I’ve had 24 birthdays so far and I can honestly say this was the best birthday I have ever had. I’m still on a birthday high from the weekend. Everything was magical, my stomach still hurts from laughing, and memories that will last forever were made.
Saturday morning, I met up with his family at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. We stopped at the hotel to drop off our bags and check in. We decided to stop and get lunch before the tour at Cedric’s Tavern.
Cedric’s Tavern is named after the Vanderbilt’s dog. The restaurant is very cozy and warm. It has photos of Cedric all over the walls and statues out in the front. According to Joe and Nick, they had good beer. I’m not a huge brewed beer person, but if you are; Asheville is where you need to be.
The tavern makes their own sweet pickles and they’re delicious. I don’t usually like sweet pickles, but I ate like three of these.
For a starter, we had pretty buns with homemade honey mustard butter and beer cheese. The bread was so soft and heavenly. The honey mustard butter was awesome and I kind of want to make my own version! The beer batter cheese was good too!
I could have easily eaten the whole tray.
Nick’s little brother, Dominic, ordered the tomato bisque as a starter. We all passed it around and shared it. It definitely went up on my “best tomato bisque” chart. It tasted like vodka sauce.
I had a lot of room to preserve for wine and dinner, so I ordered a caesar salad.
Dominic and Ralph ordered the fish n chips. We are a very “taste this, taste that” kind of group and so I had a bite. It was the first time trying “fish and chips” from a restaurant and it was awesome! I might have to order that sometime.
Joe ordered the Shepherd’s pie and I loved the way they displayed it! How cute is that?
Nick couldn’t decide between the hot turkey sandwich and the shepherd’s pie, so he ordered the Ruben. I’m not a pastrami person, so I skipped out on trying that one.
But, I did try the homemade chips and they were fantastic!
Phyllis was on the same page as me…she was saving up for some wine tasting! She ordered the beet salad.
We had so much fun sitting around chatting at Cedric’s and the food was incredible. If you’re ever at the Biltmore, make sure you have lunch or dinner there!
After Cedric’s, we headed to the Biltmore for the Tour!
We couldn’t take photos inside the house, but I got a ton of outdoor photos. I’ll post those as soon as I can.
Snapping a photo of the Biltmore!
Linda @ TheFitty says
Oh, what a magical day! I’m not sure what to do for my upcoming big 18, i wanted to do something drastic and cool but I don’t think I’d have the money to make that happen. I hope I am just as happy as you were on your birthday. 🙂
Taralynn McNitt says
Hmmm…gotta do something big for your 18th! 🙂
Sierra @La Spice Sisters says
Looks like such a great start to your birthday weekend! Can’t wait to read the rest!
Natalie says
Wow what a beautiful place! It’s gorgeous!
You’re so lucky to have places like that around you!
Kristin C says
So glad you got to go! That’s awesome! I can’t believe that you went before me and I live 30 mins away! lol.
But, I’m glad you had a good birthday and I can’t wait for the rest of the bday posts!
Livi @ Eat, Pray, Work It Out says
I love the Biltmore! I haven’t done the wine tasting yet, but I want to!
Melanie says
Happy Belated Birthday Taralynn! I’m so glad you had a fun day 🙂
Alice @ Live Fit Love Chocolate says
Happy Birthday!!!! Hope you had a wonderful time! That food looks FANTASTIC! I could probably eat that entire jar of pickles since I’m obsessed with all things pickled and briny 🙂 Hope you had a great day!
Taralynn McNitt says
Thanks Alice! Those pickles were so so gooood!
Joi @ Joiful says
Oh that looks amazing! Glad you had such awesome birthday! All these food photos made me super hungry 😀
Taralynn McNitt says
Thank you :):)
rachelmarie says
Happy Birthday Tara!!!
That bread looks amazing!! And you can never go wrong with beer cheese!
Cami says
Looks like you had so much fun! My mouth is watering looking at those pickles 🙂 Happy birthday!
Cami
Camelldalynn.com
Taralynn McNitt says
Thanks!! 🙂 Those were some mighty fine pickles!
Carolyn says
You may have just convinced me to go to Asheville to celebrate my 23rd next month! I’ve always wanted to go to the Baltimore!
Cassie says
How magical! Whenever I try to “save” for cocktails, I end up ravenous later, and want to eat everything. Does that happen to you?
Amanda @ Positively Amanda says
Looks like such a fun time!
Anita Childress says
Hope you had a Pampered Birthday!!!