THE PODCAST
The podcast above was originally recorded on 06/30/2025 with Debbie Sprouse & Vance Goodman from Meals on Wheels, Chef Mike Reppert from Blackbird Restaurant, and Greg Garrison (not pictured) from The Hop Ice Cream…
00:00 - 00:42 INTRO: Solo Intro00:43 - 29:34 INTERVIEW: Debbie & Vance From Meals On Wheels ABC29:35 - 31:18 WPVM SPOT Please Donate to WPVM RADIO ASHEVILLE31:19 - 42:23 DREAM DISHES: Chef Mike Reppert From Black Bird’s Corn Pie Prt 242:24 - 54:21 INTERVIEW: Greg Garrison From The hop Ice Cream Talks Collabs54:22 - 56:11 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm!56:12 - 56:53 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank
THE NEWSLETTER
DOERS: Please donate to Meals on Wheels of Asheville & Buncombe Co., Inc. if you are able! They do great things for our area and they are needed now more than ever! ❤
“Our kitchen isn’t just where the food is made; it’s where compassion, community, and care come together. Our culinary team starts their mornings early, chopping, stirring, baking, and seasoning with love. Whether it's comfort food classics or seasonal favorites, they turn ingredients into impact. We're grateful to serve alongside these incredible people, who show up every day with aprons on and hearts wide open. 💛”
DREAMERS PRT 1: I’ve talked about this dream dish twice on the radio show, even though I’ve only ever had it on Food Tours. The picture below shows a tour-sized bite, the actual dish is much larger, but large or small, this dish is a dream come true. And I mean that literally. Chef Mike Reppert from Blackbird Restaurant had a dream one night about a very abstract, five-foot tall vegetarian dish, and when he woke up, he started working on it! It took hime four days, but he perfected it, and I mean that it is perfect!
One the menu, it’s called Goat Cheese Corn Pie, and while it’s not five feet tall, it is a dream to eat! It’s essentially a very savory, comforting, and delicious stack of roasted corn, goat cheese, Swiss chard, and mushrooms atop a very satisfyingly umami-ish pecan crust, with spinach cream and tomato white wine sauce. It has a “gah factor” of 10 out of 10, and I can recommend it highly enough.
DREAMERS PRT 2: One day, Paddy and I went to the SWAsheville food court downtown, where I ordered some chicken tenders from Buxton Chicken Palace, and a single scoop of salted caramel ice cream from The Hop Ice Cream with a waffle cone on the side, and finally lived a dream that I've had for years! How was it? FRICKIN' GREAT! I can't wait to do it again.
For this delicious treat you will need the following:
1 order of chicken tenders from Buxton Chicken Palace.
1 scoop of salted caramel ice cream and
1 waffle cone from The Hop Ice Cream
To assemble, place three chicken tenders into the waffle cone, fill the rest of the way with ice cream, and top with another tender or two.
Tuck in and enjoy!
I lived this dream and so can you, only at the SWAsheville food hall in downtown Asheville. I can't wait to do it again soon! 😍😍😍
PIZZA OF THE MONTH CLUB! He hasn't officially announced it yet, but Chef Drew Peterson from Asheville Pizza South (soon to be Beer City Pizza) is going to turn his Pizza of the Month into a Pizza of the Month CLUB, and since I've only missed one month in two years, I feel like I'm already an honorary member! I'll let him explain the Pizza of the Month Club himself when he's ready, but in the meantime, this month's pizza is frickin' awesome, and my wife said it's her favorite one so far!
It's called the Cerdo Descardo and it's starts with a deep fried blue corn masa pizza dough topped with Birria marinated pork, cotija & other cheeses, salsa verde crema, pickled spicy radish, fresh diced onion & cilantro, with fresh lime wedges to squeeze all over it. It was like eating a big giant crispy street taco, with the flavors just popping from the first bite, and building on every bite after that.
The pickled radish were particularly delicious, as was the crema! The pork was tender, juicy, and subtle in flavor, so as not to overwhelm, but to hold and compliment the punchy vegetable toppings. This was a great pizza, and it's available for the entire month of August! Drew makes the best dang specialty pies I've ever had, month after month, outdoing himself regularly. I'm psyched to be a member of the club in good standing! ❤️🍕❤️
JAMIE AGER FOR CONGRESS: Heeeyyy! Someone from the local food industry is running for congress! I've known Jamie Ager from Hickory Nut Gap (due to our mutual interest in food!) for a bunch of years, and he's a real good guy, who's heart and mind are in the right place. He cares about WNC very much. He cares about people. He's a farmer, a business person, and someone who has multi-generational roots in these mountains.
I support Jamie Ager for Congress, and I hope that you will learn more about him between now and the midterm elections!
ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: This is what the Asheville Food Tours Experience is all about, Y'all! I had a really fun group the other day and we all had a blast visiting Table (pictured), Mountain Madre Asheville, Asheville Bee Charmer, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, White Duck Taco Shop - Asheville, Wildwood Still and Sunshine Sammies!
The next day I got a very nice text message from one of the managers at Twisted Laurel letting me know that my group came back with their kids! Yay! Food Tours are a win win win situation! I have fun, the guests frickin' love it, and our restaurant partners see the positive results of sharing a little bit of their menus and their stories with the tour guests, in the form of return business and great reviews! ❤️❤️❤️
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