Rhubarb Closed Twice. Asheville's Fall Openings Show Who's Filling the Seats Now.

Rhubarb and The Rhu announced on Oct. 7 that they were closing, effective immediately. Four days later, on Oct. 11, Rhubarb held a pay-what-you-can farewell dinner to support the staff. The Citizen Times reported that the dinner was also meant to celebrate "the people, producers, and place that made Rhubarb and The Rhu special." That was the second time in under two years that Asheville had said goodbye to the restaurant.

During the same weeks Rhubarb shut down, a counter-service pizzeria was selling two slices and a fountain drink for $10 in West Asheville. A Japanese restaurant had opened on Merrimon Avenue. A sports bar had opened on Coxe Avenue, and a bakery had opened out on Smokey Park Highway. Taken together, the openings and closings this season point the same way. Asheville's dining scene is being rebuilt around people who live within driving distance, and the newest places are designed for them.

Rhubarb's second closing came eight months after its reopening

Chef John Fleer opened Rhubarb in 2013, and the Citizen Times credits the restaurant with helping establish Asheville's farm-to-table dining culture. After Tropical Storm Helene, a reopening was underway in January 2025. Then Fleer announced a permanent closure, citing problems that included a labor shortage. The Rhu, the sister café and bakery on Lexington Avenue, kept operating.

Rhubarb came back in February 2026 with investment from Marble City Hospitality Group, which is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Executive Chef Mallory Foster ran both 7 SW Pack Square and The Rhu at 10 S. Lexington Ave. The Citizen Times reported that Foster said over the summer that the restaurants were struggling to draw customers, with downtown tourism still down after Helene. The paper ran that interview in August under the headline "That added brunch service may cost restaurants more than diners know."

The Oct. 7 announcement canceled reservations and said event clients would be contacted individually. According to WLOS, the post thanked the team that had worked to revive the brand after Helene. It gave no reason for the closure, and no future use for either space has been reported.

The people visiting Asheville live closer than they used to

The visitor mix has changed along with the drop in downtown tourism. At the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority's Sept. 30 meeting, Explore Asheville presented the new numbers. Mountain Xpress reported that North Carolina residents now account for 42% of visitation, up from 25% the year before. Visits from more than 500 miles away have declined.

Comparisons with 2025 are messy. That year, hotels were housing FEMA personnel, contractors and other long-term guests after Helene. That is why the 2024 comparison in the table matters. Measured against a normal year before the storm, lodging still trails. At the Oct. 1 tourism gathering, Adam Sacks of Tourism Economics said the area's heavy reliance on drive-in visitors could help, since more travelers are choosing road trips over flights. Earlier in the year, Explore Asheville described 2026 as a "K-shaped" travel economy. In that pattern, higher-income travelers keep spending, while middle- and lower-income households cut back on discretionary trips.

"It is uneven, and it's concerning for our community," Explore Asheville CEO Vic Isley told the board in September, per Mountain Xpress. She was referring in particular to small businesses struggling to bring in enough revenue to pay employees.

One chef, two addresses, two formats

The clearest sign of how operators are responding comes from Anthony Cerrato. He relaunched his Italian restaurant Gemelli in Biltmore Village, near the Biltmore-area lodging that has held up better than other submarkets. He then turned Gemelli's old space at Westgate Shopping Center, 70 Westgate Parkway, into Ritrovo Pizzeria, which opened July 24 as a counter-service spot. As described by Mountain Xpress, the Westgate menu is built for weeknight regulars. It offers a $10 lunch of two slices and a fountain drink, $1 wings on Mondays, $5 off pitchers on Tuesdays, and a Pizza of the Week on Fridays. The full-service dining room went to the part of town where visitors spend, and the neighborhood space went casual.

Regina's, the modern diner at 1400 Patton Ave., is the same pressure from the other side. According to Mountain Xpress, the restaurant dropped dinner service and went brunch-only about a month before closing after its Aug. 16 service. The Citizen Times reported that the owners pointed to Helene, the economic downturn, and financial strain dating back to the 2023 opening. Beeswax and Butter, a bakery that had been busy with markets, wholesale and special orders, closed at the end of July after nine years. The owners said rising costs had made it unsustainable.

Downtown, Flour went the other direction and got bigger. Its expanded flagship at 40 Wall St. opened July 31 with added breakfast dishes and a fuller pastry program alongside the biscuits and coffee. A biscuit counter grew on Wall Street in the same season that a fine-dining room on Pack Square closed.

Where the new tables opened this fall

Most of the September openings are along neighborhood corridors rather than on downtown's postcard blocks. Several are reopenings or expansions of businesses locals already knew.

The Nana's change fits the same picture. A deli on Haywood Road adding weekend dinners is a bet on people who live nearby and want somewhere close on a Friday night.

What's still on the way

The coming openings follow the same lines, and all of them are still plans. Dates shift, so check each business's own channels before you go.

1. Sip & Brick, 81 Broadway St. This LEGO-themed café and bar listed soft-launch hours Oct. 9–11 and announced a grand opening for Oct. 23. The name has also appeared in print as "Sip & Bricks."
2. Gourmand, 425 Broadway St., Montford. It was aiming to open by the end of October with rotisserie chicken, breakfast, coffee, wine and spirits. As of a Sept. 28 photo it was still under construction.
3. Penny Black, 2 Brook St., Biltmore Village. Chemist Spirits' cocktail bar is described only as opening "this fall."
4. Oscar's Pizza, Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Highway. A limited-menu debut is planned for Nov. 13–15 during Cold Mountain weekend, with regular service Thanksgiving week and a grand opening in December, according to the Citizen Times.

Rotisserie chicken in Montford, pizza at a brewery taproom, LEGO and drinks on Broadway. None of these is a special-occasion destination. Each depends on repeat visits.

Where the pattern bends

This is a tendency, and a few places run against it. Mountain Xpress reported that Daymakers Slider Bar opened July 24 at 204 Whitson Ave. in Swannanoa's Beacon Village, a community damaged by Helene, and that its owners describe it as a "full-service, sit-down experience." Regina's was a casual diner, and it closed anyway. Q-Hall and Flour both chose downtown addresses. The closures this year cited rising costs, Helene and thin traffic. The openings are leaning on lunch deals, weekly specials and neighborhood corridors.

The next few months will test it. Isley noted that October through December is historically Asheville's most important quarter for visitor spending. As of the Sept. 30 meeting, vacation-rental bookings were pacing 42.5% ahead of the prior year for October and 52% ahead for November. Those gains are measured against a 2025 that was itself distorted by the storm. The restaurants that opened this summer and fall will go into the holidays leaning on locals and drive-in visitors, which is also how they were built.

New openings and closings change the feel of a block, and buyers notice when a corner storefront goes dark or fills back in. If you'd like to know how your part of town is reading right now, Aaron Chapman and the team can talk through it with you. Start with a free home valuation.