Asheville Food Bites: New rooftop pizzeria, Hawaiian-inspired brunch, new Highland beer, more

ASHEVILLE - A rooftop pizza restaurant opens; a bubble tea tour of Asia; a new rice lager’s release day set; a Hawaiian-inspired brunch experience begins; best biscuit bracket.

Now open: Soprana Rooftop Cucina

On March 27, Soprana Rooftop Cucina, Embassy Suites’ rooftop pizza restaurant, opened at 192 Haywood St. downtown, offering panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Soprana’s menu features classic brick oven pizzas made with local ingredients like the Asheville Pizza made with Chop Shop Butchery pepperoni, tomato sauce, mozzarella and Asheville Bee Charmer Smokin’ Hot Honey.

The hotel’s lobby-level bar and grill, E’Terie, is open, too. The menu features bar bites, snacks and beverages like elote street corn fritters, Korean-style chicken and waffles, and signature sandwiches, soups and salads.

Soprana and E’Terie are open for dinner from 5-10 p.m. daily. For more information, visit sopranarooftop.com or hilton.com/en/hotels/avleses-embassy-suites-asheville-downtown/dining.

Pop Bubble Tea’s Asian Tour

Pop Bubble Tea will kick off its annual series showcasing special bubble teas with styles and flavors inspired by Asian countries, led by its otter mascot, Poppy.

The local bubble tea shop, located at 640 Merrimon Ave. and sharing space with The Hop Ice Cream, will provide customers with a passport to track the tour stops from April 4-Aug. 1.

Poppy’s Asian Tour schedule:

• April 4. Laos, inspired by Tou and Chou Lee of Lee’s One Fortune Farm.

• May 2. Philippines, created in collaboration with Stephanie Harper, community activist.

• June 6. Korea, crafted in partnership with Tracy Hopkins of Dare To Rise & CoThinkk.

• July 3. Vietnam, inspired by Rich Enuol of Across The Sea Foundation.

• Aug. 1. India, curated in collaboration with Meherwan Irani of Chai Pani Restaurant Group.

For details, behind-the-scenes content and exclusive offers, follow Pop Bubble Tea's social media channels @popbubbletea.

Highland Brewing's heritage beer

Highland Brewing Co. will release a new rice lager honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May.

The craft beer is in collaboration with local members of the Asheville AAPI community, who were invited to make the beer on brew day on March 28.

In 1994, Highland Brewing was founded by Oscar Wong and the company’s CEO is his daughter, Leah Wong Ashburn.

Highland's Production Services Specialist, Ana Reynolds, who is of Filipino-German heritage, said in a news release that she pitched the idea to the brewery with the desire to make "an easy drinking beer for staff to enjoy after work" and with the innovation team decided to brew a rice lager made West Coast style that aligned with the brewery owners' Chinese heritage.

Highland Brewing will release the rice lager on May 16, recognized as Oscar Wong Day by the City of Asheville and Buncombe County, at the downtown and main taprooms.

The name of the beer, decided by the AAPI members, has not been announced.

Highland Brewing reported that 1.9% of brewery owners in the U.S. identify as Asian, with an even smaller percentage of that led by a female owner, according to the Brewers Association.

For more, visit highlandbrewing.com and facebook.com/HighlandBrewingCompany and follow on Instagram at @highlandbrewing.

RosaBees brunch

RosaBees has added brunch services to the Hawaiian-inspired restaurant at 27 Foundy St. in the River Arts District.

Brunch will be offered 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.

Banana-nut French toast, Loco Moco, and poke bowl and more are offered, plus appetizers and specialty cocktails.

Broke Da Mouth Benne, on the entrée menu, is made with poached free-range eggs, teriyaki glazed housemade spam or organic tofu, spinach gomae, a honeycomb biscuit, chili Lilikoi hollandaise and served with chili-garlic home fries.

For more, visit rosabees.com or follow on social media at facebook.com/Rosabeesavl/ or on Instagram @rosabees.

Biscuit bracket

Biscuit Head, founded in Asheville, is going head-to-head with national contenders in a biscuit bracket competition hosted by Garden & Gun magazine.

In honor of March Madness, the publication created a bracket of 32 establishments including national chains like Popeyes, regional restaurants like Bojangles, gas stations like Buc-cee’s and local favorites like Biscuit Head.

Biscuit Head made it through the first round and seeks hometown support as they vie for the title of best biscuits in the South.

Voting ends for the second round on March 28, the third round on April 1, the final four on April 5 and the final round on April 9 with the winner announced on April 10. To vote, visit gardenandgun.com.

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Soprana rooftop pizza restaurant opens, RosaBees launches brunch, more