Asheville Restaurant Spotlight - Mother & Son Bistro and Bakery

Where North Asheville and Woodfin collide in a struggle for identity, lies a quiet little jewel called Mother & Son Bistro and Bakery. Their roadside banner says "dining on the hill" and indeed that is where they are located, on the hillside center called Stone Ridge Business Park located next to Citizens Hardware. Some of you long time residents will remember this location as the former skating rink run by the Powers family, who continue their community involvement with the development of the business park.


If this is your first visit, the minute you step through the doors your senses are assaulted with the overflowing bakery cases of cakes, pies, muffins and Danishes. As you stand there gawking a friendly voice from behind the counter greets you then inquires if you'd like to continue on into the dining room and perhaps enjoy a meal or choose from any of 5 daily hot soups. In to the dining room you go. The decor is whimsical and relaxing, the music from the big band era. The menu includes breakfast, lunch and a separate dinner menu is available after 5:00 PM. Sunday's are an extra treat as they offer a buffet brunch that includes breakfast, salad and fruit bar as well as rotating dinner items and dessert cart.

Sometime during your visit, the kitchen doors swing open and out comes "Mom," who makes it a personal goal to check on all customers to make sure their dining experience is a good one and to welcome you as a new member of the family. She remembers everybody by name. Family is what this place is all about. After having planned and searched several areas for more than 2 years- the Izon Family made Asheville their new home relocating from Florida. Picking the current location of Mother & Son Bistro involved much renovation and improvements to the building in order to bring things up to Moms standards. During the course of construction- 2 tragedies befell the family. Mom's father died and she returned to Florida to be with her mother for the funeral. Within days of returning from Florida and preparing for the Grand Opening- Ryan (son) became critically ill and was rushed into Mission hospital where he remained for the next 6 weeks battling for his life. During all this- Mother & Son Bistro opened their doors for business, not in a grand flourish as was planned, but under extreme duress having lost 1/2 of the dynamic duo in the kitchen.

"Our goal at Mother & Son is to give you great food at a competitive price and make your visit with us feel like a trip to a friends home. I recently heard an interview with a local restaurant owner who claimed his place is the "neighbor meeting spot". That is the atmosphere we want to provide. We treat people like we want to be treated," so says the Mom. I have been in food service and hospitality for more years than I care to remember and Ryan and his sister Christina grew up in the industry as well. Christina has a background in corporate hospitality having been a manager for both Wendy's chain and T.G.I. Friday. She knows operations in the front of the house as well as back of the house. Ryan made a goal of training in the newer techniques of cake decorating and chocolate making as well as art with sugar. He still dreams of the day when his health will permit him to create wonderful confections for the Bistro. He has a love of food and a zeal for fresh ideas.

What are the future plans? Well, we are trying to move forward in a stagnant economy. We have obtained our wine permit and offer a nice but modest selection. Next we would like to offer beer including local breweries and right now we have started the arduous task of putting together investors to expand our square footage to include a full service bar and bar side dining. We outfitted the restaurant without any outside financial assistance but feel we need partners to achieve future goals. But what is the saying? "If you are not moving forward- you're actually moving backwards"? We will follow the example of the Salmon and continue to struggle up stream.

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