Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 325: Exploring Asheville's Culinary Scene: One Bite at a Time with Asheville Food Tours

• Skip Mauney & Paddy Riels • Episode 325

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Discover the culinary heart of Asheville through the eyes of a passionate local guide in this mouthwatering conversation with Paddy Riels, owner-operator of Asheville Food Tours. What began as a skeptic's reluctant food tour experience transformed into an 11-year career for Paddy, who now leads visitors through downtown Asheville's remarkable food landscape.

Asheville's dining scene can be overwhelming with over 100 restaurants downtown alone. Paddy's solution? A perfectly paced three-hour walking tour featuring stops at 5-6 exceptional establishments, complete with food, beverages, and fascinating local history between bites. "By the time you're done," Paddy explains, "you're full, sick of your guide's voice, and know more about Asheville than you ever intended on learning." The result? Visitors who feel like locals by tour's end.

The tours spotlight some of Asheville’s most exciting culinary talent, featuring a mix of James Beard Award winners, nominees, and highly respected emerging chefs who are helping shape the city’s dynamic food scene. They also aim to break down common misconceptions around certain cuisines and dietary preferences. “We have a lot of converts,” Paddy notes, describing how guests who arrive skeptical often leave with surprising new favorites. At $85 per person, the tours offer exceptional value and are thoughtfully designed to accommodate a wide range of guests. As Asheville continues its rebound after Hurricane Helene, fall tours are filling quickly, making now the ideal time to book a culinary adventure to this iconic food destination.

Ready to discover your next favorite restaurant? Visit ashevillefoodtours.com to secure your spot, and prepare to meet what Paddy describes as "the new love of your life" in Asheville's exceptional food scene.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Maude.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So I am excited this morning to have a special guest with us here in the studio that has for the first time and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am if you appreciate food as much as I do because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, mr Patty Riles, who is with the Asheville Food Tours.

Speaker 3:

Patty, welcome to the show. Good morning Thank you so much for having us.

Speaker 2:

Well we're thrilled to have you. We're thrilled to have you, like I said, excited to learn all about you and Asheville Food Tour. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. We're a food tour company here in Asheville, north Carolina. We pride ourselves on taking groups to some of the best food that Asheville has to offer. Basically, we'll take you to five or six restaurants. You'll walk between stops, learn history and architecture. By the time you're done, you're full sick of your guide's voice and know more about Asheville than you ever intended on learning. And the whole goal of our company is by the time you're finished with the tour with us, you feel kind of like a local and the next day you go out and you feel like you've been in this town your whole life and get to enjoy it the way we do.

Speaker 2:

Very cool. I was just actually in Asheville downtown Asheville a couple of weekends ago for my anniversary and we checked out some of the awesome restaurants that are there. There's a ton.

Speaker 3:

It's so hard to choose between them all. I mean, there are over 100 restaurants in downtown alone. It can be daunting when you come into town and say, oh gosh, I don't know where to eat, which is where we obviously come in. But we always say if you want to know if a restaurant's good here in Nashville, just ask them how long they've been open. If it's longer than four months and there are still people sitting in the dining room, you want to try that restaurant.

Speaker 2:

That's a good point, good point. Now, patty, what is uh? Are you the owner operator of uh? Very good, very good. Now, how uh? This is uh your company. What's your journey? How did you arrive here?

Speaker 3:

Well, actually, actually I started as an employee. Um, a mutual friend of ours, aaron LaFaults, told us about a buddy of his who ran a food tour here in Asheville. My wife was very interested by this. I was not. I grew up here in Asheville, I've lived here most of my life, worked in the restaurant industry. Most of my life I had no interest in doing a restaurant tour. But my wife told me I was wrong and we went on a food tour and turns out as always she was right. Uh, midway through the tour I asked for a job and we've been going, I've been with them. Now, uh gosh, 11 years, 11 years of doing this, so absolutely doing it.

Speaker 3:

The company is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year, so uh, it is, it's. It's the most non-job like job I've ever had in my life. I absolutely love it, oh.

Speaker 2:

I'm sure.

Speaker 3:

It allows us to share everything that Asheville has to offer with people who would not normally know about it, and it's, we hope, to be doing it for many years in the in the future as well.

Speaker 2:

Now, as far as when you're on the tour, do you guys say, OK, we're going to stop and eat here or try something out here? How does that work?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. You'll show up. Our guides set up the tour daily, based on what they think will be the best tour, and so you'll meet the guide. They'll introduce themselves, tell you a little bit about what they're going to do and then move immediately to the first stop, where you will be given a small bite and a beverage and learn a little bit about the restaurant. When it's time to go, your guide will say hey, let's go, get up and move to the next stop and do it again and copy and paste for six times six to seven times, depending on the tour, and it is quite a bit of food. It is enough beverage to make it enjoyable, without over serving, obviously, and so it's a great way to have a meal that you don't have to have just one thing you have six different bites. You have an idea? Oh, this was my favorite. Oh, I'll go back here tomorrow and then, uh, it's just the best way to spend an afternoon in my humble opinion. Wow, now is it walking.

Speaker 2:

Uh, yes, yes, all downtown. It's about a mile to a mile and a half per tour.

Speaker 3:

Walking, yes, walking Downtown, yes, all downtown. It's about a mile to a mile and a half per tour. Nothing, it's not what you'd call high impact. Takes about three to three and a half hours per tour. So a mile and a half over three hours, stopping every 15 to 20 minutes to have a bite. It's not what you'd call an aerobic exercise.

Speaker 2:

Right, very nice, very nice. Well, I'll tell you, when I was there for my anniversary a couple of weekends ago, we went to is it curate?

