Italian in Asheville, NC . . . at last.

Cucina24
24 Wall St
Asheville, NC

I felt at ease from the moment of stepping in the door of Cucina24, one of Asheville’s newest scene stealing restaurants. The look and feel of the restaurant is very earthy and organic – not trying to hard to be anything other than the upscale casual eatery that it is. We arrived after our dinner companions and dutifully sat at the bar while they finished their pre-dinner drinks. The bartender ‘convinced’ me to have a cocktail after smelling the aroma of a wonderful artisanal sweet vermouth called Vya. Fabulous herbaceousness! I know that is not a word but it describes this stuff perfectly. This Negroni, the Italian classic with Campari and gin was one of the best cocktails I have had in a while. My city sensibilities were overjoyed. (Incidentally, you can buy Vya at the Asheville Wine Market.)

Arriving at our table, we were greeted by the thinnest of bread sticks, presented like flowers in a small glass in the middle of the table. They were perfectly crunchy and salty. The menu reads like a city slickers dream and while I enjoyed reading the menu, even a tried and true foodie as myself had some difficulty reading the jumble of Italian words interspersed with the English words. The antipasti were all enticing. The table started with Baccala and Tapenade, Artichoke Ripieni, Chicken Liver Crostini and Soppressata. The Baccala was appropriately creamy and salty, and the tanginess of the accompanied tapenade was a wonderful highlighter. The next I tasted was the Chicken Liver Crostini. I do like chicken livers on occasion and when they are seasoned right they can be most fabulous. These little crostini were almost perfect – their only fault other than their not being enough of them, was the crostini was a tad to crunchy. The Artichokes Ripieni was nice, although there was too few on the plate to really get a feeling for the stuffed baby artichokes. The Soppressata, beautiful displayed, thinly sliced on the platter with a splash of extra virgin olive were also a wonderful start to our meal.

For my entrée I initially selected the ricotta gnudi with asparagus and brown butter. Now I have made these tender little pillows of ricotta myself and have ordered them at the Spotted Pig in NYC where the gnudi first found their way into my heart and I adored them. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to enjoy the Cucina24 gnudi they were dry and unimpressionable. There was too little of the brown butter sauce for the dry gnudi, definitely not enough to make an impression. I would have preferred a chunkier sauce - maybe a mushroom ragout with those lovely fava beans that were crushed to spread on the crostini. The asparagus also seemed a bit misplaced on the dish. I asked for more brown butter as well as some cheese but neither made an impact. I sent the dish back and ordered the bucatini carbonara, guanciale (unsmoked ham), egg, pecorino and cracked pepper. It was a better dish overall although nothing exceptional. I probably ordered badly on both accounts. The Veal cheek ravioli with mushroom and fava is probably what I should have had. Next time. My dinner companions all fared much better with their entrees. One ordered the swordfish al cartoccio with mussels, olives and capers (swordfish cooked in a paper package). The flavors of the capers and olives were the perfect foil for the swordfish and mussels. The only complaint was that perhaps it could have been a bigger portion. Another ordered the grilled hangar steak with beets and anchovy butter and another ordered a wild salmon special. I tasted the beets on the hangar steak and they were cooked to perfection. By the time, I got around to tasting the salmon it was all gone. : (

We did not order dessert. And despite my failed entrée I will go back to Cucina24. It’s a restaurant worth tempting your taste buds for.