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Ultimate party, jammin’ biscuits and where to play video games while drinking
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Old School
Jammin’ it: Tomato Jam’s biscuits were recently given the nod in a book about the best road food in America. Owner Deb Maddox and Chef Daniel Wright pose with the publication.
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46 SEPTEMBER 22 - SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 • mountainx.com
Once upon a time, two Yale students met, married and decided to take their foodie sensibilities on the road. Jane and Michael Stern spent plenty of time crossing the country, searching for the very best of U.S. road food. In 2009, they published their findings in the rather ominously titled 500 Things to Eat Before it’s Too Late (and the very best places to eat them). The duo managed to visit Asheville in their travels, stopping off at Tomato Jam Café, a quaint establishment in the midst of the hustle and bustle that is the Mission Hospital area on Biltmore Avenue. There, the Sterns tried Tomato Jam’s “tawny whole-grain cathead biscuits,” declaring them among “the magnificent seven best biscuits” they found in their travels. Chef Daniel Wright says that he feels honored to have his biscuits named in the book. “It feels great, especially being in a place where it’s competitive ... A lot of people around here try to make really good biscuits. To be in a top spot with something like that, it’s great.” “We’re the only Asheville restaurant that made it into the book,” adds owner Deb Maddox, who bought the business as a turnkey operation early this summer. The biscuits are, indeed, damn good. They’re whole wheat, but still somehow light, with a
rich buttery flavor and a touch of sweetness. Topped with some of the restaurant’s homemade jam, they make for a great nibble. Chef Wright agrees. “It’s still pretty light. It’s not overly filling, it doesn’t sit heavy like a lot of whole wheat things do sometimes. So, it’s a mix of healthy and comfortable.” Wright adds that the new Tomato Jam team has made a few improvements, but kept the overall flavor and feel of the restaurant intact. “I feel we’ve only added to what [the previous owners] already had. We’ve kept a lot of things the same and tweaked some others,” says Wright. “It’s nice to step it up a notch and do some things that are untraditional or maybe a little unorthodox to the original Tomato Jam way, but still keep the basic favorites.” But back to the biscuits. It is National Biscuit Month, after all. Maddox and Wright say that their whole-wheat biscuits will soon find their way into a grab-and-go breakfast menu that the eatery will launch in early October. “We’ll be implementing the biscuits more in our breakfast by having build-a-biscuits,” says Maddox. “So people can take it and go.”
Looking for the ultimate party?
This month, the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association takes a unique approach to ensure that hopeful culinary professionals have a bright future. AIR is