Based on my experience with friends at The Crossroads – Root & Bone this past Friday, the answer is “No, they haven’t overstepped at all”. Along with property owner, John Turchin, they’ve taken an existing building, updated both interior & exterior, and opened a restaurant that’s serving up a unique, approachable menu at reasonable prices for the area.”
As far as what you can expect, I found it comfortable and welcoming. A nice mix of folks. Somewhere it was suggested dress was “resort casual”. If it’s for locals, all locals, I’d say nice-casual to casual dress should be fine. It felt like the kitchen was about 95% on top of things. A new Manager, Jonathan Miller, started this same day. He was previously at the Asheville Ruth’s Chris for eight years. The two friends I was with knew people he knew at Ruth’s Chris. He was definitely on his game.
Three of us were lucky to get seats at The Crossroads U-shaped bar. I’m guessing total capacity is about 50 on that side of the building. The bar accounts for about 40% of that seating with comfortable backed chairs. Two of us knew Chelsea, one of our bartenders from a couple previous spots she’d worked in town. She and Logan took excellent care of us on a busy Friday night. Note – multiple people have said it can be loud with ambient noise, but we didn’t experience that and the room was full. I’m guessing it’ll be harder to have a conversation when there’s live music, unless it’s soft acoustic.
It looked like table seating for 24 on the lighter/brighter side of the building toward the back, and four or five cushioned stools with backs at the open kitchen counter.
Lastly, there’s additional outside deck seating. Unfortunately, it started raining while we were there, so those folks came inside or finished up quickly and headed home.
DESIGN
You might not notice, and there may be other things I didn’t notice, but look under The Crossroads bar at the “bar wall” and foot rail. The wall is covered with railroad “tie pads” gleaned from the rail to Ecusta Trail conversion. You can also spot tie pads supporting hardware that’s attaching beams to the ceiling over the bar.
Look back down under the bar and you’ll also notice the foot rail is one of the actual rails pulled up during prep for the Ecusta Trail. Think of the traffic that passed over that rail!
DRINKS
Cocktails and other drinks are offered at very friendly pricing. Cocktails $11-$15, averaging $12.60. Sixteen ounce Draft Beer $6, Cans $5 – $7, and wines by glass and bottle are too many to list here, but they’re reasonably priced, in my opinion. Two of us had their tasty Ziggy Stardust Old Fashioned at $12, and the third had their fun Mountain Mermaid at $15. Don’t miss the footnote on this cocktail, letting you know the extremely heavy mermaid vessel it’s served in is cursed: “This mermaid is cursed & will bring financial hardship if removed from her home.” Love this wording! Humorus, but you get the message.
FOOD
We had five dishes (three “Starters”, one “Salad”, and one “Side”) between the three of us. Didn’t share, but we did take tastes of each other’s dishes. See MENU and more information in gallery image captions below.
- Beet Tartare: It’s very savory, with very little beet flavor. Most, beet lovers and not, should be happy with this dish. I liked it, eating every bite, including the “swoosh”, pumpkin seeds, and garnishes. House-made chips are excellent.
- B.L.T.: Nice fried green tomatoes and tomato jam. If you’re a pimento cheese fan, you’ll be happy. I especially liked the pork belly on top. It had less fat than usual and was well cooked.
- Smoked Trout Dip: Good, but a little “fishy” according to a friend who’d had it a few days before, and confirmed by us. Not necessarily a bad thing. Every bite was gone in our case. You’ll have to decide for yourself.
- Southern Peach Caprese Salad: Felt like the kitchen was rushed putting this dish together. Peaches were good, but under the lettuce & not featured. Get this if you like peaches, pickled tomatoes, and vinegar-based dressing.
- Mac & Cheese: Generously portioned (sharable, if you’re willing) with a “biscuit herb crust” on top, baked and served in a small cast iron skillet.
WHAT’S NEXT?
This is all tentative. No guarantee any or all of what I’ve heard is going to actually happen.
- A stage/deck for live music is planned for outside. Sounds like it’ll be between the deck attached to the building and the Ecusta Trail.
- A Bakery is going to be added in the existing space on the left (still unremodeled) side of the building as you look at it from the street.
- Did you know there’s a “downstairs”? It’s a space with a smaller capacity, maybe 20+? I’ve heard two things – one, it’ll be a Private Event space and also used for wine storage, and two, there’ll be a small bar and additional seating.
Building and Restaurant owners have said they intend this to be “a place for locals”. I took a wait and see approach before going, but unless something happens to change my mind, I think they’ve hit the mark. Prices are very reasonable and spaces are welcoming & well thought out.
The Crossroads and Root & Bone
Website: https://thecrossroadsnc.com/
4165 Brevard Rd.
Horse Shoe NC 28742
828-309-0818
