West Asheville restaurants reinvent their service models to meet COVID challenge

THE BIG SQUEEZE: If life hands you lemons, Jargon owner Sean Piper advises making a lemonade stand. Piper created a tongue-in-cheek photo illustration of the walk-up sandwich and beverage takeout window he and bar manager Chris Keane, left, operate outside the restaurant Monday-Thursday, noon-4 p.m., and Tuesdays, 3:30-6:30 p.m., at the West Asheville Tailgate Market. Image courtesy of Jargon

“When life hands you lemons, open a lemonade stand.” That’s what Sean Piper mused to his wife, Shelly, in March after they had to close the dining room at Jargon, the popular restaurant they opened in West Asheville in May 2017.

The concept appealed to her, so Sean tied some balloons to the entrance, made a bunch of fresh lemonade and opened a walk-up window selling sandwiches, sides and beverages Monday through Thursday noon-4 p.m. In mid-May, the restaurant added a Tuesday afternoon pop-up stand across Haywood Road at the West Asheville Tailgate Market.

After spending three weeks deep-cleaning the closed restaurant, and before opening the lemonade stand, Jargon began offering its menu online for takeout service on Friday and Saturday evenings. But Plan A quickly morphed to Plan B.

“Our regular menu wasn’t translating well to takeout and didn’t keep well in a box,” Piper says. So, in late April, Jargon transitioned to Slang — an abbreviated menu of items specifically designed for takeout, available to preorder online for pickup at reserved times on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We added some new things to the Slang menu,” says Piper. “The duck wings have been a hit. The softshell po’ boy sold out in four hours.”

A few doors down, another Haywood Road hot spot flipped the script on its business model in response to the COVID-19 crisis. “The West Asheville Biscuit Head has been closed since mid-March,” says chef Jason Roy, who co-owns the three Asheville Biscuit Head locations (and one in Greenville, S.C.) with his wife, Carolyn. “We’ve been doing takeout from the Biltmore location since then and will likely open South Asheville for takeout, too. But does Asheville really need three Biscuit Heads right now? I don’t think so. We decided it was an opportunity to do something fun and different.”

While El Salvadoran pupusas might seem a world — or at least a hemisphere — away from biscuits, thematically it maintains the Biscuit Head motto to “Put some South in your mouth.” And, says Roy, the Pupusa Head Pop-Up that takes place Fridays through Sundays is keeping it all in the Biscuit Head extended family.

Herminia Arrioza has been a cook at the West Asheville store for about seven years, Roy explains. “She was always bringing pupusas and tamales and pastelitos in for the staff,” he says. “Her food is just so good. Before all this happened, she and I had talked about helping her open her own place, a Salvadoran restaurant. Then this happened, and it seemed like perfect timing to do this fun weekend thing from the front window. Pupusa Cabeza!”

The weekend menu offers four or five dishes from Arrioza, including five kinds of pupusas; tamales; Salvadoran empanadas filled with potatoes, green beans and carrots; and pollo guisado — stewed chicken thighs with rice. On the other side of the menu border are biscuit sandwiches, including hot chicken with pimento cheese and the Nutella Elvis, a buttermilk biscuit with Nutella, bananas and bacon.

“It’s gone over really well,” Roy enthuses. “It’s been fun to showcase what Herminia does. Who knows where it will lead?”

Piper is also doing his best to see the silver lining in the COVID-19 cloud. “I’ve always wanted to open another place that would be a fun, funky Jargon with elevated street food. With Slang, we have the chance to try some of those things out. I’ve always been a positive person so we’re fighting the fight with all we’ve got and making the best of the situation.”

For updated information, hours of operation and menus, visit biscuitheads.com and jargonrestaurant.com.

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Kay West
Kay West began her writing career in NYC, then was a freelance journalist in Nashville for more than 30 years, including contributing writer for the Nashville Scene, Nashville correspondent for People magazine, author of five books and mother of two happily launched grown-up kids. In 2019 she moved to Asheville and continued writing (minus Red Carpet coverage) with a focus on food, farming and hospitality. She is a die-hard NY Yankees fan.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.