Gather turns into Chives; from sushi to creole

ASHEBORO — Jasmine Kroll has reopened her restaurant with a different menu but the same philosophy. 

“Food is more than just nourishment,” she said. “It’s a way to uplift people and build the community.”

With the help of Debra Garner, she did a soft opening in October of Chives: Southern, Soul, Creole. She returned to the building at 746 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive where her Gather sushi restaurant had been a popular eatery until she had health problems.

While Kroll was recovering, she rented the restaurant to another chef whose specialty was Caribbean selections. When he returned to the islands, Kroll said, “I was ready to come back.”

As a Vietnamese refugee, she and her family settled in Southern California after the war. She was working in real estate when the economy went bad and wound up moving to Denton, where she opened 58 Peacock Cafe, serving coffee before expanding into food preparation.

“We outgrew the town and needed something bigger,” Kroll said. She found that 80 percent of her customers were from Asheboro and some of them encouraged her to open a restaurant near them.

It was 2022 when Kroll opened Gather. After her recovery from her illness, she opened Sushi by the Zoo on Zoo Parkway. 

Since returning to MLK Jr. Drive, she found that retaining the name Gather caused confusion among her sushi customers. So she looked for a new name.

“We started over this August and wanted something (in a name that was) green, earthy, subtle and fresh. I think Chive reflects that. Our focus is on fresh and seasonal.”

It was during the Gather days that Garner, another Californian, became involved with Kroll. She was a customer waiting for sushi and realized that the restaurant needed more help. 

“I offered to find her some help,” Garner said.

“It happened to be you,” Kroll laughed.

“She was a woman of color who had a dream,” Garner said. “I wanted her to be successful. And I love being around people.”

It’s interesting that Kroll had no formal restaurant training. But her husband, Woody Kroll, is an African-American creole from Louisiana and she learned to cook in the creole style as well as traditional southern for their seven children.

“That’s how our unique menu came about,” she said, “cooking for decades for family. I only cook for family. At Chives, you’re family.”

The Chives menu has a page with permanent foods and another with seasonal weekly specials. Customers may find lobster, lamb rib and even emu filet from an emu farm near Liberty. 

Chives gets vegetables from local farmers and Kroll visits them on Mondays and Tuesdays when the restaurant is closed. That’s when she creates the week’s menu.

“Working with local farms is important to us,” she said. “We want to know when and where the food is harvested.

“We want to do things differently. We do food you don’t have every day. We’re trending to create dishes we want to eat. We’re foodies and have a passion for diverse foods.”

That diversity includes a selection of fruity mocktails (non-alcoholic beverages). 

“For us, it’s about inclusion, a family-friendly environment,” Kroll said. 

“We value community and the spirit of southern hospitality. We gear toward inclusion, guests of all ages and backgrounds, cooking (toward a) meaningful connection with customers.”

Kroll said she now considers Asheboro to be her home. “Asheboro is growing. I appreciate the diversity. Everybody is excited for us to be here.”

Even when the crew is near exhaustion from a bustling workday, Kroll said they’re energized by the customers. “We hear conversations in the dining room, people talking about the food. They’ll say, ‘We don’t have to go to Greensboro anymore. We can keep our money in Asheboro.”

The Asheboro/Randolph Chamber of Commerce will provide a ribbon cutting at Chives on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. It’s open to the public.

Chives is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, open Wednesday through Saturday from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Customers are encouraged to call for reservations.

More information is available at www.chivesnc.com or on Facebook.