We made a couple of trips down to Asheville last week. And if you've spent any time reading this blog, you know -- it's all about the food. First up, the two old faves: Early Girl and Salsa's (no link for Salsa's, who continue to not have a website). At Early Girl, I had the veggie plate: collards, cucumber salad, mac & cheese, hoppin' john, and black pepper cornbread. Everything was outstanding. Just simple, straight-forward food, made with good ingredients (their focus is local & seasonal). Salsa's is one of the first places we ate back the first time we went to Asheville, which must be about 10 years ago. So I'm actually pretty impressed that they're still turning out good food. They work a Mexican-Caribbean fusion vibe. We shared a sorta flauta-like appetizer, the tragically named "spliff rolls" -- actually, a cross between a flauta and an eggroll with a crab & cheese filling. That was awesome. I had a pork carnitas enchilada, which came w/ rice, beans, salad, and this insane banana salsa. Again, just amazingly delicious. My only quibbles were: the meat, while damn tasty, was more simple roast or braised pork than what I usually think of as carnitas; the presentation of both the dishes we ordered was pretty much everything piled into a bowl. When served, it actually made a nice visual but eating it tended to mix it all together into kind of a soggy mess. Y'know, though, at lunch prices I'm more concerned about how the food tastes than how it looks.