Small Bites

Tod’s Tasties And To-Go’s: For those folks who can’t wait for downtown-Asheville delight Table to open, owners of the fashionable farm-to-table eatery have opened a new café where fans can get their breakfast fix. Tod’s Tasties and To-Go’s, located in the Montford Avenue space vacated by Viva Europa, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, starting at 7:30 a.m.

Photo by Jonathan Welch

“We make all our breads in-house, using North Carolina organic flour,” says Alicia Sessoms, who owns Tod’s with her husband, Jacob. “It’s all reasonably priced.”

The lunch and dinner menu includes sandwiches, burgers and salads, although Sessoms says the restaurant plans to offer daily specials. “The other night we had a truffled mac and cheese,” she says. “We’ll have even more comfort-food specials.”

And just who is this Tod fellow behind Table’s foray into the casual-dining scene? As it turns out, there is no Tod at all. “Everybody’s Tod,” Sessoms says. “It started as a joke between Jacob and myself and it stuck.”

Tod’s is open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Flight Night: The Asheville Downtown Association has a special invitation for you: Join other revelers at Flight Night: A Celebration of Asheville’s Epicurean Delights on Thursday, Nov. 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m. A $25 ticket gets you sweet and savory appetizers and craft beers from local breweries, all at Fiores Cottonwood Café (1122 College St.), where several other restaurants will share their wares. Then, it’s downstairs to Fred’s Speakeasy for entertainment by the Hellblinki Sextet and One Leg Up. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.ashevilledowntown.org.

Scratch: Nearly everything at Scratch, the latest venture from chef Eric Backer, will be made from, well, scratch – with one notable exception. The restaurant will open with an existing reputation for serving terrifically good, fresh food, a reputation established by Backer’s 28806. The popular West Asheville restaurant has closed in preparation for Scratch opening its doors later this month in the Meadows Building, adjacent to Rosetta’s Kitchen.

“What you know as a great sandwich will still be the same,” Backer says reassuringly. But, he adds, the ingredients should be even better. Scratch will continue 28806’s tradition of making bread in-house, as well as roasting its own meats and making some of its own cheeses. Reubens will be dressed with homemade sauerkraut.

“Everything’s going to be from scratch, within reason,” Backer says. “The attitude and environment are all centered around creativity.”

Backer is putting the restaurant’s kitchen in the basement of the three-story building, its dining room on the main floor and an event space upstairs. He’s retiring the counter-service model used at 28806, so all meals will be served sit-down style.

In addition to lunch, Scratch will offer Sunday brunch, small-plate dinners and a late-night menu after 10 p.m. “It’s doggone good food,” Backer says.

Scratch will be open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. midnight, and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s slated to open next weekend.

Thanksgiving Openings: While the vast majority of Americans eat in on Thanksgiving, the National Restaurant Association reports one in 10 Americans celebrate the holiday at a restaurant. The trick is finding one that’s open. Here in Asheville, locally owned restaurants planning to serve on T-Day include The Bier Garden, Martha Nell’s, Grovewood Café, S&W Steak and Wine and The Flying Frog. The Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn also keep their restaurants open for the holiday. And down the road in Hendersonville, both Square One Bistro and Blackwater Grill are planning to offer $35/person Thanksgiving feasts.