Description:

Located on Main Street in the quiet, mountain town of Marshall, a quick 25 minutes from Asheville you’ll find a serendipitous experience in The Sweet Monkey and Bakery Cafe. Chef Hollie West arrived in this quiet hamlet in July of 2014 having first explored her path through the catering, dining and tale gate wonders Asheville is known for. The storefront location that is Sweet Monkey has a small but very fun al fresco area prior to entering the inside space which I will term equal measures of shabby chic, light and fun. Several 4 toppers, a few tables for larger parties and a few 2-toppers. Open kitchen rear left gives diners easy view to the making of magic.

We had an easy day and decided to create a fun afternoon by enjoying a lovely drive to Marshall. We had my sister in tow and all of us had a walk around the town of Marshall, landing at the cafe whetted for a late lunch. Two of us had the Redonculous Reuben. It was totally awesome by any Reuben standard. Creating the high water mark occurs when not only the meat (corn beef, of course!) is great but as though waiting in the wings as an understudy when the main part player falls ill, the sandwich is then completed with home made sauerkraut and home baked rye bread. This sandwich was both plentiful and yummy. I went rogue that day and skipped the Reuben ordering instead the Bengal Turkey sammie being intrigued by the notion of both the cranberry-apricot chutney and the fresh local kale. I mean, the Reuben was calling my name but now, four months post Thanksgiving, I decided that a bit of the bird was in order. I was not disappointed. This fine sandwich arrived bearing real live turkey breast, not cold cut meat, with a generous serving of swiss cheese. Coupled with the home baked wheat bread and a lovely, ever so ripe slice of tomato, I was feeling happy to have made this choice. All three of these sandwiches were served with fresh potato salad. There was a distinctive mustard component to the potato salad which being a true New Yorker and hooked on mustard, I found to provide it with an interesting and tangy flavor outside the norm.

The owner, Hollie, was about welcoming the patrons and making sure that everything leaving the kitchen was to specs. It was apparent that she is a “hands on” presence in this establishment and she loves what she is doing. She arrived at our table and began telling us about the desserts. The more she spoke, the more trouble I knew us to be in. In a moment of consensus that our legislative branch of government could only envy, we selected one dessert, a flourless chocolate torte with chocolate ganache topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream which was delivered to our table with 3 spoons. We made short work of it.

Take a leisurely drive to Marshall, check out The Sweet Monkey Bakery and Cafe. It’s a delight and you’ll be glad you went there. Oh, just for the record, they bake and sell the bread there, and you are going to want to take some home.