Tod's Tasties to close for the summer, reopen with redesign, new concept

Mackensy Lunsford | The Citizen-Times

After a decade of serving breakfast fare, sandwiches, burgers and tots to the Montford neighborhood, Tod's Tasties will shut down after dinner July 1 for a complete overhaul.

The restaurant will reopen, likely in September. But gone will be the Tod's name, the awkward approach to the service counter and even the oddly configured dining room.

But those apparently universally loved tater tots aren't going anywhere, said owner Jacob Sessoms, who, with his wife Alicia Sessoms, also co-owns the restaurant Table and the Imperial Life cocktail bar in downtown Asheville.

"If the people want tater tots, give them tater tots," he said.

Those tots, and about five of the most popular dishes from the Tod's menu, will carry over to the new concept, along with their prices.

Otherwise, the reimagined eatery, the name of which Sessoms has not announced, will undergo a wholesale revamp.

"We're bringing the building and food to a more current status," he said, adding that the restaurant will retain an all-day menu.

The restaurant will offer healthier fare, in keeping with 2018 food trends: nutrient-rich beverages and some gluten-free food, for example.

Sessoms is keeping mum on specifics but said the aims are to refocus Tod's as a neighborhood restaurant and create a concept more in keeping with Montford's demographics.

The new look of the building will also be notable: no more plastic, weatherproof enclosure. The building's facade will be designed to reflect the structure's past use as a service station.

The restaurant will keep the same seating capacity, but that seating will be relocated to a new four-season glass-and-aluminum structure that will enclose the building on three sides.

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A new emphasis on baked goods requires turning the former dining room into a kitchen, endowed with four times the footprint of the current behind-the-counter workspace.

The front of the restaurant will have more of a cafe and bakery feel, with a special focus on third-wave coffee. That means treating the bean-based beverage with as much reverence as wine or, in Asheville, craft beer.

The newly revamped concept will streamline the order-ahead process for coffee and bakery fare, with the addition of a walk-up pickup window.

"This is a way to manifest better flow in customer traffic, quicker service on the line and production of food," Sessoms said.

Sessoms, whose concepts offer tight, smartly composed wine lists, also promises "more wine in the sunshine on the patio."

With the retirement of the Tod monniker, it was worth asking Sessoms to settle the mystery behind the origin of the name, which the chef has often dismissed as an inside joke.

"We had a friend in college who named all of his houseplants and pets Tod," Sessoms explained.

When the time came to purchase Tod's building, he had to make up a restaurant name on the fly, and picked a backlash to the trending one-word restaurant name — "Table" for example.

"The original paperwork established the business as Tod's Tasties, Tantalizing Treats and To-Gos," he said, adding, "The new name will not be a joke."

Tod's Tasties is at 102 Montford Ave.