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Asheville delivers everything from elegant Vegan Cuisine to comforting hometown favorites!
Asheville is known for being an enclave of artists, musicians, craftspeople, and nature lovers. Which makes it no surprise that it’s also home to fantastic clean restaurants that put quality and creativity at the forefront!
Here, we feature 5 of our favorite clean eating restaurants in Asheville garnering Clean Foodie approval.
PLANT
Plant’s food is creative, ever-changing, and incredibly delicious. And it is passionately vegan.
Plant serves expertly prepared upscale vegan dishes. This Asheville icon is a staple for omnivores and vegans alike and is committed to using clean, local, organic ingredients. In fact, 90% of the ingredients used are organic and just about everything is scratch-made.
Opened in 2011 by Jason Sellers, Leslie Armstrong, and Alan Berger, Plant has repeatedly been voted Ashville’s best vegetarian, healthiest bite, greenest restaurant, best service, and most romantic places to dine. Even Zagat, Food and Wine, and PETA have all sung its praises. The hype is justified.
The food is creative, ever-changing, and incredibly delicious. Plant is passionately vegan. If you make the mistake of wearing fur here, they will ask you to remove the item and place it in your car. So be aware. But if you are cool to go completely animal-free, you can indulge in an entirely plant-based, five-course, chef’s tasting menu with an optional wine/cocktail pairing that will knock your socks off. Plant promises a memorable meal in Asheville’s ideal date-night location.
Read our review of Plant for details.
plantisfood.com / 165 Merrimon Ave / Asheville, NC / 28801
OVER EASY CAFE (Closed)
All found a comforting home at Over Easy Cafe.
Sadly, since Clean Foodie had the pleasure of visiting and reviewing Over Easy Café, they have become one of the many restaurant casualties of the pandemic. We sincerely hope they are able to open again one day. May our review serve as a tribute to Over Easy Cafe’s incredible legacy!
Over Easy Café, created crave-worthy breakfast, brunch, and lunch dishes made primarily with ingredients from local organic farms. We particularly loved that they listed all of the farms and producers they sourced their ingredients from on their website.
Over Easy Cafe served a variety of dishes that satisfied a diverse crowd. Locavore, Seasonal, Organic Meats and Dairy, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Vegan, and even Lactose-intolerant folks all found a comforting home at Over Easy Cafe.
Chef Eric Burleson was brought up to know that you need to know where your food comes from, and he was taught not to waste a thing. And this approach continued to shape his modern approach to hyper-seasonal Appalachian cuisine.
One thing we know for sure, going to Ashville and not visiting Over Easy Cafe would have been a major missed opportunity. Clean Foodie was blown away by the incredible brunch items served with unique house-made condiments and spot-on texture and flavor. This was a top destination for Clean Foodies beyond a doubt!
Read our Over Easy Cafe Review for more info.
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Elements Real Food
Sit back, relax, and order anything off the menu with confidence!
Elements Real Food is an example to other restaurants in their commitment to sourcing and serving 100% organic everything. It’s a spot clean foodies can sit back, relax, and order anything off the menu with confidence.
Located on a quiet side street near downtown Asheville, Elements Real Food serves specialty lite fare like toasts, acai bowls, sandwiches, soups, salads, cold-pressed juices, nut milks, and smoothies. All are 100% organic and 100% delicious, and perfectly followed by their house-made desserts and parfaits.
Elements is the perfect spot where you can enjoy everyday staples with total peace of mind. We also really love how they focus on nutrient-dense, vibrant, flavourful foods that make your body go “Mmmmmm”!
Read our Elements Real Food Review for more info.
elementsrealfood.com / 233 South Liberty St, Asheville, NC 28801
All Souls Pizza
We found clean pizza heaven on the side of a country road! Hallelujah!
All Souls Pizza is a delightful discovery! They are kitchen rockstars that make masterful clean pizza, and more. All Souls uses organic flours that are grown in the region and they naturally ferment them in-house with native yeast and then cook their pizzas in a wood-fired oven. This is pizza in the form of edible artistry.
Pretty much everything at All Souls Pizza is sourced locally, organic, and made from scratch. The sausage is from local pasture-raised non-GMO pork and the mozzarella is from grass-fed cow’s milk.
We even tried their polenta based Gluten-Free crust option and were pleasantly surprised! Plus, they serve unique appetizers like fried okra, steamed artichoke, fermented chilies, and warm olives. And their salads, pasta dishes, sandwiches, and desserts are made with the same skill and creativity as their pizza.
All Souls Pizza is off the beaten path, and definitely worth repeat visits. It offers a relaxed atmosphere and features an expansive outdoor seating area beside their vegetable garden. The absolute perfect spot to savor a slice, or seven!
Read our All Souls Pizza Review for more info.
allsoulspizza.com / 175 Clingman Ave / Asheville, NC / 28801
Laughing Seed Cafe
You can practically travel around the globe in one meal at Laughing Seed!
Vibrant and flavorful vegan and vegetarian dishes from around the world are served at Laughing Seed Cafe with something for every food lover to enjoy! An eclectic spot with a Mediterranean inspired menu, Laughing Seed Cafe sources the majority of its ingredients locally and organically.
You can practically travel around the globe in one meal at Laughing Seed! From Kimchi, Curry, & Ramen, to Muffuletta, Buffalo Tacos, & Eggplant Parmesan, they have all of your cravings covered. And they have been doing so for over 25 years. Joan and Joe Eckert started The Laughing Seed Cafe back in 1991 in a local YMCA and it has grown to become a thriving anchor for the Ashville vegetarian community.
The name Laughing Seed comes from an Indonesian legend about a miraculous seed that created a sense of fullness and well-being that lasted for many days and caused people to laugh and have the ability to communicate with the gods. After enjoying a vibrant, flavorful, and satisfying meal that brought a smile to our face, Clean Foodie can say with confidence that The Laughing Seed Cafe was named well.
Read our Laughing Seed Cafe Review for more info.
laughingseed.com / 40 Wall St / Asheville, NC / 28801
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