Events by Cúrate
Event venue · Asheville
32 S Lexington Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
Highlights
Spanish tapas, wine bar, and market with James Beard award-winning cuisine
Spanish tapas, wine bar, and market with James Beard award-winning cuisine
"Helmed by Katie Button, who trained at Café Atlántico, elBulli, Jean-Georges, and the Bazaar before opening this James Beard Award-winning restaurant in 2011, the kitchen is celebrated for Spanish specialties such as jamón ibérico; the restaurant is repeatedly cited as one of the city's hardest-to-get tables and has spawned additional concepts including La Bodega by Cúrate." - Gina Smith
"When chef Katie Button opened Cúrate in 2011, she set a high bar for Asheville’s then-nascent restaurant scene. Now with a 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality under its belt, the Spanish tapas concept still charms adoring crowds in its friendly, yet refined, historic downtown space with shareable classics like jamon Iberico, Galician-style octopus, and goat cheese-stuffed piquillo peppers. The bar stocks an impressive list of Spanish and Basque vermouths, sherries, and wines." - Gina Smith
"A popular tapas restaurant in Asheville wrote on social media: “Brian is also one of the core reasons we moved to Asheville. Not only was he an incredibly talented chef, but his generosity to this community, his support to our local farmers, and the way he made everyone around him feel seen and cared for was something that genuinely set him apart. It was truly an honor to have known and worked beside him. His persona and presence will always be with us.” This was among many heartfelt remembrances shared by the local community after his death on Thursday, February 6." - Erin Perkins
"The beloved downtown restaurant from 2015 F&W Best New Chef Katie Button hosted a Pintxo Party that night in early December and offered swift reassurance after Hurricane Helene: water has returned, the city isn’t a hollow version of itself, and locals remain eager to gather. The author’s anxieties—“Is the water clean? Would I have to face a hollow, sad iteration of Asheville? Do they want me here?”—were answered on entry: yes, no, yes. “We want the world to know that we are here,” Button said. “We are ready for them to visit.” The event felt celebratory and beaming with support (people snaked down the street and chefs celebrated other chefs), and menu moments mentioned included gildas, Rise Over Run wines, and Button’s mejillones; the author noted, “I drank the very clean, very safe water and toasted to a reemerging Asheville.” Button also reflected on change and resilience: “I do not think we will return to exactly how things were before the storm,” Button said. “Asheville will come back stronger and wiser.”" - Kayleigh Ruller
"Asheville chef and co-owner Katie Button emphasizes the social role of restaurants: “Restaurants are places where people can both celebrate and grieve, and come together in community.” After Hurricane Helene forced a temporary closure, she organized pintxos parties to bring joy back to the dining room, then teamed up with local chef Ashleigh Shanti (whose restaurant was also impacted) to raise funds. The collaboration culminated in a collaborative pintxos dinner at the re-opened restaurant, with proceeds used to assist employees affected during the closure. The fall release of Shanti’s cookbook, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, led the team to work with a local bookseller to sell copies at the restaurant — they sold out and the effort inspired many guests to donate to a relief fund via a QR code placed on each dining table. Button frames these efforts in mutual support: “We are a community of small Asheville businesses and entrepreneurs,” Button says. “People don’t have large, deep pockets, so we help each other however we can.”" - Kayla Stewart
