Jim Fair
The Southern Growl is expanding with the Gastro Pub offering chef-prepared food.
Jim Fair
Andrew Reid, right, said he enjoys crafts beer the variety The Southern Growl offers.
Jim Fair
Marie Hallett and Bryan Schlemmer visited The Southern Growl Friday.
The Gastro Pub and The Southern Growl are located at 6 South Buncombe Road.
The Southern Growl at 6 South Buncombe Road will open the Gastro Pub as a restaurant that adjoins the brewpub. A wall will be knocked out that will allow customers to order a craft beer from Southern Growl and walk through to the Gastro Pub for their food.
An outdoor patio will also be available for guests.
“Joey McCarter, a graduate of Johnson & Wales University culinary school in Charleston, has been working as a chef for fifteen years and he will joining us,” Matt Bowes, owner of Southern Growl, said. “We will offer a menu of bar food and if people want a dinner they will be able to get that here, too.”
Bowes said the menu will be changed seasonably. “Or if our customers request changes, we will change it,” he said.
Opening for the Gastro Pub is tentatively scheduled at the end of March.
Southern Growl offers 60-craft beers. Food trucks have been called upon to offer food on weekends in the past.
Bowes said the expansion is as much for the demand for food as needing more room for increasing number of customers. “We are running out of space, but that is the natural progression for our business,” Bowes said.
Southern Growl opened in April 2014 when the Winks restaurant was next door. However Winks closed to move to another location.
Bowes said the Gastro Pub was in too much a building mode to allow photos. But it will feature creative artwork designed and handmade by Bowes and his staff, much like the interior of Southern Growl.
Bowes said regardless when the Gastro Pub opens, the April 16 grand opening will be the second anniversary of Southern Growl. “We will have big tents, live music and have a big celebration,” he said.
Bowes also hosts Oktoberfest as a second major festival-like celebration.