Hello Friday.
March 29 2024
When you’re grabbing dinner on your way home from work, do you stop by a fast food chain, or an independent restaurant? How easy is it to “eat local” in Asheville?
We took a look at the Restaurant Chaininess Map (made by a lab at Georgia Tech’s Center for Spatial Analysis and Visualization) to see how many restaurants in Asheville are considered chains.
The map scores cities based on the number of other restaurants that share their name in the US — so if we opened a restaurant called AVLtoday, we would have a score of 1, while McDonald’s has a chaininess score of over 10,000.
Asheville's chaininess map | Screenshot of the Restaurant Chaininess Map via Georgia Tech
On the map, the darker red dots are chains + the yellow dots are independent restaurants.
When you search for Asheville (using the box in the bottom left), the map zooms to the greater Asheville metro. It gives the total number of restaurants pictured in this area + their average chaininess score — 978 restaurants, with a chaininess score of 1,138.
So is that score high or low? Let’s compare. Charlotte has a chaininess score of 1,186 out of 2,533 restaurants. Pretty similar. If you go up north to somewhere like Boston (hey BOStoday), the scores start getting lower — 615 out of 7,737 restaurants.
We looked at the numbers of a few fast food chains in Asheville, and McDonald’s appears to have the most locations in town, with 7 restaurants + Bojangles was a close second at 6.
Wendy’s and Taco Bell have 4 locations a piece, Burger King has 3, and Cookout has 2.
When looking at the map, the red spots in Asheville are clustered around areas such as Merrimon Avenue, Patton Avenue + Tunnel Road, while Downtown appears extremely yellow.
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Today
- Clutch | Thurs., Sept. 16 | 7 p.m. | The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave. | $35+ | Bring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to this classic rock and roll show. 🎸
- Art Break: Rural Avant-Garde | Thurs., Sept. 16 | 6-7 p.m. | Asheville Art Museum, 2 South Pack Square | Free for members or with admission | Touring docent Hank Bovee gives an informal gallery talk and presentation about the museum's collection and special exhibitions. 🖼
- Explore African American History in the Smokies | Thurs., Sept. 16 | 7 p.m. | Virtual | Free | Learn about the untold history of the African American experience in southern Appalachia.
- YMCA Welcoming Week | Thurs., Sept. 16 | Times vary | Hendersonville Family YMCA, 810 West 6th Ave.; Woodfin YMCA, 40 North Merrimon Ave.; Reuter Family YMCA, 3 Town Square Blvd. | Free | The YMCA of WNC is hosting 3 events at different venues: Family Field Night at the Henderson Family Y, Family Salsa Dance at the Woodfin Y, and Family Game Night at the Reuter Family Y. Ⓟ
Friday
- Trial by Fire | Fri., Sept. 17 | 8 p.m. | The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave. | $12+ | Journey tribute band.
- Soul Blue Rocks the Cork & Keg | Fri., Sept. 17 | 8-10:30 p.m. | Weinhaus, 86 Patton Ave. | $10 | Listen to this charismatic classic soul, blues, and R&B band + enjoy local wine and beer. 🎶
Saturday
- 5K Run & Walk | Sat., Sept. 18 | 8:30 a.m. | Pack’s Tavern, 20 S. Spruce St. | $30 | Join this annual event that benefits the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. 🚶🏽♂️
- Above The Clouds Festival | Sat., Sept. 18 | 1-5 p.m. | Bhramari Brewing Company, 101 S Lexington Ave. | $65+ | An afternoon of beers, music, food, and friends.
Sunday
- Bike Clinic - DIY Brake Overhaul | Sun., Sept. 19 | 2-5 p.m. | 90 Biltmore Ave. | $15+, sliding scale | Learn how to put brakes on your bike with different assemblies + how to maintain them.
- Symphony in the Park: A Celebration of the Arts | Sun., Sept. 19 | 7-9 p.m. | Pack Square Park | Free | The Asheville Symphony presents a free outdoor concert featuring beloved and popular music from Copland, Brahms and Gershwin to Bernstein, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and John Williams, plus surprises from Queen, Prince, and more. 🎻Ⓟ
We have a monthly guide filled with events + activities you can plan for in advance. Click the button below to bookmark ideas for upcoming date nights, family outings, and time with friends.
Photo provided by WiseBread
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Weather
- 74º | Showers | 40% chance of rain
Open
- La Tapería, a wine and tapas bar, is now open for business in Black Mountain (203 W. State St.). The cuisine gathers inspiration from the Andalusian region of Spain + offers cold and hot tapas such as the Spanish tortilla, charcuterie, croquetas, meatballs, and various desserts. It’s open Thurs.-Sat., 2-10 p.m., and Sun., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (Mountain Xpress)
Civic
- At its Tues., Sept. 14 meeting, Asheville City Council made 7 new Boards & Commissions appointments, voted to add a climate change category to its American Rescue Plan Act funding proposals + authorized continued funding to support an emergency homeless shelter. See the full action agenda. Its next meeting is Tues., Sept. 28 at 5 p.m.
- The City of Asheville will roll out another round of bear-resistant trash cans after a successful pilot program in early 2021. Initially, the program doled out 340 trash cans on a first-come, first-serve basis for a $10 monthly fee, and now 300 more will be delivered to residents on the waiting list. Join the waitlist. (WLOS)
Arts
- The 14th annual Art in Autumn fine art and craft show will take place Sat., Sept. 18, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. in downtown Weaverville. The show will feature 112 juried artists from throughout the southeast, as well as live music + a pop-up vaccine clinic.
- Blue Ridge Parkway’s Folk Art Center will host its 41st annual Heritage Day on Sat., Sept. 18, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The free event will feature demonstrations of traditional crafts such as weaving, woodworking, broom making, soap making, blacksmithing + printmaking.
Legacy
- Local bassist Eliot Wadopian, Asheville-native and 2-time Grammy winner, has died at age 63. Eliot was known for his musical prowess, as well as his mentorship, and taught lessons at UNC Asheville + Western Carolina University. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
Featured
Job
- Asheville City Schools has ~35 open jobs for positions such as instructional assistants, child nutrition workers, special education teachers, and bus drivers. The org will host monthly career fairs until it fills these openings. Check out current vacancies. (WLOS)
Asked
- Ready or not, PSL season is officially upon us. And after enjoying a scrumptious pumpkin mocha latte at Summit Coffee yesterday afternoon, the AVLtoday team is fine with that. Who else in town is whipping up delectable fall-themed coffee drinks? Let us know. 🎃
Correction
- In yesterday’s newsletter, we stated that it was the first day of Yom Kippur — that was incorrect. Yom Kippur is 1 holy day that began at sunset yesterday, Sept. 15 and ends at sundown tonight. The candle that is lit is called a Yahrzeit candle, not a shabbat candle.
Eat
Stat
- 55%. The discount that language learning app Babbel is offering for a limited time, so subscribers can discover new worlds through language in as little as 3 weeks. Learn more + snag the deal. 🌏 Ⓟ
Brace yourselves, spice addicts. Local chefs + restaurateurs will bring their spiciest offerings to Rabbit Rabbit on Sat., Sept. 18, 4-7 p.m. for the inaugural Bring Your Heat Asheville culinary competition.
The family-friendly event, organized by multicultural media company Descubre Asheville, will feature the spiciest salsas, hot sauces and curry in town, as well as salsa dancing lessons + tunes from a Latin DJ. Find more and purchase tickets here.
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