You may still get your queso on
La Carreta, the Mexican restaurant on Merrimon Avenue next to Greenlife Grocery, is being forced to close to make way for the building of a Trader Joe’s at 120 Merrimon Ave. For those who might be saddened by the future shuttering of the restaurant (and missing all of the queso and enchiladas and such within), we’d like to remind you that La Carreta has a second location at 1916 Hendersonville Road. Call 651-4462 for more details.
Tomato, to-mah-to
You don’t have long (the contest ends on Friday, July 20, at 11:59 p.m.), but Earth Fare is holding a tomato photography contest in which aspiring shutterbugs take photos of tomatoes in exotic locations, “dressed as its alter ego” (yeah, we don’t know), or looking fine on the vine. A jury of Earth Fare team members will choose the top 10 photos for the grand prize and healthiest tomato categories. Are you wondering why we think this is cool? Fair enough. Check it out: Winners may receive up to $500 in Earth Fare cash for first place — even third place gets a $100 gift card.
Want to try? Email photos (as jpegs) to contests@earthfare.com before 11:59 p.m. on July 20. Final photos will be posted at http://www.earthfare.com for public voting until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 29. Winners will be announced on Monday, July 30.
Booze news
As you may have noticed in the food feature, A Grand Tasting in WNC, the Asheville Wine and Food Festival has put out the call for mixologists to enter into the first annual Local Spirits Mixology Competition, led by Marco Garcia, former restaurateur and currently the event director and bar-master over at Sazerac. We think it bears repeating: Enter at http://www.ashevillewineandfood.com if you feel like competing on Saturday, Aug. 25. We wonder if local Magnetic Field bartender Cynthia Turner will enter — one of her recipes, a strawberry shrub swizzle, was just featured in Imbibe Magazine online (http://www.imbibemagazine.com).
