Outside of New York City, one of the most frequently asked restaurant-related questions is “Where can I get good Chinese?” New York residents don’t ask because they know. It’s usually a tiny little take-out place in their own 20-block world. They call in their order and 20 minutes later, a bag filled with cardboard cartons and packets of soy sauce, duck sauce, hot mustard, chopsticks and fortune cookies is left outside their apartment door.

Elsewhere, the question is usually asked by former New Yorkers and what they mean is “Where can I get good Chinese take-out like I used to get from my neighborhood place in New York?”

Until recently, Asheville options were dubious. Not that the town lacks Chinese restaurants. But they weren’t the iconic, classic, New York-style Chinese American people were craving.

Crave no more Asheville!  Restaurateur/chef/native New Yorker Eric Scheffer has long futilely sought the same and finally took matters into his own hands.  In mid-July, The Majestic became the newest member of the Scheffer Group family of restaurants, joining two locations of Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian, Jettie Rae’s Oyster House and Gan Shan Neighborhood Asian.

When conceiving The Majestic, top of mind and memory was the New York Chinatown of his family’s dining out routine, and the urge to honor those family-owned places and their culinary traditions.

The Majestic took about a year to build out from the former Musician’s Workshop building on Merimon Avenue and the result is an aesthetically faithful recreation of the places Scheffer so fondly recalls. The small room is awash in red – on upholstered booths, chairs and round swivel stools against a bar – that total just 26 seats. Red paper lanterns hang from the ceiling and framed prints representing particular Chinese years – of the monkey, the serpent, the tiger – decorate the walls. A large mural of a red rabbit is painted on the exterior and is The Majestic logo, honoring his musician daughter Jordan, born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Even the menu is printed in English and Chinese, an homage to old school New York Chinese takeout menus.

On those menus, diners familiar with old school New York-style Chinese will find themselves on Memory Lane – from egg rolls, egg drop soup and BBQ pork spareribs to General Tso’s Chicken, sweet and sour pork, crispy orange beef and Szechuan garlic green beans.

The Majestic Executive Chef Kaya Rehnberg was raised in Goldsboro NC and says the only Chinese food she knew was North Carolina Chinese. “It was not good.” She remembers a dirt cheap little Japanese restaurant she and her single mom occasionally went to, and sometimes a Chinese place.

The first cooking skill she mastered was cornbread, taught by her grandmother. “She used to say, ‘If you can read, you can cook,” and I thought she thought that up. When she passed away, I got all her cookbooks. One of them was Mastering the Art of French Cooking where I found out she was quoting Julia Child.”

Rehnberg began working in restaurants in high school and continued during a brief stint in college studying communications and creative writing.  Neither was a good match, so she took off for Eugene, Oregon where her father lived. “He was not around when I was growing up so I wanted to connect with him.”

As it turned out, the most enduring connections were made in Eugene’s restaurant scene. It’s where she met her wife, Linda Johnson.

And where she found her calling. “I loved being in kitchens, learning how to make things. I love the learning process.”

She learned the most in Café Soriah, a fine dining Mediterranean restaurant owned by Palestinian Ib Hamide. “He was like the Eric of Eugene, he owned a lot of restaurants there, but Soriah was his first,” she recalls. “He taught me not just be a good chef but be a good person. I learned how a boss should be, how a restaurant should be. He was so generous with the community.”   Rehnberg was the restaurant’s first female cook. She left to take leadership roles in other kitchens, but in late 2021 Rehnberg and Johnson decided to move back closer – but not too close – to home. Asheville was the perfect distance and had the most opportunities.

Rehnberg applied online to a post for a job at Vinnie’s; ten minutes later she heard from HR, went in for an interview the next day and started working on the line the day after that. She moved through several positions, eventually manager of the prep team at both Vinnie’s locations.

When Scheffer announced The Majestic project, her interest was piqued. “I thought that sounded fun, so I told them I wanted in.” She was moved to Gan Shan as sous chef and spent a year working closely with chef Ray Hui, developing her knowledge, experience and skills with Asian techniques and flavors.

A trip to New York with Scheffer immersed her in the food she would be cooking. “We ate all over Chinatown, and it was eye-opening.”

Menu development for The Majestic began with Rehnberg and Hui, but before opening, it was mostly her working out the kinks with the recipes and bringing dishes to Eric to taste.

“Eric pretty much wrote the menu, and I made recipes based on what he wanted. We have a small space, and he didn’t want a menu the size of a table. So, pare it down to the greatest hits of New York Chinese and make them great every time.”

Since opening. The Majestic’s greatest hits have been eggs rolls, spare ribs and the three chicken dishes – General Tso’s Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken and Orange Chicken. Her favorite is Salt & Pepper Shrimp.

“It’s been hectic right from the start,” she says. “On opening night, online orders were piling in 10, 15 at a time every ten minutes. We wiggled things around and fine-tuned the systems, and we’re good now. People were really waiting for something like this.”

Not to get ahead, but in talking about the whirlwind tour of NYC Chinese restaurants Rehnberg laughed when she noted that she and Scheffer hit just as many Jewish delis – a niche sorely lacking in Asheville. For now.

The Majestic is located at 321 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28801.

To learn more, visit themajesticavl.com

Written by Kay West

Photos by Brook Lyn White