More breakfast options come to downtown Asheville, new all-day café opens
ASHEVILLE - Downtown visitors and workers have a new drink and dining destination to stop at morning, noon and night.
On May 24, Flour opened at the S&W Market, a food hall at 56 Patton Ave. downtown.
Chef Gordon Gibbs partnered with Carter and Kyle James, siblings and owner of the James Brothers restaurant group, to develop a café where he could exercise his fermentation and baking skills and apply his years of expertise gained by working at renowned restaurants across the U.S.
Flour’s menu of simple yet satisfying meals, baked goods and light bites is enhanced by local, seasonal ingredients, and the beverage program is thoughtfully curated.
“The beauty of keeping the menu simple is that we can constantly switch things out, run some specials and do what we’re into and hyperfocus on that. It’s always changing with us,” Gibbs told the Citizen Times.
Grab and go, stay and sip
Flour, open 7 a.m.-8 p.m. daily will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A breakfast menu featuring options like biscuit sandwiches, granola and pastries will be offered from 7 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Lunch/dinner menu of gourmet sandwiches and pizza will be offered from 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
The S&W Market’s design allows for quick-counter service for guests dining in and carrying out, but other food stall vendors are lunch, dinner and dessert-oriented.
“Having breakfast options is something that was agreed is great for this building and space,” Kyle James said. “Being able to pop in and grab a well-thought-out coffee drink and homemade focaccia and biscuits for breakfast.”
Flour, positioned at the entry of the food hall, underwent renovations that involved installing a new butcher block service counter. A large wall mirror accented with floral décor provides a place for self-reflection.
Partitions create an intimate café environment inside with a few seating areas, and guests may enjoy their meals and drinks on the sidewalk patio on Patton Avenue.
Hungry for Flour
In the two-day soft opening period, a selected group of diners ― friends and family who didn’t sugarcoat opinions ― sampled menu items and provided feedback to the chef.
“It was nice to iron out some things with the food and get a feel for the space,” Gibbs said. “The food’s coming out great and we’re excited to share with the masses.”
Gibbs said the frontrunner was the roasted chicken salad sandwich.
“It’s got a little bit of Calabrian chili aioli in there to spice it up a little bit, fresh fennel, and we use a nice Castelvetrano olive to give it a briny bite,” Gibbs said.
The in-house focaccia bread used for the sandwich is the same as the pizza.
The menu will rotate with dishes and specials like the focaccia pizza, topped with a quick tomato pizza sauce, mozzarella, parmesan Reggiano and fresh basil.
Items are available for various dietary restrictions, like the plant-based spiced cauliflower focaccia sandwich made with tahini, zhoug, pickled onions and herbs.
Lunch bites are the market salad loaded with local ingredients, and the roasted carrots prepared with pistachio pesto, whipped ricotta and parmesan.
Morning guests may order a straightforward biscuit with whipped butter and local jam, or opt for a fuller meal, like the young broccoli and white cheddar biscuit sandwich or the breakfast plate containing a soft egg, ham, cheese and pickles and served with a market salad and fruit.
A bevy of beverages
All day, customers may order nonalcoholic, alcoholic, caffeinated and noncaffeinated refreshments.
The well-rounded coffee and tea program features drip, espresso, cortado, latte, cold brew and matcha latte.
Flowermouth Coffee Roaster in Asheville will introduce a Flour specialty coffee blend, and premium tea is sourced from Partners Coffee Roaster in Brooklyn, New York.
The breakfast menu offers a signature orange espresso tonic and sparkling matcha lemonade. The lunch/dinner menu features alcoholic libations like the Aperol, Hugo and Amaro spritz and Carajillo – a cocktail popular in Spain and Latin America and made with espresso and Licor 43.
Wine may be ordered by the glass or purchased by the bottle.
The retail market includes other bottled beverages and Flour merchandise.
Flour
Where: 56 Patton Ave., downtown Asheville.
Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.
Info: For more, visit swmarketavl.com and follow @flouravl on Instagram.
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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 Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Flour café opens: Asheville chef kneading dough, living the dream
