A new restaurant is coming to downtown Â鶹´«Ã½ that will be open every day, including for lunch, with a menu featuring burgers, sushi and more.
Aaron Cheng, owner of The Madness, stands in front of the building where the restaurant will open this spring. Cheng said he wants to bring something new to Â鶹´«Ã½.
The Madness, a restaurant with locations in Asheville and Arden, plans to open its Â鶹´«Ã½ location in March at 139 W. Union St., said restaurant owner Aaron Cheng. The space, which was previously occupied by Root and Vine, is undergoing a complete renovation.
Cheng grew up around restaurants and has been working in the business since he was a teenager. Back in 2018, he decided to step out of the general manager role of a family buffet in South Carolina to open his own poke bowl restaurant in Asheville, Yum Poke Spot.
Yum took off, opening a second location in Asheville and locations in Johnson City, Tennessee, and Duncan, South Carolina. Then, Cheng decided to branch out.
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“There’s a lot of Asian fusion, like Chinese with sushi or like Thai with sushi, but there’s no American with sushi,†Cheng said.
That’s how The Madness became Asheville’s first sushi and burger fusion restaurant in 2020, eventually opening a second location in Asheville plus an Arden location.
Now, Cheng is bringing The Madness to Morganton, with a smorgasbord of burgers and sushi with a full bar featuring sake, local beer on draft, wine and other drinks.
The Madness burger has cream cheese, spicy crab salad, lettuce, tomato, crispy onion, avocado, sriracha aioli and unagi sauce.
He said burgers would range in price from about $12 to $18 and are made with certified angus beef. Cheng recommended trying the sushi — he expects fresh seafood will be delivered to the restaurant about twice a week — or getting a bento box. Bento boxes come with four pieces of sushi, a slider, dumplings, salad and fries. Bento boxes will be about $18 to $22, Cheng said.
Running a restaurant like The Madness has more challenges than running a fast-casual style restaurant like Yum Poke Spot, Cheng said, but the rewards make it worth it.
The Out of Control roll at The Madness has spicy crab, shrimp, avocado and cream cheese. The roll is deep fried then topped with spicy tuna, masago, scallions, sriracha aioli and unagi sauce.
“The quality of food and staffing and all that is just a lot more work,†Cheng said. “It’s a lot more challenging, but it actually pays off at the end with how happy the customers are and we have a lot of return customers saying how much they love the restaurant and the concept.â€
Opening a restaurant in Â鶹´«Ã½ has been a breeze, Cheng said. He said the owner of the building, Sam Cantor, was eager to have The Madness join downtown Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s restaurants, and city staff have been helpful with permit applications and funding for the business.
The Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council voted at its Jan. 6 meeting to give The Madness a $75,000 community development block grant loan to renovate the building and buy new furnishings for it. If the restaurant makes timely loan payments and completes its original business plan, half of the loan will be forgiven after five years.
The loan requires at least 10 jobs to be created, and more than half must be low to moderate income. Cheng said he expects to have 20 to 30 employees at the Â鶹´«Ã½ restaurant.
Andrew Heath works on renovations inside the building that will house The Madness.
Cheng said it’s important to him to help diversify Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s restaurant openings.
“The restaurant scene is totally different from Â鶹´«Ã½ to Asheville,†Cheng said. “In Asheville, when you walk outside, you have a lot more to choose from. Â鶹´«Ã½ just needs something that is more unique. That’s why we are here.â€
He said diners can expect to see a style like a modern Japanese restaurant when they walk into The Madness in a few months. Cheng is hopeful the restaurant will open sometime around March.
Bento boxes at The Madness include a slider, salad, dumplings, edamame, fries and four pieces of sushi.Â
Learn more about the restaurant online at .
Ordering wine can be overwhelming when you’re faced with a long wine list at a fancy restaurant, and it might even make you feel anxious. Here are some of the most common mistakes you can avoid while ordering wine, according to a sommelier. Avoid ordering items you can easily find at a grocery store. Dining out is a chance to try something new and unique Wines from major regions like Bordeaux and Napa Valley can be overpriced. Instead, consider options from nearby areas to save on costs. American wine drinkers often favor high-alcohol, bold red wines, but many of these bottles are still too young. Instead, opt for light-bodied reds that are made ready to drink when bottled. Chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and pinot grigio tend to be people’s “comfort-zone†wines, but there are many other white wines to discover. There are more than 1,000 grape varieties native to Italy alone, so don’t be afraid to try “under the radar†white wines.
