West Asheville restaurant opens, outdoor dining improves downtown, tasting events set
ASHEVILLE — A new eatery makes its soft debut in West Asheville, a local chef unveils his latest restaurant and bar improvements, two businesses partner for a family-friendly summer social, and a bottle shop is to host a series of wine tasting events.
The West Asheville Way
The owners of a popular food truck have put its gearshift in park and opened the doors to their new brick-and-mortar restaurants.
The Trashy Vegan had its soft opening during Memorial Day weekend at 697 Haywood Road in West Asheville.
Beginning June 3, the regular hours will be 3-8 p.m. Friday-Tuesday.
The permanent address will be the sole place to get a Trashy Vegan dish for a while. Owners Joel Boggs and Michelle Edwards are giving the food truck a rest as they ease into operations at the new venue.
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“We’re going to put that on the back burner temporarily,” Boggs said. “It might reappear in the future but not until we’ve got the restaurant streamlined.”
Returning customers will see some familiar dishes from the food truck at the restaurant, but expect the menu to rotate regularly and evolve over time. Soon, the restaurant will debut its bar menu, too.
“We’re trying to take things slow and incorporate new stuff probably every week,” he said.
The Trashy Vegan serves casual dining fare sans animal meat or by-products, such as plant-based burgers, soy-based “chicken” sandwiches and nuggets and fries.
“We want people to have a great meal,” Boggs said. “You’re going to have food that’s like comfort food. It’s not like what most people associate with being like healthy vegan food. It’s definitely vegan junk food, and we want people to see that it can be vegan and be just as delicious and as good as an animal-based product.”
The Trashy Vegan has turned the former butcher shop storefront into a plant-based dining hub. The interior takes on a bohemian feel with secondhand furniture and a repurposed bowling alley floor used for the bar top, he said.
“It’s definitely very homey, very comfortable but also with a little Trashy Vegan-West Asheville flair to it,” he said.
For more details, follow The Trashy Vegan on Instagram @the_trashy_vegan. A website will launch soon.
Sitting on Wall Street
Chef and owner Brian Canipelli is making more intentional moves from the menus to the dining experience at his establishments, Cucina 24 restaurant and Contrada wine bar in downtown Asheville.
Guests now have access to a new and improved outdoor dining space on fair weather days. And an awning was constructed, and umbrellas are provided for table coverage. The expanded outdoor space doubles the businesses’ capacity, he said.
Windows were installed at the buildings that can be opened to bring in the fresh air.
“We’ve been waiting for the weather to warm up to really see what that space can do,” Canipelli said. “We also started slow where we were just running the weekends then went to five days and now, we’re open seven days for both spots.”
Cucina 24 has undergone many changes since it opened 14 years ago at 28 Wall St. Canipelli has navigated the evolving downtown and brought the restaurant out on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, though with a few modifications.
“During COVID, we kind of changed models a little bit in the dining room to focus in a little bit more on ingredients than we already were and trying to cut as much waste as possible when the times were so tough,” Canipelli said.
Cucina 24 offers a set menu of a five-course meal at $60.
Contrada, sister business to the Cucina 24, is next door at 28 Wall St. The menu features snacks, pizzas, gelato, draft cocktails, wine and beer.
“It’s the more casual concept in the sense of it’s a la carte and no reservations,” Canipelli said. “We’re kind of focusing on our pizzas from the brick oven in that space now.”
The business owner has made changes in areas including labor, food and waste, he said.
“By doing this, we’re running a bit of a smaller staff than we were before, but everyone’s schedule is a lot more humane and ideally people are getting three days off a week, and I’m able to pay people across the board better than I was beforehand,” Canipelli said.
Cucina 24’s menu is updated daily and features cuisine inspired by regional and Italian cooking.
“It’s certainly vegetable-forward,” he said. “Vegetables kind of take the main stage here,” he said. “We put our menus together based on the stuff that’s coming in from the farm each week and letting those things dictate how the rest of the meats and proteins fit into place.”
The restaurant has scaled back on ingredients and sourcing from two primary local farms.
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“It’s always been the style of what we do but it gave me a chance to sit back and assess where we could do a better job,” Canipelli said.
For more details and to make a reservation at Cucina 24, visit cucina24restaurant.com. For more details about Contrada, visit contrada-avl.com.
Cool summer
Two Asheville businesses are teaming up for a family-friendly bash.
Asheville Tea Company and Sugar & Snow Gelato will host the Iced Tea & Gelato Summer Pop-Up Party from 1-4 p.m. June 5 at Sugar & Snow Gelato, 99 Riverside Drive in the River Arts District.
The free event is open to the public. Guests are invited to pop in for tea samples, shopping and cool treats – plus special guest appearances and surprises.
The offerings will include gelato crafted in-house and summer seasonal iced tea brews made with local ingredients. A special collab must-have will be the gelato iced tea float.
For more details about Asheville Tea Company, visit ashevilleteacompany.com. For more details about Sugar & Snow Gelato, visit sugarandsnowgelato.com.
Wine down
Save the dates for several summertime soirees aimed to educate, entertain and celebrate the art of winemaking.
MetroWines is hosting intimate tasting events featuring special guests at the bottle shop, 169 Charlotte St. in Asheville.
On June 14, Bubbles at the Bar will begin at 5 p.m. featuring Josh Austin of Freedom Beverage Company. Guests will receive complimentary samples of four sparkling wines at the strolling tasting affair with the opportunity to purchase varieties for home.
On June 22, Zinfandel Tasting with iconic winemaker Carol Shelton will be from 5-6:30 p.m. The event is free, and no reservation is required. Proceeds from Carol Shelton wines sold at the event will be donated to Mountain Pet Rescue Asheville.
On June 29, “The Perfect Table” will begin at 5:30 p.m. with special guest Oceano owner and vinter Rachel Martin. MetroWines will serve Oceano Chardonnay and Pinot Noir paired with finger foods. The scene will be set with table designs by a Grovewood Gallery artist. The event is $20 per person and all wine and Spiegelau wine glasses are event priced.
On July 6, join the MetroWines Focus Group and taste four wines in consideration for the shop. The cost is free, but spaces are limited. Guests may receive discounts for bulk purchases of wine purchased that evening. Reservations are required.
For more details and to make reservations, visit metrowinesasheville.com or call 828-575-9525.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Trashy Vegan opens in West Asheville, Cucina 24 chef unveils changes
