Haywood Common

A white geometric bird, wings spread mid-dive, is stenciled across the teal cinderblock wall of Haywood Common’s patio, where a leashed dog naps under one of the picnic tables and propane heaters and string lights line the pergola above. Rob and Hannah ran the Belly Up food truck around Asheville starting in 2015, then opened this restaurant and bar on Haywood Road in 2017, the same year at least sixteen other food and beverage businesses opened along that stretch. Inside, the booths are topped with empty wood picture frames against exposed brick, and warm wood and dark steel run through the room under exposed ductwork; behind the bar, a curtain of gold-toned chain hangs over the stemware. The building itself is shared with The Whale, a beer collective and tasting room next door. The kitchen draws on its own farm in Marshall, plus a handful of other small growers around town, and the menu turns over with the season for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. The bar keeps pace with natural and organic wines, local beer, and a cocktail list that runs from the Juniper Garden (onion-infused gin, grapefruit, rosemary) to the Apple Butter Old Fashioned (bourbon, apple butter, maple syrup) to a Kimchi Bloody Mary, glasses running eleven to thirteen dollars. Order at the counter first; the number card that lands on your table does the finding, because nobody else is coming to ask what you want.