Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Another new restaurant being planned for Asheville will bring back an old name.
The plan is to take the space now occupied by the toy store Enviro Depot on Broadway in downtown Asheville and turn it into a restaurant called Tingle’s. Back in the 1920s and ’30s, that same location housed Tingle’s Cafe, a thriving main street cafe.
Tingle’s Cafe opened in 1918. The restaurant endeavor was so successful that there was a Tingle’s Too out on Hwy. 19/23 north of Asheville.
There’s also Tingle Alley, which runs off Broadway just north of the old Tingle’s Cafe and right beside the former location of the home furnishings store Ambience Interiors, which is currently being renovated to house a cocktail bar. The new bar, replete with rooftop terrace, will be called the Sazerac. The same group of owners/developers is doing both the Sazerac and Tingle’s, a crew that includes Lesley and Jack Groetsch, formerly of Orange Peel fame.
Here’s some historical background on Tingle’s Cafe from a book called Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age and listed on the New York Times’ web site:
Main-street cafés promoted both quick service, especially at breakfast and at lunch, as well as more leisurely dining, especially in the evening. Usually a wider menu was available than at lunchrooms, and rarely were candies and bakery goods sold. Food—breakfasts, noon lunches, or dinners, and both light and heavy evening meals—were the emphasis (see fig. 1.6). Occupying an ordinary storefront was Tingles’ Café in Asheville, North Carolina, pictured about 1935 (see fig. 1.7). Although little had changed inside the restaurant since its opening in 1918, the exterior facade displayed a new neon sign configured in the “modern” style. Banks and other sources of finance capital encouraged restaurants in standard retail spaces. Should a restaurant fail, as Tingles’ surely had not, its space could be readily occupied by another business, even of a very different kind.
I worked there as a waitress back in 1962-63 while attending Blanton's Business College. The city bus would stop right in front of the cafe, so I wouldn't have to walk to the corner when I got off at 9 pm.
My Grandmother worked at Tingles when my mother was a little girl she remembers sitting at the counter waiting on her mother to get off.Now my mother is 63 and my brother has appied his services for a job at the new Tingles , which brought tears my mothers eyes. I hope he gets the job.It would be something to tell his children about.
What happened to Enviro Depot??
I was at A. M. Tingle III’s house in Asheville when he told me about this. They have a lot of memiorbilia from the restaurant, menu’s, recipes, etc. Perhaps these people should contact the family.
Wonder if they’ll be able to make chicken n’ dumplings and country fried steak like the original?
Several of the Tingle family descendants who grew up and worked at Tingle’s Cafe and Tingles Too still live in the Asheville area. I wonder how they feel about someone using the Tingle name for a new restaurant?
WooHoo! Another rooftop bar! I hope it has more room and better service the The Sky Bar.
I’ll be damned! I read that book just last week and noticed the postcard pic.. What are the odds that you would report this news a week later?
Tingles actually operated on Broadway through the 1950’s and into the 60s, in fact they opened a second cafe, "Tingles Too" ("Two"?) on Patton Avenue just across from the Denny’s Restaurant area…well known for good food!
I am sure that the restaurant will do well due to a name that is well known. When I visit North Carolina I will have to give the place a visit.
We have a few interior photos of Tingles, if you want to come by the North Carolina desk at Pack Memorial Library.
love the name but now the Ingles shorthand (Tingles for Tunnel Road Ingles, Wingles for West Asheville Ingles, Pingles for Patton Ave Ingles) will get confusing.
what happened to Enviro Depot? They were only there a couple months.
Murphy, no, it moved awhile back.
J.
Isn’t the Enviro Depot on College Street?