ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Foundry Hotel has welcomed a new restaurant with an appreciation for the classics to The Block.
The Refinery at the Foundry Hotel is officially open to the public from 7 to 11 a.m., Monday to Friday, and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at its 35 Eagle St. location in downtown Asheville’s The Block neighborhood.
According to Shawn Cameron, executive chef at the new eatery, The Refinery menu blends Southern influence with local ingredients for a brunch experience he hopes will appeal to adventurous and comfort diners alike.
“My goal is really to be able to please a lot of different types of people,” Cameron said. “We need to be able to appeal to someone that just wants a basic breakfast or someone that wants something a little more exciting. That’s kind of where my focus is going to be, is to have a little bit of both, to do both of those things in hopefully ways that haven’t been seen before or different flavor combinations that maybe people aren’t always used to.”
To accomplish that mission, Cameron has laid out a menu where a breakfast sandwich with a clear, detailed list of ingredients sits beside the “strada du jour,” a chef’s choice of ingredients, bread and sauce made with locally-sourced eggs. The Refinery menu posits comfort and mystery together under the guise of a simple brunch menu.
Cameron has a long history in the Asheville culinary world. He previously spent five years working at Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village. Before that, he spent 2007 completing a culinary internship at the Biltmore. With family in Black Mountain and roots in Alabama, Cameron wanted to bring Southern culture into the cuisine he served.
“The Southern experience growing up in Alabama has always been with me throughout my journey,” said Cameron. “My grandparents were farmers, so it was always like, you know, scrambled eggs cooked with the bacon grease saved in the coffee can. Grits. That kind of thing. A lot of my earliest memories were going to spend time on the farm in the summers and shucking corn and picking blueberries, picking peas.”
Those childhood summers spent around farm-fresh food are at the heart of The Refinery menu. Much of the food Cameron constructs is built on a foundation of local agriculture. Most of the bread items are from City Bakery. The eggs come from Dry Ridge Farms.
“We were using a lot of Biscuithead jams, and we’re looking to move back into that. We’re getting a lot of cool local mushrooms,” Cameron said.
The food reflected the care put into its simple ingredients. Simply put, brunch at The Refinery was delicious.
While a flight of blueberry ricotta fritters – lemon cardamom curd, powdered sugar and toasted poppy seeds – was an aesthetic and aromatic treat, and the croque madame egg benedict – griddled mini ham and cheese sandwiches on brioche bread with confit garlic dijonnaise, two poached eggs and mornay sauce with chives and espelette pepper – was artfully arranged, the real star of the meal was the aforementioned strada du jour.
When I think of my own Southern upbringing, the best meals were always those that made me smile. Tasting the sauce on Cameron’s strada du jour dish brought back all the warmth of my childhood. If the food at The Refinery wasn’t made with love, I don’t know what is.
Access the full The Refinery menu here. For more about The Foundry, which features dinner options at its Workshop Lounge, visit www.foundryasheville.com/dining-asheville-nc.