Updates on The Barleycorn, Grand Central Pizza & Deli and Chef Mo’s

The Barleycorn to open in the former Burgermeister's spot

Brothers Greg and Jon Campbell have had enough of exclusive gated communities and stodgy office parks. They recently relocated to Asheville from south Florida, and they’re hoping to discover a more sociable way of living.

This fall, they’ll open The Barleycorn in West Asheville with that goal in mind.

“We're going for a gathering place where you can get something good to eat,” Greg says.

The restaurant's tagline, “a great good place,” comes from writer Ray Oldenburg’s 1989 book, The Great Good Place, which argues the importance of so-called third places in creating healthy lives.

“A great good place is a place where people can come and meet their neighbors, or a guy's out walking his dog, and he can sit down and have a beer,” Greg says. “Basically, it's going to be based on the British pub tradition.”

Accordingly, The Barleycorn will serve fare from that region: bangers and mash, pork pies, Irish stew. There will also be sandwiches, soups, salads and cheese boards for sharing.

And as the name implies, beer will be plentiful with about 16 varieties on tap, which explains the barley reference. It draws from a folk song about harvest, “John Barleycorn Must Die,” written down by the Scottish poet Robert Burns and recorded, perhaps most famously, by Traffic.

Greg summarizes the song: “You plant the barley. You plant the corn. It grows up, and you kill it so you can produce beer and spirits. … And then you plant it again.”

The Barleycorn occupies the former Burgermeister's space at 697 Haywood Road. Renovations are already underway. The revamped interior will include a longer bar, a semi-open kitchen and a change in decor (no more vinyl appliques on the walls).

Circle in the Square on Merrimon becomes Grand Central

Don't worry north Asheville: Merrimon's Circle in the Square is no more, but the pizza train is still in the station.

The business has become Grand Central Pizza & Deli. Byron Carlile, who managed the restaurant for nine years, recently bought it and changed the name — although most everything else remains.

“We've kept all the pizza exactly the same,” says Shelby Young, who works with Carlile. “That's pretty important to our customers.”

The phone number, however, has changed. For Grand Central, call 254-4403.

The Biltmore Avenue Circle in the Square remains open under its original ownership.

Chef Mo's on Hendersonville Road closes

After 3 ½ years in business, Chef Mo's Restaurant and Bar has closed. “Basically, it just wasn’t the right location for us,” says Brenda Wienke, who co-owns the business with chef Mauricio Abreu. “We decided after some soul searching that we needed to leave.”

Abreu has been cooking in Asheville for more than a decade, and he's co-owned restaurants since 2004, when he opened Chef in Motion on Victoria Road.

Is he retiring? Not likely. He and Wienke, will continue to operate Mountain Fiesta event center in Madison County where they host weddings and cooking classes. Abreu will offer private chef services.

Look for an upcoming collaboration between Abreu and Carson Lucci, who owns Over Easy Café and Golden Girls Events Staffing. Abreu will help with Golden Girls’ catering projects and possibly host some dinners at Over Easy, which is usually only open for breakfast and lunch, Wienke says.

For more information, visit goldengirlseventsstaffing.com or mountainfiesta.com.