New Restaurant
REVIEW
by Jackie Cassada
Tired of the same old downtown lunches? Do
you long for quality food on a limited budget?
Where do you go when you have a craving for
nachos--and fish and chips (and vinegar)?
The Annex, a newly opened restaurant at 22 Bat
tery Park Avenue in downtown Asheville may be
just the place you’ve been waiting for.
Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and
dinner, The Annex features an international
cuisine, generous portions, and reasonable
prices.
Besides the afore-mentioned nachos and
English-style fish and chips, the international
gourmet can dine on a daily quish, follow an egg
roll appetizer with spaghetti (from the genuine
Spano family recipe) or opt for more traditional
fare-such as the chicken-salad-with-almonds
sandwich or egg-and-black-olive salad.
Vegetarians can choose eggplant parmesan, a
vegetable saute, a “veggie” sandwich (Monterey
Jack cheese, black olives, cream cheese, alfalfa
sprouts, lettuce and tomato) and, frequently,
vegetarian quiche. And yes, they also serve ham
burgers and B.L.T.’s.
The dinner menu offers a variety of beef,
chicken, seafood and vegetarian delights. The
surf ’n’ turf crowd can choose from steak and crab
or Steak Oscar (steak topped with Alaskan crab,
asparagus spears and bearnaise sauce). There is
also Chicken Oscar for the fish ’n’ fowl minded.
The most curious item on the menu-and one
well worth Investigating-is an appetizer called
The Annex
“fried cheese.” It can easily become addicting.
All this is affordable, too. Top price on the lun
cheon menu is $3.25; most items are under $3.00.
Heading the dinner menu is a.New York Strip
Steak at $8.95; most other items are under $6.50
and some are less than $5.00.
Served attractively in an atmosphere that is
tasteful without being intimidating, the food is
just one-though certainly the major-drawing card
at The Annex. An underlying motif is the strong
locai committment by Tom Patterson, the
restaurant’s owner. Wherever possible, local
distributors were contracted for supplies. The
photographs and paintings which decorate the
walls display the talents of local artists.
“Downtown Asheville,” says Patterson, “used
to be, and could be again, a good place for people
to work, eat and enjoy themselves. I see The An
nex as another step toward the reality of a truly
vital downtown.
Asheville
^ggage
Co.
day packs
duffle bags
soft luggage
252-8020
68 N. Lexington
Lexington Park
Asheville
Ave.