Knife & Fork - Spruce Pine, NC

Daylily tempura with daylily tubers.

Back in July I finally had the chance to dine at Knife & Fork in Spruce Pine, NC. My mom and stepfather have been raving about this place ever since it opened and it is definitely the closest destination from our mountain cabin for a fine meal. The best part is that it is not that expensive for what you get and the creativity and freshness of the menu would be remarkable even in a big city. The restaurant is located on Spruce Pine's lower street in an airy, comfortable space with a small bar and two small dining rooms. Reservations are highly recommended. The menu changes frequently and can be found both on a large chalkboard inside and on printed sheets. Vegetables are prominent and most if not all are made without meat products. Local produce, meat and fish is used whenever possible. My favorite dishes included the greens with breadcrumbs, the daylily tempura - definitely different and delicious, the sauteed squash and the seared rabbit. The bread they bring out is also excellent and I enjoyed the bread pudding with homemade nectarine ice cream as well. I look forward to returning to Knife & Fork again soon for dinner and also trying the lunch and brunch menus.

Delicious bread and butter.









Delice de Bourgogne, roasted carrots, rosemary.



Slow cooked greens with breadcrumbs.



Sauteed squash with onions and parmagiano.



Mashed Kinnebec potatoes with shiitake gravy.



Red Quinoa with duck confit, baby basil and green onion.



Seared rabbit loin with blueberries, carrots and baby squash.



Grilled NC Tilefish with fingerling potatoes and fairytale eggplant.



Grilled Cinnamon Spice Bread Pudding with nectarine and vanilla ice creams.



Chocolate Pot de Creme.

The Pizza Shop - Spruce Pine, NC

Custom pizza.

Spruce Pine, NC is fast becoming a culinary destination. Now delicious pizza (including gluten free), calzones and salads are available at The Pizza Shop & Dry County Brewing Company on Spruce Pine's upper road. Last time we visited our mountain cabin we ventured over for a pie on Thursday evening. Lucky for us, Thursday is trivia night, which made a fun night even more fun with our multi-generational table. We started with salads. My favorite was the Ceasar with fresh croutons and lots of parmesan with a tasty but not too overwhelming creamy dressing. The beet salad was also good, although for some reason I did not expect it to come with lettuce - I thought it would just be beets! The pizza here is formidable, with a nice char to the crust and lots of toppings available. The kitchen seemed to miss some of the toppings we ordered (and subbed green peppers for the roasted red peppers) but we were quick to forgive once we tasted it! We had the traditional tomato sauce pie but a pesto pizza and a white pie are also available. Next time I definitely want to give one of these a shot! For dessert we tried the brownie, which was delicious but would have been even better with ice cream. Maybe some ice cream could be offered in the future?

As you might imagine from the name, hand-crafted beers are available on tap. We didn't try any so I can't comment but The Pizza Shop and Dry County Brewing is a fun spot that anyone visiting Spruce Pine should visit.

Ceasar salad (top), beet salad (right) and house salad.



Brownie.



Steve out front.