Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s some of what’s going around:
-Crumbling building? The Coxe Avenue sidewalk that runs alongside the building at the corner of Coxe and Patton Avenues is blocked off with yellow tape and barricades. Chunks of concrete, apparently from the building, litter the sidewalk. So what’s going on? Is the building, which houses the Thirsty Monk, falling apart? Is anything being done to fix it? How long will the sidewalk be closed?
-Changes on Leicester Highway: It looks like two businesses along Leicester Highway have shut down. Leicester Pawn and Gun appears to have emptied out (commenter says they’re alive and kicking), while the U-Haul business right next door is gone. The U-Haul rental place was run by former Asheville police officer Ronnie Davis.
-World Cup soccer: There’s no better place this year to hang out, drink beer and watch and talk soccer than Dirty Jack’s down on Buxton Street. Dirty Jack’s is the Green Man tasting room, and it’s just a great place to chill. With the World Cup this year, Dirty Jack’s is gonna be hoppin’.
-Building demolished: A building off Merrimon Avenue that once housed a couple of steak houses has been demolished. Way back in the day, it was Steak and Ale. More recently, I think it was La Trattoria or something like that. It was on a little side road just off the Merrimon Avenue exit off I-240, near the 51 Grill. Wonder what’s next for that property.
-Vinny’s or Vincenzo’s? The local restaurant war over the name “Vinnie’s” continues. Earlier this year, the Savoy restaurant on Merrimon Avenue changed its name to Vinnie’s, and moved to a family style Italian menu. Owner Eric Scheffer said he was driven by the economy to make the move, which ticked off his friend Dwight Butner, owner of Vincenzo’s, down on Market Street.
Butner has said that everyone knows his place as “Vinnie’s.” Having two places around town known as Vinnie’s confuses customers, says Butner, who has fired the latest salvo in the fight with a radio ad I heard Friday on 98.1 The River. In the radio spot, Butner talks up Vincenzo’s, but refers to it a couple of times as Vinnie’s. Interesting.
Update on Henry: Henry Thome is is battling a health condition related to a rare form of dwarfism. The little boy is the son of a couple who work at Laurey’s restaurant downtown. He had one bone marrow transplant, but it didn’t work. Now this:
Please keep Henry and his mother, Emily and father, Adam in your prayers and hearts this weekend and this coming week. Henry’s “do-over,” his second bone-marrow transplant, happens this coming Tuesday, March 9th. This time there is a live donor, an anonymous person somewhere, who is going to donate her marrow. She’s an angel. And so is he.
-Peak Definition moves: The photography studio Peak Definition has moved into a new studio. From Derek:
By the way we just got a new studio downtown on Lexington and Walnut. We moved in with Kelso Advertising and are also working with them on projects.
Butner should have kept his mouth shut. He’s getting more bad publicity out of his tantrum than he wants. By the way, Vinnie’s is good. The new Vinnie’s that is…
Davis’s place moved farther down off Leicester Hwy.
Vincenzo’s was Vincenzo’s. Vinnies was Vincent’s Ear.
I haven’t seen any movement at Lou’s Grub on Leicester Hwy in a couple of months. Too bad. Their food was pretty good though a little pricey for what it was. My daughter called it "The Macaroni Place" because she loved their mac-n-cheese.
I can also verify Leicester Pawn and Gun. They are still open, and *always* have people in there… I was just in there looking at amps. 🙂
I had no idea Labor Ready was gone! whoa….
The building just demolished next to 240 near the Merrimon Exit most recently housed La Caterina, a fine Italian restaurant. Weird location; good restaurant. Now a vacant lot.
Also – Labor Ready on Patton Ave downtown is totally gone & wiped out. Took them a couple hours one afternoon to demolish it and clear away any trace.
Leicester Pawn in full swing when I was in there today, with more than 10 other people. Guy behind the counter said they were not even thinking about closing. As for Davis U-Haul a sign says they’re moving. So much for the rumor mill.
I’ve lived here for ten years and I used to go see Bobby Sullivan play at Vincenzo’s every Wednesday and never heard it called Vinnie’s!
Now as far as dinning there goes… I went to AB-Tech and took their food safety course. The Chef who was teaching the course told us that he was invited to inspect their kitchen. I will say this about that, if your inviting someone to check you out, you might want to clean first! After hearing the description of the amount of bugs and grease he witnessed I have never gone back! And I have warned friends not to go either!!!
Vincenzo’s was the only restaurant the the Chef told the class never to go to and he was pretty passionate about it too!
huh? Leicester Pawn, really? My husband just called them today…
I also have never heard anyone ever refer to Vincenzo’s as Vinnie’s. I’ve heard other nicknames for Vincenzo’s, but I won’t go there.
Work should start this weekend on the Purple Building where Thirsty Monk is. The brick building was "painted" with a cement stucco years ago and the winter freeze/ thaws have the cement coming loose. The bricks are fine below. With the warmer weather this week, we’ll be scraping the side, waterproofing and painting. Sidewalk will probably be closed through mid April. It’s high up there and the sidwalk is narrow so it’s really hard to even mobilize the equipment we need. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I heard the Vincenzo’s/Vinnie’s commercial and just had to laugh. I have lived in Asheville all my life and have never heard Vincenzo’s referred to as anything but Vincenzo’s, not sure where Butner is coming up with this Vinnie’s junk. I rarely eat at Vincenzo’s anyway because it is too expensive, but after this mess you can rest assured that I will never eat there again! He’s being a crybaby, get over it!
I’ve lived in Asheville 35 years and NEVER heard Vincenzo’s referred to as Vinnie’s. I don’t see the two names being the same at all. I think someone is overreacting!
If anyone called it Vinnie’s, there’ weren’t enough people doing it to make an impression on the public at large. Retroactively trying to cement a nickname in place doesn’t work. Seems like he’s the one confusing people.
Here’s my Vincenzo’s story. My family was visiting me a few years ago, and we ended up going there for dinner after walking around town. I didn’t know they were a "fancy" restaurant, so we went in with regular summer clothes on. They didn’t say a word about a dress code, or we would have happily went somewhere else. We wanted to sit downstairs in the piano bar, but it was smoking at the time so we opted for upstairs. They were visibly reluctant to seat us. The waiter ignored us for a long while, and then he treated us like we were vagrants who snuck in the back door for the entire meal. I liked the food, but have never been back since. There’s plenty more friendly restaurants around town that will at least tell you when you walk in that they don’t want your business.
Never heard Vincenzo’s ever referred to as Vinnie’s. Wonder if Butner will honor my Vinnie’s gift card?
Leicester Pawn and Gun is still there. No idea about Davis, though.