Vault Burger. Still awesome. Available until 2am, 7 days a week.
“Where can one eat a good, local meal downtown after 9-10pm? “
Recently I got a FaceBook message from a reader presenting me with a bit of a challenge. I took on the challenge and came up with the infos.
BDV – Thanks for the food reviews! I have a challenge for you. I live in Johnson City, TN, but I’m in Asheville at least once a week, but I generally don’t have time to eat until after the sidewalks are rolled up around 9-10pm. Where can one eat a good, local meal downtown (or anywhere in Asheville, for that matter) after 9-10pm? Thanks!
Stu Helm: Food Fan – Oooh! Good question, BDV, thank you! When I first moved to Asheville, the answer would have been 51 Grill, and pretty much no where else, but fortunately now we have more late-night options than ever. I’m gonna put a little thought and research into it and get back to you!
BDV – Haha! Exactly! It was the only place I knew of other than Rosetta’s for a long time, now I’m constantly getting frustrated or forced to go to the same places. Thanks!
Stu Helm: Food Fan – Okay, BDV, here’s what I came up with. I contacted a few places directly to ask how late their kitchens stays open, ie: What’s the latest the patrons can order food. I got some great info!
First of all, any bar that serves food is required by law to keep the kitchen open while the bar is open, so you can pretty much pick any bar with food and grab a bite right up until they stop serving booze. Here are five:
The Rankin Vault for example stays open until 2am, 7 days a week, serving food & drinks. They have the “best” burger in town, according to the 2015 Battle of the Burger voters, which I happen to be one of! It’s the bomb.
The Asheville Yacht Club on Patton Ave serves “Slick Willy’s Good Eats” every day from 4pm – 1am. I haven’t eaten there yet, but I hear good things, so I’ll pop in soon.
Bhramari Brewhouse is open and serving food until 12 am M-F, and until 10pm on Sundays. Great burger and other bar-type food.
Santé Wine Bar has great pizza, dips, and cheese boards until 11:30pm on Friday and Saturday. I would eat their pizza every day if I could.
The Nightbell serves food until 10 on Sundays, until 10:30 Tuesday – Thursday, and until 11 on Friday and Saturday. Joe Scully’s fave restaurant in town and one of my top 5 for sure. Bring your wallet.
So, basically, Shannon, if a bar, tap room, brew house, booze barn, or gin mill anywhere in Asheville has a food menu, their listed closing times should apply to the kitchen as well as the alcohol.
I didn’t contact these places, but Sovereign Remedies (2am), LAB (12am / 2am), Jack of the Wood (1am / 2am), Scully’s Bar (2am), Barley’s Tap Room (11pm / 12am / 1am), and Wicked Weed (11pm / 12am / 1am) should all be serving food until closing time, and so should Foggy Mountain Brew Pub (2am) who just won the Wing War and the mac n cheese SmacDown.
If you don’t mind eating around drinkers, you should have a fairly easy time finding a late night bite. If you wanna avoid the drunk people, Santé is very mellow, and so is The Nightbell. I’m not sayin’ the other places are full of drunks, I’m just sayin’ that Sante´and Nightbell are mellow. :)
Oh, shit, speaking of mellow, I almost forgot Imperial Life, they are open until 12:30 am Sunday – Thursday, and until 2am on Friday and Saturday. They’ve been tweaking their menu, so I’m not quite sure what it looks like right now, but it’s probably fucking awesome!
So, there ya go, BDV! I hope that’s helpful. We’ve got a lot more choices than just 51 Grill these days!
BDV – Fuck yes! Thank you, Stu! That’s a great list I’m going to try to check off! I didn’t even think of bars being required to serve food. I don’t mind a few drunks, but I’ll check out the more mellow options first. Great info! Thanks!
Stu Helm: Food Fan – Awesome! Glad I could be of help! Have a great day, BDV!
If you have questions for me, about where to eat, or what to eat, just PM me through my FaceBook page!
— END —
Stu Helm is an artist, writer, and podcaster living in Asheville, NC, and a frequent diner at local restaurants, cafes, food trucks, and the like. His tastes run from hot dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese, to haute cuisine, and his opinions are based on a lifetime of eating out. He began writing about food strictly to amuse his friends on Facebook.
__________________
External links:
youtube.com/channel/stuhelmfoodfan
wpvmfm.org/show/asheville-food-fan
__________________
Stu Helm: Food Fan 
I’m an Uber driver and I get asked this question all of the time so thanks for doing the research!
I drove a Storm Rhum employee home one night and was informed that they have a great late night menu until 2:00am.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great info! Thanks, Madhu. I think I might need to make a comprehensive list of ALLLLL the places that do late night food.
LikeLike
the Southern Kitchen on Lex was busy slinging the grub way after midnite tues.
patio and bar packed, maybe due to the Alabama shakes show just up the hill..
(where they do do the boogie?)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great info, Paul. I can see that this is going to have to be expanded into a bigger list.
LikeLike