Early Girl Eatery, Asheville

Weekend brunch is clearly popular in downtown Asheville – when I was visiting last month, we discovered that lines form outside most of the well-known spots before they open at 9am.  

Based on my experience, I’d suggest you plan to be in line by 845am, and that the line you’re in is the one in front of Early Girl.  You won’t be alone for long, I promise.

Early Girl is tucked away on Wall Street, which is about the farthest thing imaginable from the Wall Street in Manhattan.  It’s a charming, narrow street lined with restaurants and small shops with whimsical window displays of yarn or belt buckles.

As soon as the restaurant opens, you’re whisked inside and seated, and one of the friendly and impressively efficient waitresses stops by almost instantly to take drink orders.

The menu is an appealing combination of homestyle Southern and healthy local, which means a vegan tofu scramble isn’t at all out of place alongside local sausage and shrimp and grits.

Early Girl Benny

We started with pumpkin ginger quick bread, which was moist and spicy and delicious. Then, I couldn’t resist the Early Girl Benny, basically my dream breakfast: a grit cake topped with spinach, poached eggs, tomato gravy, and avocado, with a biscuit on the side.  The tomato gravy reminded me of a rich, chunky cream of tomato soup – only more vibrant and savory.  It mixed with the perfectly runny egg yolk and soaked into the grit cake, and I used my biscuit to mop up every last bit of the eggs and gravy.

“Other D” made the excellent decision to order some biscuits and gravy for the table, which ended up in easy fork-reach in front of me.  Early Girl’s soft biscuits are deliciously flaky and buttery, an ideal vehicle for the spectacular, salty and smoky Benton’s bacon gravy.

It’s not the most photogenic dish, but just looking at it makes my mouth water.

Biscuits and Gravy

Besides the great food and service, Early Girl is very “Asheville” in that it also has some great pottery on the table, by the local artist Patty Bilbro.  I adore this jam pot!  My sister and I came across a gallery selling some of her works in the River Arts district of Asheville later that day, where she got me a fantastic mug with the same singing-bird-and-girl motif as a birthday gift.

I’m still dreaming of my breakfast at Early Girl, but in the meantime, I have my mug to remember it by.  (Thank you, J!)