ASHEVILLE

Cúrate’s Tasting Menu Is the Best Way to Eat at Asheville’s Most Famous Restaurant

★★★★★

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By Eric Barton | Aug. 9, 2025


AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.

Eric Barton The Adventurist

My wife and I headed for a table in the back, the one with a comfy booth along the wall and no view into the open kitchen—finally I wouldn’t be watching the chef at the Josper Grill station all night, wondering how they just know when to pull things out at the right moment.

Two friends—both Cúrate first-timers—were joining us, and I was almost giddy at the thought. I’ve long said this is my favorite restaurant in the world, and I couldn’t wait for them to see why.

Cúrate Asheville tasting menu pan con tomate

Pan con tomate

We came to Cúrate in part because our friends had just bought a home in Asheville, and so we were celebrating. But also because we wanted to try Cúrate’s new tasting menu. This is a restaurant with a gigantic menu, a choose-your-adventure of Spanish classics with Appalachian ingredients. The tasting menu offers a fixed sequence, removing the negotiations over what to order, freeing you to actually talk about things other than whether to get the stuffed peppers or the clams (suggestion: just get both).

There was a lush summer cocktail menu on offer—“Watermelon Sugar,” a “Bitter Blackberry,” a “High Tide” tequila concoction—but I took my usual route here route, starting with vermouth over a single big rock, like they do in Bilbao. From there, I slipped into a wine pairing—a generous lineup of Spanish wines that carried us neatly from start to finish.

Cúrate Asheville tasting menu squash

The tasting menu didn’t include my usual gambas al ajillo or fried eggplant with honey. Which meant we were trying things mostly new to us. The progression began with a plate of silky Iberico ham, then pan con tomate with perfectly ripe tomato atop crunchy bread, followed by caramelized squash spears in a vibrant romesco sauce.

Squash with romesco sauce

Cúrate Asheville tasting menu spanish tortilla

Skewers of lamb arrived in a deeply umami sauce, and we splurged on an add-on: the Spanish tortilla, the platonic ideal of that dish, each forkful a perfect balance of egg, potato, and onion. The main course was a squid Fideuà—its edges crisping into tiny, charred noodles, the kind of texture you hunt for in every bite.

Spanish tortilla

Cúrate Asheville tasting menu lamb skewers

Lamb skewers

The service was impeccable, as always. The national James Beard Award for hospitality isn’t just for the trophy shelf—it’s real in how your water glass never gets low, how courses arrive with perfect timing, and how servers catch that moment between explanation and letting you just savor your bite. It’s also worth noting that this was true despite big news earlier this year: chef Katie Button stepped back from her role as CEO to focus on cooking and on expanding her restaurant group. If there’s been any operational shift, it’s invisible to diners—the place still runs like a watch that never needs winding.

Cúrate Asheville tasting menu paella

Squid Fideuà

Dessert was cherries suspended in a sort of luscious cloud, light and strange and memorable, even if not the basque cheesecake or flan that would typically end a night here. But by then, the whole meal had unfolded exactly as I’d hoped—good friends, new flavors, and not once having to debate what comes next.


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