Long-lasting relationships are often forged over tasty meals, which is why most businessmen show up to networking events with pockets full of steak tips. Rub elbows at the table with today's Groupon to The Square Root in Brevard. Choose between the following options:
• For $20, you get $40 worth of dinner.
• For $10, you get $20 worth of lunch.
Voted Best Restaurant in Brevard 2010 by Mountain Xpress readers, The Square Root has won a loyal following for its selection of American cuisine. Kick off dinner with homestyle fried green tomatoes drizzled with a creamy dijon sauce ($7) or jump straight into the main course with the panko-encrusted pan-fried mountain trout, which comes doused with a dill-and-whole-grain mustard remoulade ($18). Raised locally at Everett Farms, the New York Strip steak ($24) arrives with rosemary-blue-cheese butter sculptures of the Statue of Liberty. For fine midday munchies, turn to a lunch menu packed with such temptations as the Steak House burger topped with horseradish barbecue, pepper jack cheese, and Black and Tan onion rings ($12). The curry chicken platter with jasmine rice and raita ($11) brings south Indian spices to the table faster than playing a dining-room version of Marco Polo.
The Square Root's Appalachian-inspired décor is as locally sourced as the cuisine. Housed in the antique brick and stone building, the bar top is a slab of ambrosia maple felled in recent years on King Street and carefully milled into a smooth surface by a dedicated team of woodpeckers. The 1930s art deco-style bar back had to travel from Kentucky, and the antique panel doors and doorknobs were imported all the way from Main Street Brevard to complete the libationary library. Trivia and music enliven the atmosphere, and a covered outdoor patio allows guests to dine al fresco without the drawbacks.
The Square Root
More than 6,000 blocks of yellow pine compose The Square Root's floor, sprawling beneath a 1930s art-deco bar back salvaged from a Kentucky dispensary and a bar top made from repurposed ambrosia maple. Brunches of eggs florentine and beignets give way to lunches of fried swai fish tacos in blue corn tortillas and curry lamb meatballs. Each dish is meticulously presented—sprigs of herbs or julienne vegetables are placed just so, and sauce is artfully swirled into curlicues or used to write the initials of all your childhood crushes. The Square Root's newest outpost in Hendersonville emulates its original location with exposed-brick walls, rustic wooden tabletops, and an identical food menu of favorite The Square Root recipes.