Asheville’s only dedicated live jazz venue is also the oldest restaurant in town. Lex 18 used to be Eureka Saloon, a local watering-hole-turned-Prohibition-speakeasy. It still exudes that 1920s elegance and gumption, though perhaps now a little more Gatsby and a little less blind tiger.
Co-owners Georgia Malki and Alan Van de Kamp wanted to honor the venue’s prominence in the era of early jazz.
“It’s a part of our heritage and something to preserve,” Malki says of the genre.
As a nod to its history, Lex 18 serves signature moonshine cocktails and gourmet meals alongside nightly jazz performances.
Enjoy a little music with your moonshine, or participate in one of Lex 18’s themed dinners, where you’re immersed in the music, culture, and atmosphere of times past.
“This place you’ve walked into,” Malki says, “it’s where we’re all transported back in time for a moment.”
In Gorges State Park and other remote areas of our state, swinging suspension bridges — practically woven into the woods around them — transport hikers over rivers, across creeks, and into the past.
North Carolina’s state symbols make up a one-of-a-kind collection that tells our story. They include our native plants, the art we create, the crops we grow, and so much more.
He was smitten with the flavors of her Zimbabwean cooking. She was intrigued by his rural North Carolina upbringing. Together, they created a life in Durham — and a namesake restaurant that was the first of its kind in the entire country.
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