On paper, the recipe for Cúrate, a traditional Spanish tapas restaurant that opened in 2011 in downtown Asheville, seems to lack some requisite ingredients. First, the chef and co-owner Katie Button isn’t Spanish. Then there’s the fact that just six years ago she was a budding scientist, not a restaurateur. Finally, real Spanish food is an anomaly in this part of the country, where farm-to-table Americana is firmly rooted.

But successful business recipes, like culinary ones, are often based on passion and instincts, not textbook conformity.

“We kept thinking, ‘What’s missing in Asheville and what do we want to contribute?’ ” said Ms. Button, 30, who opted out of a neuroscience doctoral program to learn the culinary trade with stints at El Bulli in Spain, Jean-Georges in New York and two José Andrés restaurants.

A 40-foot marble bar and a frenetic open kitchen dominate Cúrate (pronounced COO-rah-tay), which was a bus depot in the 1920s. During a visit in late summer, waiters glided between tables, describing the menu’s authentically prepared tapas — like the pulpo a la gallega: warm octopus flavored with sea salt, olive oil and paprika, and accompanied by puréed potatoes — in accents that mix Southern English and Catalan. Neighbors became part of the conversation, offering views on the merits of different charcuterie platters and suggesting bottles from a list of Spanish-only wines.