Okay, wow! This place was amazing. I'll be honest and say that I almost gave up on it. The first day we went about an hour before closing with plans to order takeout, but were told that they weren't doing takeout anymore because they had new people in the kitchen. Annoying. The next time we were going to eat there we realized they're only open for about 5 hours per night, and we'd had a late lunch, so that wasn't going to work out. Finally we decided to go for an early dinner and I'm so glad it worked out.
Everything was fantastic. We started with an appetizer, the Live and Give, which was pretty good. I liked the spicy salsa the most, but the queso was pretty good too. Drinks? Yes. I had a mango margarita, which was good, but the rum punch blew it out of the water. At first I was pretty ageist against rum punch, because Mary Poppins tastes it when she has her spoonful of sugar so it seemed like a pretty old-fashioned drink, but this was a reminder that old fashioned doesn't mean bad because yum. They also did not skimp on the alcohol at all; I left the driving duties to my dining partner so that I could live to tell the tale.
We ordered the special, which was some sort of fish/shellfish dish that I avoid almost as much as I try to avoid a plague so I can't tell you anything about it, except that the person who ate it said it was good. For my part, I ordered the Nine Mile with chicken. It was so, so good; one of the best things I've tried in a long time. I was a little worried about the ginger because sometimes people can go overboard with that, but it was not overwhelming. I ordered it with linguine, but the server accidentally put it in with rice instead (the Nine Mile with rice is his go-to meal), and though I was a bit disappointed I think it was actually the better choice to go with it. Serendipity!
Would you believe me if I told you that the biggest surprise of the meal was the salad dressing? I wouldn't have believed me either, but it's true. I ordered my salad with the jalapeño lime cilantro dressing, and let me tell you, it was friggin amazing. Spicy, fresh, slightly creamy, tangy... my friends, this actually makes me want to (and be excited about) eat salads. Hook me up to an IV and pump it in. I ordered two containers to bring home and was excited to find that my CSA delivery included salad greens; all was put to good use today. What makes me so mad is that it's not bottled (they put it in a couple take-out containers)! Whaaaaaaaaat? They could make bank if this was sold like they sell the other items on their site. I can't drive 10 hours to Asheville to get dressing! Nine Mile, please get this figured out ASAP so I can not only order it for myself but convert everyone I know to this. I also can't believe that the tahini salad dressing is the most popular (our server confirmed the jalapeño is the one we wanted because he said the tahini is the most popular). People are lying to you about that I swear; I just haven't figured out why.
Definitely a stop on my next trip to Asheville. I was housesitting so cooking at the house as much as possible, but I'm so glad I made this place one of our eating out meals. 5/5 would recommend. read more