Stu Helm Food Fan eats his way through Asheville

Stu Helm – legendary Asheville Man About Town – has so much on his plate, it’s a wonder he has any time to eat.

But that’s the thing – looking at his Facebook page, Instagram and TikTok accounts, website, Substack, all under the brand Stu Helm Food Fan – you’d think all he does is eat. And that’s not taking into account the tours he leads through a broad swath of downtown independent restaurants three days a week for Asheville Food Tours, his podcasts, serving as a celebrity judge for multiple cooking competitions, an administrator for the often volatile and overwrought Asheville Foodies Facebook page, compiling coveted annual awards nicknamed The Stoobies, or personal eating he posts photos of almost daily.

Not surprisingly, the question he is asked most frequently is: ‘Why don’t you weigh 300 pounds?’

“I probably eat less than the average person,” Stu replies, despite all evidence to the contrary. “I’m pretty small. And I walk at least three miles a day.”

In the immortal words of great OG sportscaster Warner Wolf, ‘Let’s go to the videotape!’ Or, a Facebook week in the life of Stu Helm Food Fan.

On a Sunday morning (before leading a three-hour tour of restaurants), he had three ‘huge’ zeppole with strawberry jam at a downtown hotel.

Another morning, he took his mom – one of his consistent dining partners – with him to breakfast, where he had steak, eggs, hash browns and toast.

A friend who is about to launch a food truck dropped by the house with Happy Belly Slapburgers on brioche buns.

On his walk home after a food tour, he stumbled upon a soul food pop-up window, and got chicken on a stick, yellow rice and mac and cheese.

An account of dinner at Vivian with his nephew revealed they shared smoked oysters, Stu had a 16oz cast iron seared ribeye steak (he ate half) with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and mashed potatoes, then shared an ice cream sundae with the lucky nephew.

Amid the vacuum of restaurant reviews in local print or online publications, and as an entertaining, earnest and engaging alternative to Yelpers, Stu is the authority on Asheville food, restaurants, chefs, cooks, makers and bakers. Because he has eyes and walks all over downtown, and because people in the industry trust him implicitly, he is the first to know what’s new and next.

This was not the plan. He moved to Asheville 19 years ago with his wife Dawn Roe (an art professor) and worked as an illustrator and graphic designer. About eight years in, the dedicated diner began writing reviews of the places he was eating.

“At first, I did it just for friends on my private page and called myself the Facebook Food Critic. My whole writing style developed for my friends, lots of jokes and every other word was an F bomb. My friends told me I needed to get them published.”

He copied his reviews and sent them to Jason Sandford, who had the popular website Ashvegas. “I told him I’d be happy to clean them up and he could publish them. He published like three of them as they were written and asked me to write some more. I was shocked he used them with all the swears.”

His egalitarian approach — from farm-to-tables to Home Depot hot dogs – and wildly unrestrained comments built a following.

He also discovered the power of negative reviews. “I wrote a pretty brutal review of a place and the next day the owner wrote me an email. He said, ‘I understand you had a bad meal, and I hope you’ll give us another try. But I also need you to know all my dreams and money are sunk into that restaurant and I employ 20 people.’ I was so ashamed I wanted to curl up in a fetal ball the rest of my life.”

Instead, he changed everything. Stu Helm Food Fan was born, and he decided he would keep bad experiences to himself.

Alas, writing turned out to pay less than art, and he needed to find more gainful employment

After taking a tour with Asheville Food Tours, he applied for a job with them. That was seven years ago, and he has been leading tourists and locals on The Food Fan Tour three days a week ever since.

“I tell them stories about the restaurants, Asheville and Asheville history. People really love hanging with a local who knows behind-the-scenes things and when we walk into a restaurant, they all know me by name. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. How lucky am I to work as a food tour guy?”

For more about Stu Helm Food Fan, stuhelmfoodfan.com.

— Kay West

Photos courtesy of Stu Helm
First photo: Stu with Tubby, the official mascot of Duke’s Mayonnaise
Second photo: Food Fan fave, Croque Madame from Mother

AIRfare stories sponsored by: