Look for a brick street-level storefront with tall rectangular windows and a dark horizontal sign band carrying the Tupelo Honey name.
This place began with a simple, generous idea. After traveling across the U-S, Sharon Schott came home feeling that Asheville needed a restaurant where locals and visitors could taste the South without leaving their good sense at the door... comfort food, yes, but made with fresher, healthier ingredients. She opened Tupelo Honey Cafe here on the seventh of December, two thousand.
From that small beginning, the story kept widening. In two thousand eight, Stephen Frabitore bought the cafe as a retirement venture, even though he had never worked in restaurants before. That kind of leap tells you something about the pull of this place. He invested heavily in the company headquarters and helped grow Tupelo Honey into twenty-six locations across seventeen states.
The kitchen shaped its own legacy too. Brian Sonoskus led as executive chef from two thousand one to two thousand sixteen and helped write two Tupelo Honey cookbooks, turning Asheville flavors into something people could carry home. Later, Eric Gabrynowicz, a James Beard semifinalist for Rising Star Chef U-S-A, stepped in to guide the food forward. During the pandemic, the cafe created the Tupelo Honey Relief and Development Fund, and profits from every biscuit order helped raise five hundred seventy-five thousand dollars for staff facing hardship.
If you decide to come back, it keeps moderate prices and usually opens from late morning on weekdays, with earlier hours on weekends. This stop reminds you that a restaurant can feed a city’s spirit as much as its appetite. When you’re ready, let’s continue deeper into downtown Asheville.
