Sand Hill Kitchen

As you make your way out to Sand Hill Kitchen, the road becomes abruptly rural, with rolling farmland, winding roads, and the Blue Ridge Mountains emerging every now and then. Eventually, you’ll hit a BP gas station on the outskirts of West Asheville, which is exactly where you’ll find Sand Hill Kitchen and the best fried chicken in town. As spiritual as the crispy, buttermilk-soaked chicken sandwich tastes, it’s certainly not this breakfast and lunch spot’s only claim to fame. The cheeseburger, breakfast burrito, and biscuits are just as good, and if you’d like a lighter, plant-based option, the pastrami-cured roasted red beet sandwich is a sleeper hit. 

You can order at the drive-thru window or settle into one of the five-ish tables in the gas station, a set-up that’s surprisingly homey and spacious for a petrol stop—especially if you’ve just returned from a hike on the Blue Ridge Parkway or the nearby Pisgah National Forest.