Speaker 3:

That's a karate yes, katie yes.

Speaker 2:

Had a dinner that was wonderful, and then I had dessert at Posano's at the street, which is where I proposed to my wife.

Speaker 3:

So oh, that's a great place to propose. Pasaana Peter Paglia is great at Pasaana, one of the great gluten-free restaurants in Nashville, which is always one of the things we get asked about where do we go for gluten-free? Pasaana is one of the great places. Karate, of course a stalwart in the restaurant community here, katie Button, james Beard award-winning, has a television show and one of honestly the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. So always a pleasure to eat there. And if I ever make a suggestion for the listeners when they go to karate is to let them curate the meal for you. Order your drink, tell them you want them to curate the meal. The server will ask you a couple of questions and then bring you the best meal you've ever had in your life. Can't recommend it more.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely wonderful I couldn't agree. Couldn't agree more well, very cool. Um so, outside of work. You live in nashville. It's a beautiful place. Outside work, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

all the usual. I'm about as cliche as they come love to hike. Really happy that the parkway reopened up so we can get back to Mitchell now. Post Saline this will be the first time in a year, so that's nice. And then, yeah, mountains. I play disc golf a lot. So, enjoy as much outdoor activity here as possible, and there's plenty of it to be had. You're no more than an hour away from a waterfall or a hike, or whatever it is you want to do One of the best places in the world to live.

Speaker 2:

Very cool, very cool.

Speaker 3:

Now.

Speaker 2:

I know it's a unique industry, but what are some myths or misconceptions in the food tour business?

Speaker 3:

That's a great question. I've been trying to think of a few misconceptions. Great question. I've been trying to think of a few misconceptions. I can't really think of that many. I really honestly feel like not everybody knows about food tours and so I think that, not understanding exactly what it is, but they're not sure what they're walking into, and really it's, it's the the conception of I'm not going to like things or I'm a picky eater. I would say that would probably be the biggest misconception. I have folks come in that think, oh, I'm not going to like this particular restaurant or this particular cultural style of food, and we do have a lot of converts come along the way. I have folks who have like, oh, I've never tried indian cuisine before, I'm not sure I'm going to like it. I've heard that it's too spicy and then absolutely fall in love with it after trying a bite on our tour. So I think that would probably be the only misconception I can think of is that people are pickier about food than they think they are that's actually.

Speaker 2:

Uh, my wife is a prime example. She's very, very picky and so curate. Is that how you pronounce?

Speaker 1:

it.

Speaker 2:

We had dinner there. I was a little concerned that she might not be, but we had a wonderful, wonderful meal. So if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners and viewers to remember about Asheville Food Tours, Patty, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

Oh, one thing that we remember is our goal is to take you to the best that Asheville has to offer. Our goal is to introduce you to the new love of your life. Introduce you to the new love of your life. We're here to have a good time and show you why we love Asheville and introduce you to a side of the city that usually only locals get to see.

Speaker 2:

Very cool. Now, what price range? Is there different packages that you can get?

Speaker 3:

Right now tickets are $85 a person. That's across all of the tours our brunch tour, our food fan tour and our downtown tour. We do offer private tours and that can include anything from food to shopping tours to personal concierge, whatever you want, and those prices go up from $85 up. But, yes, the base price for what you would be able to find on our website would be $85 per person.

Speaker 2:

Wow, well, that's not bad, especially when you consider you do six stops and you get a beverage at each one, right?

Speaker 3:

Yes, there's more than enough to make a meal for anyone, more than plenty of beverages along the way. I don't think you could get a better deal just by going and sitting at a restaurant. I think you'll honestly come out a little bit better coming and trying our style.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and get variety too.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely, and maybe learn something that you didn't even know you were in love with.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, absolutely Well, for those of us like me that are intrigued and very interested in checking, checking you guys out and coming to do a tour in Asheville, how can we learn more?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Check us out at ashevillefoodtourscom and, of course, asheville Food Tours on Facebook or Instagram. You can find our phone number on our webpage. If you have any questions about the tour, please do not hesitate to call me and you will get me on the line. If you have questions about Asheville, please do not hesitate to call me and you will get me on the line. Uh, if you have questions about asheville, please do not hesitate to call me. I'm more than happy to help out. This is a wonderful city. We have plenty to do. Even if a food tour is not your thing, I'm sure we can find something that you will enjoy absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And if, uh, let's say, I'm planning to come this weekend, should I make reservations? How far in advance should it be?

Speaker 3:

Right now. You could probably make reservations right now. There's probably a couple left as we move into October. If you want reservations in October and November, I would make them now as well. We are finally starting to see the pickup that we've been waiting for post-Haleen. I'm starting to see the bookings like we're used to in the fall, so now it's definitely the time to come, if you're a local, before all of the throngs of crowds come back, because they are thankfully coming back this fall.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, that's really good news. That's really good news. I've heard I interview a ton of folks. Pax just did an interview with Pax Tavern last week and you know everybody's saying hey, we're open for business, come on, you know, come on.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. We are ready and we are willing. Just waiting on you guys to get here.

Speaker 2:

All right, very good. Well, patty, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come tell us all about the delicious food tours in Asheville. I'm definitely intrigued. I'm sure a lot of our listeners are as well, and we wish you and your company and your clients all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much, Skip. We really appreciate you and the listeners. We hope to see all of you very, very soon.

Speaker 2:

All right Sounds great to me. You will definitely be hearing from me, thank you, and maybe we can have you back on the show sometime.

Speaker 3:

Anytime you want me, I would love to come and bring the rest of the crew with me. They're a little more personable than I am.

Speaker 2:

Well, you did a great job. All right, patty, thanks so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.