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We've compiled the best of the best in The North Carolina Mountains - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
The best place to eat in Bryson City, this wood-paneled bistro serves hearty dinner entrées like mountain trout with quinoa and brown rice or meatloaf made from four different locally sourced specialty meats. The dining room is a rustic yet elegant space in a 1908 building that formerly housed Bryson City Bank. If you're not staying at the hotel, make reservations at least a week in advance.
Make reservations far in advance for this sublime dining experience broken into three courses, sourced daily from local farmers. This is fine dining—pate and a delightful escargot are the only menu constants—but it's not at all stuffy: approachable servers and the soaring views of the valley below ensure a relaxed sense of wonder. The always-changing farmers' salad is a must before a third course that could include venison tenderloin over truffle creamed spinach or a confit duck breast served with oyster mushroom risotto.
Artisanal is in a barn by a country stream, but don't let that fool you: this restaurant is elegantly designed, modern, and serious about first-rate food and service. The prix-fixe menu offers around six first course and entrée selections, ranging from lamb tenderloin with charred eggplant to North Carolina flounder with morels. The indoor/outdoor setting and reliance on local produce mean it's only open from May through October.
At the region's most celebrated restaurant, chef-owner Josh Monroe uses ingredients from his own farm and local purveyors to prepare dishes in an open kitchen. The award-winning menu includes dishes like lamb shank, trout, and deconstructed lasagna that are created with wine pairings in mind. After 20 years, the decor feels a bit tired, but the top-notch service and white tablecloth atmosphere stand the test of time.
In the Old Edwards Inn, Madison's is Highlands' most upscale restaurant. The dining room is gorgeous, light, and sunny, with stone floors and windows overlooking Highlands' Main Street. The restaurant adheres to a farm-to-table philosophy as much as possible, with sausage-stuffed pork chops, sunburst trout, short rib pasta and other dishes from area providers. The inn's Wine Garden adjoining Madison's is the spot for a more casual alfresco lunch.
Downtown Hendersonville's best restaurant occupies a former bank, with soaring ceilings and a wine cellar in the former vault. The chef-owned kitchen offers an approachable menu of braised pork shanks and seared scallops, with a sharing menu spanning from spaghetti squash hush puppies to pate with ginger and local honey.
