Downtown visitors and locals seeking a sandwich, smoothie, pastries or coffee along with a respite from the summer heat have a new option with the recent opening of Mamma Mia! Café inside the Haywood Park Atrium.
Launched in mid-June by Stephen Herrington, Mamma Mia!’s menu channels the multicultural culinary influences of its owner’s native Venezuela. “We have a fusion between France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece,” says Herrington. “We make everything with fresh ingredients from family recipes — no chemicals, no preservatives. We try to be as healthy as possible.”
His father’s side of the family, he notes, is from Spain, his mother’s side is from France and his ex-wife is Italian. Herrington, who moved to Asheville three years ago after stints in Charlotte and New York City, says the business’s name and bright, European cafélike décor were inspired by the Broadway musical Mamma Mia!, of which he’s a huge fan.
The coffee menu offers hot and iced versions of cortadito, mochaccino and cappuccino, among others. In the tidy pastry case, guests will find options including coconut and mango rice puddings, filled croissants, profiteroles and guava and cheese pastelitos, all made by Herrington from family recipes.
The succinct sandwich list features such choices as the pressed vegetarian Mediterranean with gouda and Swiss cheese, avocado and tomato as well as meaty offerings, including one with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, arugula, balsamic vinegar and rosemary olive oil. There’s also house-made lasagna for two, which — like the baked goods — Herrington premakes in a commercial kitchen, then reheats in an oven to order at the café.
Guests looking to cool off will find vanilla and chocolate milkshakes plus a robust selection of fresh fruit smoothies. Herrington, who previously worked in health care supply chain management and operated a Latin fusion restaurant in Miami, says he plans to add specials once he gets a feel for what might be popular with guests.
A former nail salon, Mamma Mia!’s location can be a bit tricky to find. But once inside the glass doors of the atrium entrance (between The Chocolate Fetish and Charmed Boutique on Haywood Street), the large, sunlit, air-conditioned space welcomes diners with a patiolike arrangement of café-style tables. Inside the shop, just past the huge photographic mural of a Greek seaside town, there is a cozy little downstairs nook with comfortable seating.
“When I found this place, I thought, ‘OK, I can do something good here,’” says Herrington.
Mamma Mia! Café is at 46 Haywood St., inside the Haywood Park Hotel building. Hours are 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday and closed Sunday. For more information, visit Instagram at @mammamiacafeusa.
Farewell to Loretta’s Café
After 26 years of serving as one of downtown Asheville’s go-to lunch spots, Loretta’s Café permanently closed on Monday, July 22. The restaurant announced its plans to shutter in a July 10 social media post.
“It’s time to hang up our aprons for new adventures,” reads the statement. “Thank you for supporting us all these fun years. It was an honor to serve you. We hope you stop by to say goodbye. Sandwich worship is never wrong.”
Opened in 1998 by Loretta Woolley, also the former owner of Mayfel’s, the café spent 12 years in a small space on Patton Avenue next door to The Lobster Trap before moving to its three-level Lexington Avenue location in 2011. Loretta’s menu featured salads, a large variety of sandwiches, daily soups and baked goods.
Loretta’s Café was at 114 N. Lexington Ave. For more information, visit avl.mx/dx0.
Groceries and dine-in at 12 Baskets Café
Asheville Poverty Initiative has announced that in June, its 12 Baskets Café began offering both free, hot, table-service lunches and free groceries to all community members 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
When the West Asheville café opened in 2016, a team of volunteers used prepared food salvaged from local restaurants and caterers to offer free, sit-down lunches on weekdays to anyone who showed up hungry. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced 12 Baskets to move to a takeout model for meals complemented with grocery box distribution. As pandemic restrictions eased, it adopted a hybrid schedule of two weekly sit-down meal days and two grocery distribution days.
“We knew we wanted to get back to daily or near-daily meal days at 12 Baskets but were searching for a way to keep distributing groceries, as it is such an economic resource for many in our community,” says API Executive Director Ben Williamson. “After months of planning and some trial and error, we have landed on a system that is working very well.”
Since starting the new schedule, Williamson reports, attendance has been robust. The café, which rescues 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of prepared food each month, is now serving 500-600 hot meals and seeing about 150-200 grocery shoppers weekly.
He invites all community members, regardless of income or need, to stop by for free, sit-down, hot lunches (to-go meals are also available) on 12 Baskets’ operating days. Guests can also sign up to shop for groceries on-site. Volunteers are welcome.
