Answer Woman: When will chef Ashleigh Shanti open her Good Hot Fish restaurant?

ASHEVILLE - A reader asks for an update on the opening of a fish fry-style restaurant led by an award-winning Asheville chef. Got a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: When is Chef Ashleigh Shanti opening her Good Hot Fish brick-and-mortar restaurant? Is she still doing pop-up events?

Answer: Ashleigh Shanti, a Virginia Beach, Virginia, native and long-time Asheville resident, has a lot on her plate including flipping her modern-day fish camp from a pop-up model to a restaurant with a permanent address.

For a while, the James Beard-nominated chef has promised Asheville diners that Good Hot Fish’s brick-and-mortar would open in Asheville. Finally, it’s about to happen.

Shanti shared the latest on the restaurant's opening and her culinary adventures, upcoming cookbook, spice blends and local appearances.

Good Hot Fish

Good Hot Fish is weeks away from opening if all goes to Shanti’s plan.

“I appreciate everyone’s patience surrounding this pop-up,” Shanti said. “Good Hot Fish is still coming. We will be opening in South Slope in late fall.”

The address is undisclosed but will be 100% owned by Shanti.

Meanwhile, Shanti will be hosting late-night Good Hot Fish pop-ups every Wednesday through October, beginning Oct. 4, at Burial Beer Co.’s South Slope taproom and kitchen at 40 Collier Ave. Times and menu to be announced.

Guest chef pop-ups

Last week, Shanti was traveling back to Asheville after an unofficial honeymoon with her wife in Maine. The newlyweds tied the knot this summer.

Yet, the chef didn’t stay away from the kitchen for long.

On Sept. 18, Shanti collaborated with Jordan Rubin, chef/owner of Bar Futo in Portland to host a special dining event.

In August, Shanti participated in a multi-chef dinner, presented by the James Beard Foundation, at Platform in New York City celebrating the 2022 Best Chef: Southeast winner Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham.

Hotel Genevieve

In May, in time for the Kentucky Derby, Hotel Genevieve opened in Louisville with Shanti serving as director of culinary operations for its restaurant concept, Rosettes.

The chef completed a yearlong contract to develop a culinary program that incorporates Black Appalachian cuisine, which is Shanti’s specialty.

More culinary travels

In March, Shanti joined a “truly enlightening” two-week food pilgrimage with fellow U.S. chefs to Cameroon in Africa, led by culinary historian and writer Michael Twitty.

“It’s something that he recommends Black chefs do at least once throughout their career to connect to our roots and learn about a lot of the foodways that we all know and love ― learning exactly where they came from, learning about the history,” Shanti said.

One of the regions, Baloun, felt particularly familiar.

“It reminded me of Asheville where up in the mountains their land was so biodiverse and they could grow almost anything,” Shanti said. “They tap into their waterways a lot like we do. It was a part of Cameroon where everyone and everything was so hyper-local, and they have such a connection to the land.”

During a layover in Paris, she previewed the 2022 James Beard Award Outstanding Chef winner Mashama Bailey’s new location of the Savannah, Georgia, restaurant, The Grey.

“That was my first time even though it was for less than 24 hours. It was cool to see what Mashama Bailey is doing as a Southern chef overseas in a totally different market,” Shanti said. “She’s a mentor of mine, and I’m always encouraged by everything she’s doing.”

Shanti’s travels are on pause as she settles back into home life.

“I’m going to be in Asheville tending to Good Hot Fish,” she said. “I’m excited to have this structure that I have been lacking and missing so much in my life since I left Benne on Eagle in 2020.”

Kitchen pepper

In February, Shanti released the first batch of her kitchen pepper spice blend for retail sale through Burlap & Barrel, a U.S.-based international spice company.

The all-purpose seasoning, made with black peppercorns and warm spices like sumac, has since sold out.

“We are hoping for batch number two very soon and also maybe another Good Hot Fish spice blend,” she said.

The rerelease date isn’t confirmed. The spice(s) will be available at Good Hot Fish restaurant.

Cookbook

Recently, Shanti submitted the manuscript for her first cookbook, an extensive project that has kept the chef busy for the past two years.

The cookbook (name undisclosed) will include more than 125 recipes and is scheduled for release in October 2024 by Union Publishing.

“It is a cookbook highlighting the microregions of the South that have been incredibly special to me,” Shanti said. “My paternal side hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, my maternal side from Southwest Virginia and then my upbringing in Coastal Virginia being raised in Virginia Beach, it highlights all of those different places.”

Television and upcoming appearances

In 2022, Shanti competed on Season 19 of Bravo’s reality cooking competition, “Top Chef.”

In May, the second season of “Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi” was released on Hulu starring the former “Top Chef” host. In an episode, Lakshmi visits Western North Carolina and Virginia to delve into Appalachian cuisine, and she meets with Shanti for a fish fry at a historic Black Mountain church.

Shanti doesn’t have any other filming projects on the horizon.

However, for the second year, she will be a judge for the National Gingerbread House Competition at The Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville in November.

“I’m really excited. I learned so much last year,” Shanti said. “What these people do is truly incredible. I’m excited to go to Grove Park and open those doors and get hit in the face with the aroma of ginger.”

For more, follow Ashleigh Shanti on Instagram at @foodordeath_.

Food news you may have missed:

• Cook like a 'top chef' with a new seasoning released by Asheville's Ashleigh Shanti

• Seafood shacks to 'Top Chef': Asheville's Ashleigh Shanti's ambitious culinary journey

• Asheville resident heads to reality television cooking competition, 'Top Chef'

• Answer Woman: Is that Hendersonville Road restaurant abandoned or will it open soon?

Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Good Hot Fish restaurant coming, chef Ashleigh Shanti confirms