Asheville

Asheville is a lot more than just the Biltmore House. In my opinion, Asheville is the most vegetarian-friendly city in North Carolina. For a town its size (only about 70,000 residents), it has a surprising number of vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly restaurants. The town itself is cute and eclectic, downtown is great fun to walk around, and the atmosphere is definitely more open to a veg lifestyle than most small Southern towns. It makes a great day trip. Whenever I visit, I always wish that Winston-Salem was that veg-friendly! Local vegetarians have a Web site -- ashevilleveg.com -- and offer a VegDiscount card that provides savings at area businesses. What a great idea!

My favorite vegetarian restaurant in Asheville -- and one of my favorites anywhere -- is Laughing Seed Cafe, on Wall Street downtown. I'm especially fond of their Harmony Bowl, a delicious mixture of organic brown rice, pinto beans, tofu and steamed vegetables in a sesame ginger sauce. Other enticing options include wild mushroom enchiladas, curried tempeh napoleon and a Sloppy Joe sandwich. They also offer some decadent mixed drinks -- the Black Orchid is to-die-for. And the restaurant is beautiful, too, with a lovely rain-forest mural to set the mood. (Just a heads-up: It's closed on Tuesdays.)

Have you discovered a favorite place in Asheville? Or anywhere else in the state, for that matter? I always enjoy visiting new towns, and if I can get a great vegetarian meal there, so much the better!