Earlier this year, Julie and John Stehling announced their intentions to open a chicken and waffle joint and said they were looking at a South Slope that location. But that deal fell through. They told Asheville Scene recently that they were looking for a new location.
On Tuesday, Julie Stehling said she signed a lease Friday for the new Haywood Road location. The space will have an outdoor patio, a late-night drive-through window and a full bar and should be open around December.
Stehling, who said she wanted to open Early Girl in West Asheville, added that she’s excited to be part of the West Asheville community.
“I like the community there. You get to have a really strong local base if you do things right,” Stehling said, adding that she’s got a ton of respect for the owners of other established businesses such as the Westend Bakery and The Admiral.
King Daddy’ will be the lastest in a wave of West Asheville restaurant activity. Biscuit Head recently opened at 733 Haywood Road, and two other restaurants are in the works at the former Taqueria Gonzalez location – the owners of the popular Nine Mile restaurant in Montford are reportedly planning something, as are the owners of the Asheville Sandwhich Company.
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[…] open at newly renovated 444 Haywood Road, which is home to Second Gear and will soon be home to King Daddy’s Chicken & Waffles. Background on 444 Haywood Road […]
Replying to Scott Owen’s comment – As a co-owner of the building, it’s my understanding that King Daddy’s plans to have a later evening “pick-up” window, not a “drive-thru” window.
Thanks for this clarification, Russ.
It would be a shame to not start your restaurant out on the right foot. In West Asheville a very large portion of the community is doing what it can to reduce traffic and the general inclination towards automobile traffic. Opening a restaurant that serves via a drive-thru window sets a very bad precedent on this street which currently has “0” drive-thru restaurants. Haywood St. is not only fabulous because of it’s restaurants, it’s also special because the restaurants it has do not have any drive-thru windows. Please consider not setting our community backwards by starting a business with a drive-thru window on Haywood. I personally will speak out against it and I’m sure others would join me in that once the word was out. We don’t want or need another battle between socially conscious neighbors. The choice is yours.
Agreed completely.
Well knowing how popular CFA and King Daddy’s Chicken & Waffles is, and is going to be I guess there will be a parking issue at peak times. Doesn’t matter to me because I would walk ten miles for Chicken & Waffles and a good place to do Crossfit.
Julie and John are two great people. The early Girl has been one of my favorite places to get my munch on, for years in Asheville. I can’t wait to try out Chicken and waffles. Love all you guys( and gals) at the early girl. Keep up the great jod
Welcome to the neighborhood! Can’t wait.
[…] Our very own restaurant extraordinaire, Julie Stehling, (owner of Early Girl Eatery) will be sharing a parking lot with CFA for her new project King Daddy’s Chicken & Waffles!! She promises there will be primal eating options as well. Check out Jason’s write up about it on Ashevegas! […]
please will they have vegetarian chicken and waffles 🙂
“You get to have a really strong local base if you do things right.”
Doing things right, FYI, includes you and John treating and paying workers fairly–we’ll be watching. That’s all I’ll say about that for now.