What to know: Chef Elliott Moss Labor Day BBQ, new fusion menu, chef-bartender award wins
ASHEVILLE - A James Beard nominated chef and barbecue master launches pop-up; a local pastry chef and mixologist win a statewide competition; and a new restaurant opens with a nonconventional menu and concept.
Labor Day weekend BBQ pop-up
Chef and pitmaster Elliott Moss is taking his offset smoker on the road for the launch of his catering company, Moss and Moore Barbecue.
On Sept. 3, Moss will host an end-of-the-summer/Labor Day weekend celebration at The Hound, 2 Tunnel Road in East Asheville. The event will begin at noon with food served until it’s sold out.
Moss and Moore, named after the chef’s family surnames, specializes in direct and offset-cooked barbecue methods. Moss uses a 500-gallon Texas-style offset smoker that he built with his father, Terrell Moss, and a cinder block pit to prepare meats like the whole hog from Vandele Farms.
“My dad and my grandfather and uncle, they were welders and I worked with them at my dad’s shop,” said Moss, a James Beard-nominated chef. “Some of my earliest childhood memories are my family cooking hogs for holidays.”
The family even observed Christmas and Thanksgiving smoking whole hogs.
The work of a pitmaster is demanding and different from being a chef in a traditional restaurant kitchen, but Moss said there’s something about the wood, smoke, the taste of the meat and the intensive process that makes him love it.
“It just keeps calling me back. It’s something that I have a lot of passion for," he said. "It’s a slow and low process and there’s some physically demanding work that goes along with it that I enjoy, too. A little more physical than some of the other aspects of cooking ― lifting the wood and the hog.”
For the Labor Day pop-up, Moss is curating a menu of additional meat entrées, including brisket, chicken, ribs, and much more.
And Moss plans to serve a variety of sides and desserts inspired by his family, such as mac and cheese, grits casserole and chicken bog ― a rice and chicken comfort dish. Pit-smoked baked beans and other dishes are in consideration.
Meat will be sold by the pound or half-pound. Online preorders will be available for the convenience of customers who’d rather take their meal to go.
The Hound, a newly opened lounge in the former Greyhound station, offers a full bar menu. Live music will be performed throughout the day and into the night.
The pitmaster, whose latest restaurant ventures include Regina’s and Little Louie’s, will be selling Moss and Moore Barbecue merchandise, as well as copies of his cookbook, “Buxton Hall Barbecue's Book of Smoke: Wood-Smoked Meat, Sides, and More.”
Diners can expect to see more of Moss outside of the restaurant setting and at pop-ups at The Hound and other venues across the Asheville area. For more, follow on Instagram at @mossandmoore.
North Carolina chef showdown winners
The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association hosted its annual Chef Showdown ending with a grand finale cook- and bake-off and several culinary artists claiming wins.
The 24 competing chefs and mixologists rallied in Raleigh at the Pavilion at the Angus Barn for the sold-out event on Aug. 14.
NCRLA’s panel of N.C. chefs and audience votes contributed to the selection of the winning contestants.
More than 500 attendees tasted the savory dishes and sweet desserts, plus cocktails and mocktails, and voted for the favorites in each category.
Jill Wasilewski, owner of Ivory Road Café & Kitchen in Arden, won the award for People’s Choice Pastry Chef.
Wasilewski prepared a miso caramel peach tarte tatin — blackberry vanilla sauce, blackberry bay leaf coulis, peach crémeux and toasted vanilla bean pound caked crumble.
Megan King of Antidote at Chemist Spirits won the 2023 Undeniably Dairy Awards for Best Use of Cow’s Milk Dairy in a Cocktail or Mocktail.
King, who was assisted by fellow Antidote bartender Nick Frost, won for the mocktail version of “In Reverie.”
“In Reverie,” a tropical and creamy drink temporarily available at Antidote, is made with pineapple/banana tepache, clarified Mills River whole milk and pistachio orgeat. The mocktail can be served as a cocktail with the addition of the spirit of choice.
The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association “serves to advance and protect the interests of more than 20,000 businesses that employ 11 percent of the state’s workforce and generate more than $30 billion in sales annually.” For more, visit ncrla.org.
New American-Asian fusion menu
A South Asheville sports bar has officially opened and is serving American and Japanese-style favorites.
On Aug. 12, Mudpuppies Sushi and Sports Bar’s opened with regular hours of 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday at 5 Andrew Way in Arden.
Sushi chef James Dubose has curated a wide assortment of traditional and specialty seafood and veggie rolls. The dining menu features classic and signature appetizers, wings, burgers and salads, plus some blending of American and Japanese styles and flavors.
4 infusion dishes to try
Fried ramen mac and cheese. Made with ramen noodles and house-made cheese sauce.
Tuna tacos. Crispy wanton tacos stuffed with zesty tuna, avocado, jalape?o, green onion and sesame seeds and drizzled with house aioli.
Sushiburger. Made with zesty tuna, spicy crab, avocado, kimchi slaw, house-made pickles and house aioli on a crispy rice bun.
Sesame fried chicken salad. Tender greens topped with crispy wontons, tomato, cucumber and carrots and served with sesame dressing.
Also, peruse the beverage menu for nonalcoholic and adult beverages that include signature cocktails, local beer and sake and wine.
View the full menu at mudpuppiesavl.com.
Food news you may have missed:
West Asheville restaurants undergo chef shakeup after recently opening
Fever-Tree brings rare, botanical rooftop bar experience to Asheville distillery, Chemist
What to know about food, beverage festivals set for August-October
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Chef Elliott Moss' new BBQ pop-up, more food news in Asheville
