cúrate

i had been wanting to try this restaurant for years after reading a review in a magazine. it has such a fantastic view when you're sitting at the bar top in front of the cooks to get right in the action! thefoodwas delicious. however, we ordered the prawns and we knew they were going to have the heads and shells on but they were split on their back and the veins were still intact. i would say more restaurants than not choose to devein their shrimp before serving to a customer and i do not believe i have ever been served one that was not. if the shell had not been split open i might have understood.

curate is a well-known authentic spanish tapas restaurant led by chef katie button in asheville, north carolina. cúrate is a celebration of authentic spanish cuisine. for those who have visited spain, the cúrate menu will bring back memories of the country's best jamón ibérico, vermuterías, and lively tapas culture. in recognition of the restaurant’s all-spanish wine list, cúrate was listed as one of america’s 100 best wine restaurants by wine enthusiast magazine in 2018. cúrate means ‘cure yourself’ in spanish, reflecting the belief held by chef katie button and her family that there are curative effects in sharing goodfoodand wine with family and friends. experience the essence of spain in downtown asheville… one plate at a time.

my biggest complaint of our experience here is that we wouldn't have waited 45 min to get seated if they had told us that we would still be sitting on bar stools when it was finally our time. we would have selected another restaurant. but they were gracious enough to get us tall chairs with backs. thefoodalso, however, was not great. we had the patatas bravas and the lamb skewers. both were only okay. the lamb was not very tender and a bit hard to chew. we had higher expectations, but maybe we just caught them on an off night.

a group of 7 of us were at the restaurant to celebrate the birthday of a friend. we placed ourselves in the hands of our server as far as what dishes to eat, and after he determined what our eating preferences were, he proceeded to bring out some of the bestfoodi've had in quite a while. highlights included grilled octopus, a salad whose name escapes me but had radishes and cream, potatoes with brava sauce, and simply divine grilled eggplant with rosemary ice cream as a finisher. we also had the table side sangria, which i found to be good, but probably wouldn't get again. highly recommend it and i would definitely go back again if i had the chance (and was able to save up the money).

curate is my new favorite asheville restaurant. i have read about it in magazines and decided to treat myself for my birthday. reservations were not so easy to get, but i snagged a 4:30 at a private table. we were informed that if we wanted to come later, there is also a communal table. i'm not sure why we had to come so early for a private table as when we left a little after 6, most of the tables were still empty.
our waiter was not the most personable waiter i've encountered, but he did a great job making sure we understood the menu, made suggestions and was attentive in refilling drinks etc.
thefoodwas spectacular. the trout was one of the best things i've ever put in my mouth. thefoodwas all very fresh and the bread was delicious. since everything is served tapas style, it could easily get very expensive to try lots of different things. the shrimp and garlic is listed on the menu as ashevilles most popular tapas, but once again i'm going to have to give it to the trout (but the shrimp is delicious!). i will definitely return next time i'm in town.

loved it here. nice lively setting where you can actually watch them prepare the food, with an occasional burst of flames from behind the bar. but most importantly thefoodwas delicious and i must say i've never had chilled asparagus.

this is our go-to birthday and girls' night dinner place. sometimes i have mad cravings for the tortilla. we have tried so many things from cúrate and loved nearly all of them. i can't think of a single loser or even mediocre dish. as an iberian american raised in europe this is soulfoodfor me. some reviewer who likes appleby's said that cúrate was not up to par yet with other asheville establishments and compares thefoodto other "hispanic" restaurants. if one is expecting hispanic cuisine at cúrate one may well be disappointed. spanish and hispanic (that would include mexican and other former american colonies of spain) are not the same. this is a spanish restaurant; that's a whole other thing. a whole different set of flavors. i don't make this as a snob point, it's just that equating spanishfoodto hispanicfoodis about as accurate as comparing it to italian food. it's just a different palette of ingredients because of the various influences of culture, geography and history.

always stellar. i've eaten at curate numerous times and it never fails to impress. in fact, it is my favorite restaurant period. service is great and the flavors of thefoodare amazing. definitely make a reservation several weeks in advance. this place is very small and the tapas experience doesn't turn over tables very quickly.

what a fun experience! never been to a tapas before and this was so good!! we had the butternut squash soup (fabulous) ham, lamb skewers, sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and a sausage sandwich with peppers that was really good. we also had the garlic shrimp which is supposed to be a favorite, it was our least favorite!! we had a red sangria pitcher. nah. not good.


-----29 oct, 2014-----

omg so good. had the red sangria, wasn't my favorite. but all thefoodwe had was good the garlic shrimp was the groups least favorite, even tho it's the most popular tapas on the menu. the flank steak with mushrooms was divine. the butternut squash was amazing!!
make reservations!
service was excellent.

memorable lunch. another great dining experience at curate. friendly staff, lively people and as always superbfoodand beautiful presentation.

wish i had my $ back. my parents were in town for the weekend and wanted to go here. we only tried a few dishes, and none of them were anything special. the bill was over $200 and we only had one drink each. i think there must be enough unsuspecting tourists to keep curate going. thefoodis just soso at best. we had acorn ham, potatoes, asparagus and a couple others. there was an ice cream dessert too. nothing stands out.

amazing! seriously best spanishfoodi've ever had. can be pricey, with drinks we spent about $80 per couple. my favorites were the tortillas and the croquetas. my boyfriends favorite was the shrimp and garlic and goat cheese stuffed peppers. though seriously, i could any of all of the dishes we tried (8 in total) all day any day.

 last night my husband and i went to curate in asheville, north carolina for my birthday, and i was scheduled to meet chef katie button.  i always go into panic mode when meeting a new chef.  can i say their name correctly? do i know enough about them  last night's big hurdle was learning to pronounce curate right before i stepped in the door.  four years of spanish and coo-ru-tay was the best i could do, so we went with it.   chef katie is  a rock star in my world.  she was a james beard semifinalist for rising star chef of the year in 2013, for goodness sakes!  they don't hand those nods out to just anyone. she was in full planning mode since her and husband felix meana's second venture, a speakeasy of sorts they are calling the nightbell, is slated to open in asheville february 2.   but, she did take some time to talk with me and i was so thankful! the james beard awards , in case you are wondering, are like the oscars of thefoodworld.  i'm always glued to my twitter feed during f

christmas 2012. we ate here last december on a holiday trip to asheville/biltmore. thefoodwas outstanding and worth the price for a nice dinner out. we had the tomato bread, mushrooms, lamb skewers, calamari sandwich, the trio of cured hams, and some amazing garlic shrimp. all amazing, but i didn't care for the chicken fritters.

owned and chef’ed by award winning, katie button and her husband, felix meana, curate is a pretty famous and very popular tapas bar. chef button’s recipes have been featured in foodie mags likefood& wine and southern living, among others. and she’s been a chef for maybe 2 years, with a couple of years experience in front of that. amazing! their small plates are unparalleled. their cocktails, gorgeous and creative. we waited 45 minutes for our table because they were totally booked for reservations. i’d say if you want to enjoy curate, book well in advance, get there very early or wait it out. it’s so worth it. you will see why she deserves all those accolades. next time, i hope to meet this rising star.