Scheffer Group to Open Chinese-American Counter Restaurant on Merrimon Avenue

The former Musician's Workshop at 319 Merrimon Avenue will become The Majestic this late May, as the Scheffer Group commits its fifth restaurant to North Asheville's commercial corridor and adds kitchen, front-of-house, and management positions to a strip still rebuilding consumer traffic after Hurricane Helene.

Eric Scheffer, who grew up eating at Mott Street counters and Brooklyn takeout joints that inspired the concept, described The Majestic in terms that go beyond menu curation. "Like Vinnie's, this idea comes from the food I grew up with and the meals that were part of everyday life, the flavors that stayed with me long after the plate was cleared," he said. "Because at the end of the day, this isn't just about a restaurant. It's about creating something people recognize, crave, and make part of their lives."

The menu will be what the group calls "the hits": egg drop soup, crab rangoon, crispy orange beef, sesame chicken, lo mein, and fried rice. Executive Chef Kaya Rehnberg, a Scheffer Group veteran with more than a decade of experience who has worked at both Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian and Gan Shan, will run the kitchen. Gan Shan Executive Chef Ray Hui, a first-generation Chinese American and son of restaurateurs, shaped the menu alongside Rehnberg, grounding the concept in lived experience rather than approximation.

The Scheffer Group has been direct about the market rationale: Asheville's dining scene is diverse, but the specific style of neighborhood Chinese-American food that shaped dining memories for generations of Northeasterners has been largely absent from the local landscape. The counter-service format, which carries lower capital requirements than full-service operations like Jettie Rae's Oyster House or Gan Shan, makes The Majestic a lower-risk bet on that identified gap while still expanding the jobs base on Merrimon Avenue.

For a corridor still absorbing the economic aftershocks of Helene, the investment carries signal value. Merrimon Avenue's residential customer base is less exposed to tourist-count swings than downtown Asheville, making household spending the more relevant demand indicator. A fifth Scheffer Group commitment to that environment suggests the operator's read on North Asheville's recovery is cautiously optimistic, and operator-scale commitments, rather than one-off gambles, are generally what corridor recovery looks like before it becomes legible to anyone else.

Follow updates at @themajesticavl on Instagram or at themajesticavl.com ahead of the late May opening.