Jargon – Asheville, NC

The spring seasonal menu at Jargon is a delicious green delight. It’s ramp season here in southern Appalachia and they’re featured on a lot of dishes here, along with other spring faves like fava beans and asparagus. All plates were shared, we didn’t end up ordering any entrees because the small plates were all so appealing.

First up we have grilled asparagus with ramps, deviled eggs, and sauce gribiche. At the same time we enjoyed the ricotta cavatelli with fava beans and radishes and lots of lemon.

They have a barrel aged house Negroni blanco that I loved, we also each had an excellent cocktail to start and some fun wines after the Negroni.

Next up was our seafood course. The soft shell blue crab with snap peas, pea shoots, and spicy kewpie mayo was one of the best things we’ve eaten so far this year. My husband loves softies and he said it might be the best one he’s ever had. The NC clams were in a vibrant ramp broth and we definitely finished all of it with the grilled bread.

We thought about ordering an entree next, but the cheese plate had caught both of our eyes so we decided to get that in lieu of an entree or dessert. We were not disappointed, the cheeses were all delicious and had perfect, thoughtful accompaniments. The grilled bread was kind of clunky with the cheese though, I would have preferred some nice crunchy crackers. I wish I could tell you more about the individual cheeses, but I was 4 drinks in by then.

Service was great, and we loved sitting in the enclosed patio. It felt like a little secret garden tucked away in busy West Asheville.