-Chipotle is coming: The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that Chipotle plans to open its first Asheville burrito shop on Hendersonville Road in December. I shot the photo above over the weekend, so you can see where they’re at. I’ve been following the Asheville Chipotle rumors since 2012, so it will be nice to see the place finally get open.
-Addissae is coming: Another long-awaited restaurant – Asheville’s first Ethiopian restaurant – should be opening soon, as well. The owners of Addissae on Commerce Street report on Facebook that they’re getting close. Follow Addissae’s progress on FB.
-Taste of Asheville: The date for Taste of Asheville is Nov. 20. Asheville’s indy restaurants on full display.
-The Thunderbird at MG Road: Here’s a note from the folks at MG Road regarding the latest restaurant takeover by Asheville Chef Elliott Moss:
We are very excited to announce to you today our newest venture. Elliott Moss, James Beard nominated chef and pop-up wizard, is firing up another concept while he awaits the opening of Buxton Hall. He’s assembled a cast of some of the best young guns in Asheville, and is launching a new pop-up restaurant – The Thunderbird at MG Road, 19 Wall Street, downtown Asheville.
The Thunderbird is a restaurant takeover of MG Road Bar & Lounge that launches on November 6th. For the next four months, the eclectic lounge will morph into a restaurant inside a bar, with Elliott and his crew serving dinner from 6pm – 11pm, Mon – Sat. There will also be a late night menu from 11pm – close.
The Thunderbird will be a chance to experience why Elliott cooks the way he does. He seamlessly blends his South Carolina roots, with Appalachian ingredients, Asheville funkiness, and his unique perspective on things. The result is a style of cooking that’s playful, delicious, innovative, unpretentious, elevated, yet approachable. Moss will be cooking with: Dan Silo, Sarah Cousler, Eric Kang, Lydia Clopton.
-And here are holiday hours for Asheville’s indy restaurants, courtesy of loyal reader Jane.
8 Comments
I strongly approve of this article.
Yay!
The chain restaurants are fine, and a lot of people enjoy them. I’ve been guilty of eating at my fair share of them through the years. I’ve even eaten at the original Chipotle location when it was the only location. But, I love the fiercely independent nature of the downtown restaurant scene and hope that anymore migration of the chains into downtown can somehow be stopped. I don’t know how it can feasibly be stopped, but an old man can hope.
Tried “Thunderbird” on Monday. The food is fantastic and original. Price-wise it certainly wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t appalling.
Chipotle is awesome. I hope they introduce the tofu sofritas. I doubt it will be complete by December though. They originally said it would be open in August. We’ll see.
Commenting on the post about the construction of the new Hyatt Place hotel on Haywood Street, Asheville cannot get hotels up fast enough. Seriously, it cost people visiting me over $140 in a 2 star hotel for one night. Even the dumpy Days Inn in Candler was going for over $130 weekend nights in October. Rodeway Inn and Comfort Inn on Brevard Rd were refusing their coupons despite it having no weekend restrictions and was in the travel book at the welcome center. If you are going to advertise the coupons, you should be legally required to honor them. Really the only way to do it is to Priceline 2 months in advance and hope it doesn’t rain that weekend.
I guess it is true. Citizen-Times reported a spokesperson said Chipotle is likely to open mid-December. Nice Christmas present. Although I generally prefer locally owned businesses, the new Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Asheville Outlets, and Chipotle are definitely more jewels in the crown. Now if we can get Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. or some other locally owned pizza place to serve stuffed crust pizza (not Pizza Hut), that would be awesome.
I would LOVE for Asheville pizza to offer Stuffed Crust. Hate Pizza Hut, too greasy.
It would be the only place in the world serving Daiya Vegan Cheese stuffed crust pizza. I was a vegan myself for several months until I ate a meat pizza of all things. Actually, the tofu at Asheville Pizza is very good maybe better than the meat. Though, don’t eat too much unless you want man-boobs because soy (tofu) is known to lead to abnormal growth of breast cells in male rats.
The Daiya cheese stuffed crust should be fine for men though. Daiya Vegan cheese is free of soy.