Fitz And The Wolfe

The building on the corner of Haywood and Battery Park used to be Isa’s Bistro, until Hurricane Helene hit Asheville in 2024 and FIRC Group gutted it into three rooms instead. The name splices two writers — Fitz for Zelda Fitzgerald, Wolfe for Thomas Wolfe — over a ground-level Showroom, a Den one floor down with a pool table, board games and arcade games, and a hidden basement speakeasy, the Palm Room, below that. The Palm Room’s door opens an hour behind the rest of the building, which is most of what a hidden door is for. Meschiya Lake plays the Palm Room often enough to be called a regular; her one-off in August swapped the usual jazz set for a brass-band Mardi Gras show, with a king cake espresso martini built for the night. Twenty-one cocktails run $15 to $19 — The Carajillo, reposado tequila and espresso; Zelda’s Peach Revelry, built on Gosling’s gold rum; the Iron Flag, rye and VSOP stacked with cold brew. The kitchen runs one standing order: the Rappy Meal, a smash burger with fries, a draft beer and a sticker, thirteen dollars. Order the Rappy Meal in the Den, then take the stairs down once the Palm Room opens.