Asheville Food by Rick McDaniel

Author:Rick McDaniel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

JOHN AND JULIE STEHLING FOUNDERS, EARLY GIRL EATERY

Fresh vegetables from local farms, free-range and pastured meats and Southern cooking like Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house have always been the hallmarks of Early Girl Eatery, John and Julie Stehling’s farm-to-table restaurant in downtown Asheville. Even before the restaurant opened, the couple made a commitment to supporting local farms and giving their customers the best and freshest food possible.

The couple, early supporters of Asheville’s burgeoning farm-to-table culture, came from widely different backgrounds.

“I grew up just outside Winston-Salem, and for years my father was a baker at Old Salem,” John says. “My parents always had a big garden, and fresh food we grew ourselves was always a part of my life.”

After getting a degree in restaurant management from East Carolina University, he went to Charleston to help his brother Robert in the kitchen of his critically acclaimed restaurant, Hominy Grill. There he met front-of-the-house manager Julie, who grew up in inner-city Detroit. Soon they began planning the move to Asheville.

“My parents were into backpacking and kayaking,” John relates, “and we spent a lot of summers in Asheville. I’ve known for fifteen years that I wanted to have my family here.”

After moving to Asheville in 2000, John went to work in the kitchen at Savoy and Julie went to the Golden Horn (now closed). They both worked at Tupelo Honey Café when it opened, all the while looking for space for a restaurant of their own.

Looking for a space and scrimping every penny they could, the couple was between rentals, using the library for an office and living in a tent while waiting for the lease on an apartment and a restaurant space to go through. After a trip to Hot Springs Resort to celebrate their wedding anniversary, they returned to Asheville at midnight to find their tent gone. “We had one set of friends in town at the time, and they thought it was hilarious that we had to come knocking on their door on our anniversary asking to crash at their house because our tent was stolen,” Julie said.

A space came open on Wall Street when a Cajun restaurant closed, and Early Girl Eatery opened October 13, 2011.

One of Early Girl’s hallmarks is its commitment to using fresh and organic produce as much as possible. John grew up helping his parents grow organic vegetables at their home in Kernersville, North Carolina, and even before the restaurant opened, the couple began seeking out local growers.

“We sought out the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project,” Julie said. “The first farm we started working with was Yellow Branch up near Robbinsville. We found them through ASAP.”

Some of the earliest farms they worked with were Green Toe out in Celo, Hickory Nut Gap, Yellow Branch and Imladris, John said. “There are some others who were seasonal, but those were the core,” Julie added.

“People from California are amazed,” Julie said. “They come out here and find out we’re serving local eggs and local sausage and local meat, and out

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