Asheville, NC - recs?

[spankswife]

We are going to Asheville in July, Sun-Thurs, so we will have 3 full days. It will be myself, DH, and DD, who is 4 (adventurous, good traveler). We rented a cottage (with a grill, fireplace, hot tub). 

I am thinking 1 day going (calm water) rafting, 1 day at the Biltmore, and one day hiking/exploring (Chimney Rock?).

I am looking for any and all suggestions. Which rafting company? Should we do sliding rock? Any suggestions for hiking, or something else for the third day?

Restaurant recs? We love everything, especially local favs.

Is the downtown trolley tour any good? The day we leave our flight is early evening, so we have a fair amount of time. I was thinking of doing this that day, then having lunch.

TIA!

[magdala]

Early girl cafe was great for breakfast. We were there for a weekend wedding so did not spend much time sightseeing.

[librarygirl]

We loved our meals at Tupelo Honey Cafe (right in downtown) and Luella's BBQ (about a 5 minute drive from downtown). Both seemed extremely popular with locals but especially the latter since it's somewhat more removed. We tried to eat at 12 Bones Smokehouse (I think it was in the arts district, definitely removed from the more touristy areas) but I failed to look at their days of operation. So we drove all that way for nothing

Enjoy!