The Asheville Art Museum. // Photo credit: David Huff By Sally Kestin, Asheville Watchdog The Asheville Art Museum, glistening through its glass exterior in the downtown heart of Pack Square, earns acclaim for its prized collection of American and Appalachian artwork. But behind the facade, it gets ugly, an Asheville Watchdog investigation found. Former employees have complained of a workplace that two board members described in a 2021 summary as “beyond toxic.” “The word used by three former staff is ‘traumatic,’ ” the board members, David Huff and Darren Green, wrote. The nonprof ..read more

  This is the story of how a city lost compassion for its people. Sarah Norris described some of the items she and her friends handed out in Aston Park over the past couple of years: tents, coffee, diapers, cleaning supplies. With her young daughter in tow, she brought along a little shelf stocked with books on all kinds of topics, including religious history and philosophy. People need nourishment of the mind and spirit, as well as the body, Norris said. Others who joined her included fellow moms, an 80-year-old Rotarian and homeless outreach workers, she added. As the covid pandemic lo ..read more

In this final installment, I announce all of the WINNERS in every category of the 8th Annual Asheville Food Fan Awards, aka The Stoobies, for 2021! THE WINNERS WERE ALREADY ANNOUNCED ON MY PODCAST! Please listen to my podcast by clicking HERE to hear me read all the nominees and winners of the 2021 Asheville Food Fan Awards aka The Stoobies! Or scroll down to read the list. Congrats to all the winners and nominees! Y’all are crushing it! WINNERS! WINNERS! WINNERS! Below is a list of all the nominees and winners in all categories of the 2021 Asheville Food Fan Awards. WINNERS ARE HIGHLIGHTED ..read more

This is the 4th installment of my annual Food Fan Awards for the year 2021! Scroll down to see & read about the nominees in the category of MEAT! The Food Fan Awards aka “The Stoobies” are entirely the opinion on one person, me, Stu Helm. You may or may not agree with my choices, as your experiences and personal tastes may differ from mine. The people, places, and things featured in this, and the other installments of these nominations and awards were the most notable of the previous year to me. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Buxton Hall Barbecue Mussels I love mussels, and the mussels ..read more

This is the 3rd installment of my annual Food Fan Awards for the year 2021! Scroll down to see & read about the nominees in the category of MEAT! The Food Fan Awards aka “The Stoobies” are entirely the opinion on one person, me, Stu Helm. You may or may not agree with my choices, as your experiences and personal tastes may differ from mine. The people, places, and things featured in this, and the other installments of these nominations and awards were the most notable of the previous year to me. NOTE: For this installment I use the term “Best of” as well as “of the Year.” Same diff. BEST ..read more

This is the 2nd installment of my annual Food Fan Awards for the year 2021! Scroll down to see & read about the nominees in the category of MEAT! The Food Fan Awards aka “The Stoobies” are entirely the opinion on one person, me, Stu Helm. You may or may not agree with my choices, as your experiences and personal tastes may differ from mine. The people, places, and things featured in this, and the other installments of these nominations and awards were the most notable of the previous year to me. NOTE: For this installment I use the term “Best of” as well as “of the Year.” Same diff. BEST ..read more

This is the first installment of my annual Food Fan Awards for the year 2021! Scroll down to see & read about the nominees in the categories of Breakfast, Lunch, Fancy Dinner of the Year, Meal of the Year, Food Event of the Year and Food Competition of the Year! The Food Fan Awards aka “The Stoobies” are entirely the opinion on one person, me, Stu Helm. You may or may not agree with my choices, as your experiences and personal tastes, may differ from mine. The people, places, and things featured in this, and the following installments of these nominations and awards were the most notable ..read more

Hello, Asheville! Here’s another Food Feed for you! The words and pictures below were originally posted to social media, mostly Facebook, but also Instagram.  I hope that you will enjoy them, and that you will be able to get some, if not all of the delicious food items listed here! The Food Feed is in reverse chronological order. Scroll down through the past… EL GALLO ASHEVILLE Originally posted to Stu Helm: Food Fan Facebook page on 11/30/2021 Awesome tacos and more from El Gallo Asheville. The quesabirria taco is a standout! Super high recommends. MARBLE & STEEL CRAFT CHOCOLATES O ..read more

Hello, Asheville! Here’s another Food Feed for you! The words and pictures below were originally posted to social media, mostly Facebook, but also Instagram.  I hope that you will enjoy them, and that you will be able to get some, if not all of the delicious food items listed here! The Food Feed is in reverse chronological order. Scroll down through the past… PUKE POP-UP AT THE ODDITORIUM Originally posted to Stu Helm: Food Fan Facebook page on 11/15/2021 Y’all… Last night’s PUKE pop-up at The Odditorium was AWESOME!!! I got the Barf Burger & Gut Bomb Burrito and both were TASTY AS F ..read more

Hello, Asheville! Here’s another Food Feed for you! The words and pictures below were originally posted to social media, mostly Facebook, but also Instagram.  I hope that you will enjoy them, and that you will be able to get some, if not all of the delicious food items listed here! The Food Feed is in reverse chronological order. Scroll down through the past… PUKE POP-UP AT THE ODDITORIUM Originally posted to Stu Helm: Food Fan Facebook page on 11/03/2021 Y’all… Last night’s PUKE pop-up at The Odditorium was AWESOME!!! I got the Barf Burger & Gut Bomb Burrito and both were TASTY AS F ..read more