Asheville River Arts District's new chef tenants are putting 'art on a plate'

ASHEVILLE - Two local chefs discovered how easily plans can be altered but that proper preparation and innovation can lead to unexpected successes.

Ashley Capps and Travis Schultz have opened a brick-and-mortar aspect of their gourmet prepared meal and retail food market.

In September, Newstock Pantry, a food studio, opened at 191 Lyman St., studio 115 in the River Arts District. It’s where the couple sells their rotating line of fresh, frozen, and packaged meals, sides, and snacks, as well as an inventory of goods from local producers that elevate the home cooking experience.

“From a consumer standpoint, I think a lot of people in Asheville ― a lot of our customers ― are great cooks,” Capps said. “They like to cook for themselves at home. I think our demographic is people who are busy, people who want a good meal. They may have a lot of kids or a big family. Or they cook four nights a week, and they just want one night off from cooking.”

Newstock Pantry’s small batch dishes rotate and are influenced by seasonal ingredients. The coolers are stocked with heat-and-serve pans, such as “no fuss” mac-and-cheese, baked ziti and walnut streusel and kabocha squash, sausage stuffed peppers, and desserts like lemon pudding cake and chocolate budino.

Related:New French Broad cabin campground, 'canteen' opening with Asheville chefs on board

Handmade sandwiches, like pastrami and mustard on rye, are in the deli display. Soups, salads, and bread are among the list of convenient grab-and-go bites.

“We want to have a good food-wine program where the small selection of wine is curated to the dishes available at that time,” Schultz said.

Newstock Pantry, designed to equip home cooks with staple items, sells a signature collection of vinaigrette and ranch dressings, marinated olives and feta, and tomato sauce using tomatoes from Slight Family Farms.

“Now that we have our own space, we can make some of the things that Travis and I have always loved making like really good stock, pickles, products that people can take home and bake, Worcestershire — pantry staples,” Capps said.

The retailer also carries local and regional brands, including Farm & Sparrow's grits, Bad Art Cocktail Co.’s bitters, and Vegetable Kingdom's condiments. Plus, locally grown flowers and plants, an assortment of fresh bread from Heater House Bakery, and bottles of wine.

“I love food. I love supporting small businesses, farmers, and people who are passionate about what they make and grow,” Capps said. “I always have ― ever since I was little.”

Carving out careers

Newstock Pantry is tucked into a first-floor corner space at the north end of the Riverview Station, next to Tyger Tyger Gallery.

There was a time when Capps imagined herself in a different role in the arts community.

Years ago, Capps set off on an artistic path with the goal of earning an art degree but ended up in the restaurant industry.

“I found that I really loved working in a restaurant and getting to create art on a plate,” she said.

Capps’ acquired taste for culinary arts led her to A-B Tech, where she studied and later taught in the department's pastry program. She’s worked in local restaurants, including Buxton Hall BBQ. And in 2019, Capps was a semifinalist for a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

Schultz’s industry experience began in adolescence as a dishwasher at his parents’ restaurant in Highlands, NC where he later managed. Then, Schultz met chef John Fleer (Rhubarb, The Rhu) and was hired to work at a restaurant he was opening in Cashiers.

“I kind of rode his coattails for eight years. I picked his brain and learned as much as I could. I followed him to Asheville and met Ashley,” said Schultz, who’s worked in other restaurants in the city since.

Now, the couple has a burgeoning food business and is expecting their first baby.

“It’s been a growth year,” Schultz said.

Food reimagined

Early in the relationship, Capps and Schultz learned they shared similar passions and interests.

“We love cooking. We went on many coffee dates and would bring cookbooks and menus and nerd out,” Capps said.

Not long ago, they were preparing to open a traditional restaurant together.

Those plans were thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic but pushed them to come up with a creative and profitable way to continue cooking and provide sustenance to those in need.

In April 2020, Newstock Pantry launched as a meal delivery service with a menu featuring fresh ingredients and original recipes prepared by the chefs. Plans for the restaurant were tabled.

“While we paused on that dream, we made food and would deliver it to people,” Capps said. “Then the word kind of spread and we developed a small group of amazing, supportive customers that would order from us every week from a different menu. We tried to create a restaurant experience at home during a time when everyone was shut in and locked down. And we just kept going with it.”

For more than two years, they’ve embraced their new direction and are figuring out what more they can do in their new venue.

“We started cooking meals, started driving them around and I was like, ‘This is kind of nicer than a restaurant,’” Schultz said. “I get to meet people. I don’t have to do service. I can provide them with a meal. I’m scratching an itch that a lot of people have ― what do you do for dinner on a Wednesday night that’s comforting and not crazy expensive?”

Capps and Schultz began their business with just the two of them cooking in a commissary kitchen. Now, they now have several staff members and room to expand.

Riverview Station allows establish customers to come to them directly to pick up meals and products to stock their pantry, and it’s introduced new avenues for the business.

“It’s a dream. Already we’ve catered to a few art show openings,” Capps said. “It’s fun to make little bites that reflect the feature artist or artists. I’m super happy. I’m very lucky.”

The business and life partners are allowing room for their food studio ― and family ― to grow.

Capps enjoyed teaching culinary arts and plans to offer classes, workshops and demonstrations focused on cooking and farming later next year. Wine programs and subscription programs, picnic boxes of prepared snacks are in discussion, too.

Newstock Pantry is partnering with the recently opened Wrong Way River Lodge & Cabins to stock their commissary, too.

“We love serving food. We love serving people. We like making things and feeding people. That’s the basis,” Capps said.

Newstock Pantry Food Studio

Where: 191 Lyman St., studio 115, Riverview Station, Asheville

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday

Info: For details, visit new-stock.square.site and follow on Instagram @newstockpantry.

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 Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Newstock Food Studio chefs makes dinner easy for Asheville home cooks