ASHEVILLE - Where to eat and drink is a top question for tourists and locals in Asheville, and narrowing down the options can feel overwhelming. It's a good problem to have and speaks to the diversity and the volume of long-running to newer establishments that collectively have made the city a world-class destination for food, beverages and outstanding hospitality.
Asheville's latest accolades come from the Michelin Guide, a global travel companion setting the bar with its Michelin Stars and other high honors. It follows another James Beard Award win for Western North Carolina, national and international medals for breweries, wine glass laurels for restaurants and wineries, and other esteemed awards that praise our local creatives and producers.
Let these recent wins serve as starting points for crafting your tasting itineraries.
The Michelin Guide restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina
On Oct. 21, the Michelin Guide's American South awards ceremony was hosted in Nashville, recognizing restaurants, chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and others in the hospitality industry in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
In 2025, the Michelin Guide introduced the American South into its global awards program. Asheville came in strong, with 15 restaurants making the prestigious list, all of which have maintained their distinction.
Little Chango, Luminosa and Mother were among this year's 59 Bib Gourmand earners, a category for restaurant offering good food at a moderate price.
Michelin Guide recommended 184 American South restaurants, including 12 in Asheville: Addissae Ethiopian Restaurant, All Day Darling, Cúrate Bar de Tapas, Golden Hour, Good Hot Fish, Leo's House of Thirst, Soprana Rooftop Cucina, Sunny Point Café, Table, Tall John's, The Admiral and Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse.
The famed Emeril's restaurant in New Orleans, founded by the iconic Chef Emeril Lagasse, earned the night's top award, retaining its two-Michelin-star distinction.
One-Michelin-Star restaurants totaled 21, including Counter, North Carolina's only Starred restaurant, which retained its standing from last year. The Michelin Guide lists 58 North Carolina restaurants.
Scoundrel, a French restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, about an hour south of Asheville, also held on to its one Michelin Star for the second consecutive year.
View North Carolina's Michelin Guide restaurants at guide.michelin.com.
James Beard Award's outstanding chef in WNC
The James Beard Foundation's 2026 Restaurant and Chef Awards, recognizing the nation's most exceptional food and beverage professionals, included a win for a Leicester farmer.
In June, Chef Taylor Montgomery won Best Chef: Southeast, a category that includes the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Montgomery co-founded and is the executive chef of Montgomery Sky Farm, where he offers upscale, multi-course dining in an elegant barn setting.
Chef Meherwan Irani and Molly Irani, founders of Chai Pani Restaurant Group (Chai Pani and Botiwalla), were in the running for Outstanding Restaurateur. Chef Matt Dawes (The Bull and Beggar) reached the semifinals for Best Chef: Southeast.
NCRLA Chef Showdown crowns winner
Fresh off the James Beard Award win, Montgomery competed in the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's statewide cooking competition, the Chef Showdown.
In September, Montgomery won the final round, impressing the judges with dishes featuring North Carolina-grown, raised and produced ingredients.
Margaret Boerner, representing Sovereign Remedies and Chemist Spirits in Asheville, was one of the six Mixology finalists in the competition, which featured 102 culinary and mixology professionals across different categories.
World Beer Cup winning breweries
World Beer Cup, the Brewers Association's global craft beer competition, medaled 11 North Carolina breweries out of 1,644 breweries that submitted 8,166 entries total in 2026.
Asheville craft breweries that won were Diatribe Brewing Company (gold medal, Irish Extra Stout, Export Stout category); Wicked Weed Brewing (silver medal, Lime Drop, Fruit Beer category); and Hi-Wire Brewing Company (bronze medal, 10W-40 Coconut Candy Bar, Dessert or Pastry Beer category).
Great American Beer Festival-winning breweries
In October, the Great American Beer Festival hosted its 2026 awards program in Denver, with several Asheville breweries earning medals: Wicked Weed Brewing (silver medal, Lime Drop, American Fruit Beer category); Hi-Wire Brewing (silver medal, Hi-Wire Lager, International-style Pilsener; and Riverside Rhapsody Beer Co. (silver medal, Weather Re-Porter, Robust Porter category, as well as bronze medal, Baltic Porter, Strong Porter category).
View the complete list of North Carolina winners at greatamericanbeerfestival.com.
North Carolina Wine Competition's best sips
The 2026 North Carolina Wine Competition recognizes excellence in the state's wine, cider and mead industry, with producers using at least 75% N.C.-grown fruit and honey.
The winners include Noble Cider, which won the N.C. Wine Cup for Best Cider for its Porter's Perfection.
The cidery's awards list also includes Double Gold medals for Bella and Porter's Perfection. Gold medals were awarded for its Harrison, Dabinett, Lavender Lemonade and Spice Merchant. Silver medals were earned for its Standard Bearer, Apricot & Black Tea, Royal Peach, Village Tart, Bananas Foster and Elder Sage.
And it received Best of High Tannin Cider for its Porter's Perfection-Lewis Creek Orchard Reserve, Best of Modern Apple Cider Dry for its Harrison – Lewis Creek Orchard Reserve and Best of Fruited Cider Dry for its Apricot & Black Tea.
Botanist & Barrel won a Double Gold medal for its Foragers Delight Pet Nat NV, the Best of Pet-Nat Cider for its Foragers Delight Pet Nat NV and Best of Melomel Mead Dry for its "Queen Bee" NV.
Biltmore Estate won a Double Gold medal for its North Carolina Rose 2024, a gold medal for its N.C. Chardonnay 2024, Best Sparkling Wine for its Chateau Reserve NC Brut Red 2022 and Best Rose Blend for its Reserve 2024
View the complete list of gold, silver, bronze and "best of" winners, which include neighboring Barn Door Ciderworks, Flat Rock Cider Company, Souther Williams Vineyard and Burntshirt Vineyards, at ncwine.org.
Wine Spectator laurels earned by local restaurants
Wine Spectator, the publisher of the namesake industry magazine and the world’s leading authority on wine, recognized 4,012 dining destinations worldwide, including in all 50 states and 85 countries, on a three-wine-glass-ranking tier ― the three Grand Award being the highest.
Eleven Asheville restaurants were on this year's list of celebrated restaurants.
The two-wine-glass Best of Award of Excellence restaurants are The Dining Room at Biltmore Estate and Posana (Downtown and Biltmore Park).
The one-wine-glass Best of Award of Excellence restaurants are Bargello, Cúrate Bar de Tapas, Jargon, Red Stag Grill, The Blackbird, The Corner Kitchen and The Market Place.
For details on the wine collections, visit winespectator.com.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Co., covering the food and beverage industry, including the James Beard Awards, Michelin Awards, restaurant openings, closings and other hospitality industry news and events. Tips, comments, questions? Email tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow @PrincessOfPage on Instagram. Sign up for AVL Bites and Brews, our weekly food and drink newsletter here.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: A guide to Michelin, James Beard-winning restaurants in Asheville
