ASHEVILLE DINING: THE ADMIRAL

I was nearby over NYE for a wedding, and I made sure to squeeze in an evening for another meal in Asheville.  THIS visit, the destination was:

THE ADMIRAL

West Asheville

400 Haywood Road

Asheville, NC 28806

There's limited parking, so you have to drive around a little to snag a spot.  The outside of the restaurant is nondescript: concrete block building with a few lights - very easy to miss.  Then when you enter, there is outside seating (not going to happen in December in NC!), and you pass through the front door into one room - that's the entire restaurant.  It's very casual and on the dark side.The hostess checked our reservation and seated us in a booth quickly.

 We began our evening by perusing the latest menu (which changes often we were told):

 It took awhile, but our server finally came and greeted us and took our drink orders.  The drinks were fine - good, not great.

The restaurant at 6:00pm (the ONLY time I could get with 4 weeks of planning) was jam-packed.

We decided we'd go with a sampling of small plates, and the dishes would be coming out as they were prepared.

OWL BAKERY BREAD: CHARRED BUTTER OF OLIVE OIL

 

The bread was very good - and we were hungry, so it helped take away hunger pangs.

Next up:

SCALLOP CRUDO: POTATO CHIPS, COUNTRY HAM, PINE OIL

This dish^^^ was AMAZING!  We absolutely loved it!  So many combinations of flavors from the creamy scallops to the salty/crisp potato chips with a tangy sauce.  So so good.

Then our next dish arrived:

GOAT CHEESE TART: FRISE, PICKLED RED ONIONS, WALNUT

This dish was just OK.  The frise was ridiculously good, but the goat cheese tart was cold and hard.  I didn't love it.

The beef tartare was fabulous!  The creamy egg yolk was nice and the cheddar with pickled onions and cornichons - such a great combination of flavors!

BEEF TARTARE: EGG YOLK, CHEDDAR, CORNICHONS, CHILE AIOLI, PICKLED RED ONION, BREAD


We also sampled the smoked capicola.  It tasted good but it wasn't a home run.

SMOKED CAPICOLA: BROCCOLI, FRIED GARLIC, WHIPPED CURDS

We wanted something crunchy and healthy, so we went with the radicchio small plate.  It was delish!! The crunchy radicchio with the creamy goat cheese schmeer on the bottom was to die for!

 RADICCHIO: GOAT CHEESE MOUSSE, PEANUT, ORANGE, PICKLED FENNEL

THEN, the next dish arrived! OMG!  My husband and I were fighting for the last bite here.  Who fights over CAULIFLOWER???  The description doesn't do it justice!  Much like the scallop crudo, there was such a great combination of flavors.  I can't describe it adequately - just am saying that if you go, you MUST order this dish - SO great!

 CAULIFLOWER: CAROLINA GOLD RICE, TUMERIC, CARROT GREENS

Our final dish was the shrimp dish.  It was good (albeit a little heavy handed with the garlic).  But the presentation wasn't the best.  You can't even tell that there are shrimp on the plate in my photo.  But the dish was good; I especially liked the leek, and the shrimp was cooked perfectly.

 SHRIMP: CHARRED GARLIC, LEEK, BREAD CRUMBS, CHILI OIL

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at The Admiral.  It IS a bit loud, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a romantic date night spot?  And the service was good, but it wasn't outstanding.  It felt like the workers know that they've got a great spot and therefore they don't really need to sell the food or the restaurant to you.  Our waiter was knowledgable and friendly enough but not particularly attentive.

Having said all that I'd love to go back and try more dishes - perhaps with friends or with family members.  It's a lively fun spot with some very very good food.  We had a great evening!