Taste of Morganton: Local flavor takes on new heights in this foothills town
A Beer Fest With a Wild Card
Another weekend, another beer festival in Western North Carolina? Predictability is the last thing you’ll find during Fonta Flora Brewery’s second annual State of Origin festival, held June 13 at Morganton’s Courthouse Square.
Not yet two years old, Fonta Flora takes the “drink local” movement to the next level by making beer that’s rooted in Appalachian agriculture and wild flora—whether grains from Asheville’s Riverbend Malt House, beets from Morganton’s Bluebird Farm, or plums or pawpaws plucked in the wild. Late in 2014, Fonta Flora introduced Echoview Estate Ale, the world’s first truly Appalachian beer—brewed only with ingredients from Weaverville’s Echoview Farm and with official certification by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project to prove it.
As a way to encourage other regional craft breweries to work with the local bounty, the State of Origin festival only pours beers made from ingredients grown in North Carolina. Last year’s beers ranged from a stinging nettle saison to a pale ale made from 100 percent North Carolina grain and hops. On tap for this year from Fonta Flora: a dry-hopped saison flavored with wild dandelions.
“We’re really just trying to get funky and creative with what’s possible—not only with local beer but local ingredients,” says Fonta Flora brewer Todd Steven Boera. “You can make some pretty exciting stuff.”
State of Origin will be held from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on June 13. General admission is $40. fontaflora.com
A Blossoming Food Scene
With fewer than 17,000 residents, Morganton doesn’t top many culinary lists—at least not yet. Just don’t try to tell that to the diners at Wisteria Southern Gastropub, where creative Southern fare runs the gamut from trout cake benedicts and boiled peanut hummus to “Kentuckyaki” glazed chicken wing lollipops.
Owner and chef Obie Ferguson makes good on his farm-to-table promise with a menu that changes weekly based on what’s in season. “We really try to make vegetables the star during the summer—any chef can cook proteins; it takes extra thought to make vegetables the focus,” Ferguson says. Even so, careful consideration also goes into specialties such as the Bluebird Farms chicken liver mousse and Hoppin’ John veggie burger.
For Ferguson, it was love at first sight in Morganton. “We were on our way to the mountains while living in Cary, North Carolina,” he recalls. “Looking for a change of scenery, I bought my house right away and moved here a few months later. From the beginning, I wanted Wisteria to be a big part of the community and help our small town thrive.”
Wisteria opened in July of 2012 and has quickly earned its place as a favorite among locals and visitors, sharing the success of downtown Morganton’s other culinary hot spot, Root & Vine, which merges French technique with Southern tradition.
Wisteria is located at 108 East Meeting St., Morganton, N.C., serving lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.