It’s not unusual for businesses in Woodfin – particularly those that offer visitor lodging – to tout their proximity to downtown Asheville. Less than three miles to downtown Asheville! Just five minutes to downtown Asheville!

Lucy and Jared Crown — who opened Woodfin Coffee Department on Elkwood Avenue in late April – want to flip that script and invite residents and locals alike to sit and stay.  “We are in Woodfin, and across the street from Asheville,” she explains. Technically, it’s North Asheville and not downtown Asheville, but the Crowns consider that one of the many pluses for this all-day gathering spot.

She has lived on the Asheville side of Elkwood since she was six months old and now lives next door to her parents in the Lakeshore Drive neighborhood, a hybrid of North Asheville and Woodfin.  “I can literally see our building from my house,” she says.

Planted at the corner where Elk Mountain Road converges with Lakeshore Drive on Elkwood Avenue, the two-story building is hard to miss thanks to its brilliant blue exterior.  The Crowns have owned it for a decade, renting the apartments on the second floor and leasing the two street-level storefronts to various businesses.

Post-Helene, the commercial spaces remained vacant just long enough time for the Crowns to hatch a plan. “We had an empty building, and I was ready for a change,” Lucy says. “We really wanted to create something for our neighbors, for this community. We thought we could be a neighborhood hub.”

Lucy had years of experience in community planning, focused on greenways, sidewalks and bicycle lanes for Buncombe County Parks & Recreation department; for the past decade she worked for the City of Asheville, retiring this year as the Transportation Planning Manager.

“I loved what I did, but I was ready for a new chapter.”  As she made plans to close the book on her government job, she and Jared began writing the plan for the future.

They opened up the main-floor by taking down the dividing wall and began a clean-up and renovation. Thankfully, one member of the family knew people in the business. Jared is the owner and lead electrician for Crown Electric Services, and Lucy amusedly describes him as ‘a minor celebrity in town.’ “He would really annoy the kids when they were younger pointing out all the buildings he had wired.”

The initial idea was to open a café with coffee by day and wine and beer in the evenings.  It was their manager and long-time friend Rob Matregrano who urged them to consider adding a breakfast and lunch menu. “Rob convinced us it was something people really wanted and would draw them here.”

When they ran into the typical snafus involved in obtaining the licenses to sell wine, beer and cocktails, the decision to add food turned out to be especially prescient.  Woodfin Coffee Department opened quietly in early May, but the buzz about the breakfast burrito, hashbrown casserole, baked ham and cheese croissant, fresh salads, wraps, build-your-own deli sandwiches and paninis spread quickly, through Woodfin and across the street to North Asheville.

“Rob was right,” Lucy admits. “People are so happy to have a place to come that is comfortable. When school let out for the summer, we had kids come here for breakfast and sandwiches. Of course, we have older retired people all day and on weekends, we get families. It is a very multi-generational clientele and so is our staff.”

While waiting on the alcohol permits, Lucy sought local vendors for their food and beverages; among the familiar names found on the menus are Dynamite Roasting Company Coffee, Sweet Annie’s Bakeshop, Lost Mountain Bakery (which Lucy swears makes the best croissants she has ever had), Darë vegan cheese and Ultimate ice cream.

Lucy – a wine afficionado and WSET certified retailer – worked with lead bartender and sommelier Sigrid Jenson to build the wine list and cocktail menu.

On August 12, they officially opened the bar, rolling out wines by the glass and bottle, wine and port flights, prosecco on tap, beers on draft and in the can and cocktails sure to strike a chord with locals.

The Lake Water — house rosemary and blueberry syrup with lime and gin – is an ode to Beaver Lake, where Lucy walks every day.  The Merrimon Road Diet is a skinny margarita — silver tequila, fresh orange and lime juices, agave nectar – that references the controversial slimming of the busy Merrimon Road artery from downtown Asheville to North Asheville.  The Rabid Beaver — chocolate hazelnut classic espresso martini – is far less harmless than the actual rabid beaver (RIP) that lived in Beaver Lake and bit a standup paddler.

“We had a lot of fun making up the names for the cocktails,” Lucy says. “They’re kind of inside jokes for people who live around here and know the history.”

Guests can dig into cheese and charcuterie boards in the evening, which Lucy was particularly invested in creating. “I would often be disappointed when I met girlfriends for a glass of wine, and cheese portions on cheeseboards were so small four people would be dividing one little cube. Ours is a very proud chunk of cheese and our charcuterie is sliced in house from an amazing company in Italy. We also have a vegan cheese board from Darë  that I was skeptical about but Gwendolyn (Dare Hageman, founder) changed my mind. It’s delicious.”

Between the bar and tables, there are just over 40 seats in the cozy room.  Wood recovered from tress that fell during Helene was used to craft some of the furnishings and art.

“This building has been a lot of different things through the years,” Lucy says. “I remember as a young girl it was owned by Mrs. Hayes who sold ferns, and she had a little shed off the side filled with flowers. It was so pretty. Jared and I wanted to make it something our neighborhood could be proud of.”

Woodfin Coffee Department is located at 126 Elkwood Ave, Asheville, NC 28804.

To learn more, please visit woodfincoffee.com.

Written by Kay West

Photos by Andy Lukacs-Ormond