials are in good stock!
Call 828-650-7300.
My
Favorite Kitchen and Bathroom Counter-Tops:
As a realtor, I have learned a lot about kitchen
and bathroom counter-top materials. The newest material, and now by far
the best in so many ways, is made by
CAMBRIA,
the only producer of quartz surfaces here in America. This product is
100% natural quartz--having the look and feel of granite with superior
performance, being much harder than even granite (which by the way is a stone
made from 50-70% quartz and softer minerals). Cambria quartz comes in any
color imaginable, never needs resealing (like granite and marble do) and is 100%
food safe
(granite is not as food juices can penetrate the surface---bet you
didn't know that!).
Because its
virtually non-absorbent, there is no worry of food or bacteria like
salmonella or e-coli penetrating CAMBRIA stone.
That's why CAMBRIA received NSF
certification----National
Sanitation Foundation International (NSF) is required for commercial
kitchen Splash Zones, and Food Zones---This is the same certification level as
stainless steel. Most homeowners don't understand
that Granite requires sealing and is not NSF certified. Visit
their website to learn more about this wonderful material before you do any
remodeling! There are places here in town that carry Cambria Quartz.
My
Favorite Water Heater: For some of us, paying to heat water
around the
clock is intuitively
inefficient.
Rinnai
Continuum
Water Heaters move us into the future....without the bulk and limitations of
a tank....being 50-80% more efficient than
conventional tank water-heaters and providing up to 8 1/2 gallons per minute of hot
water on demand. With advanced keypads placed anywhere you want, the
temperature of the water can be reset instantly, for immediate hot water without
the bulk and trouble of a water-heater. Go to
Rinnai
to learn more about the future of heating water on demand!
My
Favorite Plumbers:
Mr. Rooter Plumbers
1-877-766-8305:
Finally,
here are some local professional plumbers that actually show up at your door
when they promised! And they're available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, and
no extra charge for the odd hours! And they actually show up at the exact
hour they promise----no "we'll be there between 12-4 pm" kind of thing....
There is no extra charge for nights or weekends, you know the price before they
start, and there's never an overtime charge. These plumbers are clean and
professional: they even come with their own floor mats and place
disposable surgical booties over their shoes before entering your home, and they
get it fixed right the first time. All workmanship and parts are guaranteed.
These are the only reliable plumbers in the area. Believe me!! Call
Mr. Rooter Plumbing today!
My
Favorite Appliance Store:
Haywood Appliance (1-828-627-0001 and 1-800-849-0235)
where you can buy where the builders buy, and at a good discount that
generally
beats the national chain
stores! Located in Clyde, North Carolina, they’re just
a short 30 minute drive from Asheville out on I-40 west, and service all
counties in Western North Carolina. Aside from having
great prices, what sets
us apart from the rest is their commitment to 100% customer satisfaction.
Please ask for Mr. Steve Adams in sales who will take care of your every
desire. Haywood
provides prompt and courteous delivery, and maintain their own service
and parts department. They are authorized sales and service dealers of all
the finest brands on the market including Sub-Zero, Viking, Wolf, Thermador,
Gaggenau, Bosch, Maytag, Miele, Monogram, and more. If you can't find
it here, they don't make it! They carry all major appliances, and will
deliver and setup, as well as haul away the old for you it you want. Check
out their website by just clicking on their name above.
Remember: Buying and selling a luxury home or finding that special piece of Asheville Real
Estate with Kathleen Blanchette,
a fully licensed Asheville Real Estate Broker and Realtor, is a comprehensive and thoroughly professional
experience in buying and selling Asheville Real Estate throughout the Blueridge
and Smokey Mountains, where efficiency, personal regard and concierge services are
guaranteed every step of the way. Keeping the Tradition of Integrity...,
and a Reputation for Results!
Whether its a North Carolina luxury homes on your own Private Mountain Estate
in one of our uniquely designed plush Golfing Communities, Exclusive Gated Communities,
Active Adult Communities, surrounding Lake Communities, or a great Condominium,
Loft or Townhome, all of Greater Asheville and Hendersonville Luxury Homes are within reach with Kathleen Blanchette. Feel Free to browse the entire website of all available Greater Asheville Real Estate
MLS and Western North Carolina MLS,
for all Asheville Real Estate Properties, Land Acreage, Horse farms, Investment
Properties, Commercial Real Estate, New Home Plans, as well as handy relocation
and moving calculators, tips for buying and selling a house,
city and school reports, and more. Just call us when you're ready to move
ahead!
Asheville Real Estate
|
Asheville NC Real Estate MLS Property Search in All 9 Counties