12 Baskets Café is at 610 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/dwr.
Brunch at High Five Coffee
High Five Coffee now offers table-service brunch to complement your weekend cup of joe. On June 16, the business’s flagship Broadway shop launched Saturday and Sunday brunch service from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The menu features house-made waffles with fresh fruit and a variety of quiches — both meat and vegetarian options — made fresh each day by West End Bakery. Also on the menu are a special French-press coffee, mimosas, beer and sparkling wine as well as High Five’s usual pastry selection.
This summer marks High Five’s 15th year at the Broadway location and its 15th year of partnership with Counter Culture Coffee, notes owner Jay Weatherly, who also operates High Five shops on Rankin Avenue and Riverside Drive. “[It’s] a way to recognize the location that has been at the heart of Five Points and Montford for over 15 years, and give some fun and delicious options for the neighborhood,” he says.
High Five’s brunch is served at its 190 Broadway location. For more information, visit avl.mx/dxf.
Re-Entrant pinot noir party
Bottle Riot will celebrate two of the latest vintages from winemakers Gwen and Mike Bell of Oregon’s Willamette Valley region with its annual Re-Entrant Pinot Noir Release Party, happening 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, July 26.
The event will include tastings of the Bells’ 2024 rosé of pinot noir and classic pinot noir along with an opportunity to meet and chat with the winemakers. For last year’s party, the Bells hosted a clambake, says Bottle Riot owner Lauri Nichols, but this year, they will provide smoked salmon to pair with the wines.
“Their shared passion as husband and wife is evident in every bottle, with Gwen adding a personal touch by creating the labels,” says Nichols. “The vintage release is always eagerly awaited at Bottle Riot, and their Re-Entrant rosé has become a top seller.”
Tickets are $25. Special pricing on the featured wines will be available to guests during the event.
Bottle Riot is at 37 Paynes Way. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit avl.mx/dwz.
Wine dinner, menu updates at Rhubarb, The Rhu
Rhubarb executive chef John Fleer and chef de cuisine Davis Taylor will partner with winemaker Stephanie Morton-Small to host The Last Supper, a special iteration of the restaurant’s annual Finca Decero Wine Dinner, 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 31.
Morton-Small will soon leave her 17-year role as chief commercial officer for the Argentina-based Finca Decero to pursue new adventures, and this event will celebrate her decade of wine dinner collaborations in Rhubarb’s event space, according to a press release.
The dinner will begin with a vertical tasting of Finca Decero wines followed by five wine-paired food courses, including dishes such as seared cobia with grilled, compressed watermelon and gnocchi with chanterelles. Tickets are $120 per person.
Rhubarb also recently released a new snack menu that’s available only at the bar 5 p.m.-close daily and on the patio 3-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Highlights include pimento cheese hushpuppies, oysters Benton, the R-Bar smash burger and confit duck wings with Creole spice, Alabama white sauce and candied rhubarb sticks.
This month, sister restaurant The Rhu has rolled out revamped lunch and kids menus featuring more vegetarian items, children’s classics with local ingredients and grab-and-go box lunches. Gluten-free options are available.
Rhubarb is at 7 S.W. Pack Square. For wine dinner tickets, visit avl.mx/dx1. The Rhu is at 10 S. Lexington Ave. For more information, visit avl.mx/dx2.
Chai Pani heads to Washington
Earlier this month, Chai Pani Restaurant Group announced plans to open a third Chai Pani location in Washington, D.C. Chai Pani has signed a lease with developer Edens for a space in the city’s trendy Union Market District neighborhood with a projected launch in spring 2025, says publicist Kelsey Burrow.
Winner of the 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant, Chai Pani opened in 2009 in a small space on Battery Park Avenue. A second location followed in Decatur, Ga., in 2013. In May, the flagship Asheville eatery moved to the 10,000-square-foot South Slope location that previously housed Buxton Hall Barbecue.
For more on Chai Pani, visit avl.mx/ch4.
Cannabis café channels inner child
Café Canna will host Inner Child Fun Day on Saturday, July 27, noon-2 a.m.
Café Canna is an Amsterdam-style cannabis café founded by Beau Ballard, a local hemp activist and owner of the cannabis company MariFairy. The café serves kava, kratom, cannabis-infused cocktails, smokables, coffee, food and more.
Inner Child Fun Day will feature live music, mermaids, bubbles, cotton candy, funnel cakes, face painting, a massage chair with Iridesza Qilin and a water slide. “We all got that inner kid in us, and it’s really important to me to just create a place of community and relaxation,” says Ballard. “There’s not a lot of ways to do that without a lot of money. So it’s really nice to get everybody together, to let go and just have fun.”
Children of all ages are invited to attend the event. Depending on turnout, Café Canna plans to continue holding Inner Child Fun Days on the last Saturday of every month until the weather is too cold.
Café Canna is at 487 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/dxa.
This week’s food news includes additional reporting by Oby Arnold.
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