this little town of about 14,000 people has always been a nice place to stop but
more and more people are choosing to stay for longer vacations and sometimes
for keeps when I came here to visit I knew that something was going to happen
here I mean the town is beautiful the area is amazing it has the best climate
it's it's just it's fantastic Hendersonville has grown so
significantly in the past I don't know even 10 years we're considered national
cooler little sister I think that it's a small Asheville with its own kind of
artistic vibe and good food that's Jesse rokade specialty
she's the executive chef co-owner of a Main Street restaurant called the never
blue along with her husband Edson seen here at work behind the scenes the menu
changes two to three times a year i base it on what's available seasonally and
it's got my Southern roots with a little bit of Latino Flair I have Filipino
influences on my menu and also Cuban from where I grew up in Florida and my
my husband's from Mexico so there's a lot of Mexican heritage in there since
opening in 2008 the never Blue has set a high bar with its creative dishes
desserts cocktails and casual cool ambience people here have money people
that retire to this area have money and they expect to spend it and they expect
to get what they pay for in this area so keeping a high quality
food and you'll see with all the restaurants every restaurant in this
town is is putting out the best product they possibly can and we're lucky enough
to be in a community where we have tons of farmers another chef who personally
connects with farmers is Nate Sargent of seasons at Highland Lake in Flat Rock
Nate is a lifetime local who grew up around good food born and raised in
Asheville North Carolina actually my parents had a cafe from when I was very
small and that's what started my interest in the culinary arts and
throughout the year I've been able to grow with those same
folks and work with some of them and now purchased from them so the full circle
of farm-to-table is really I started very young I want to embrace what's
around us what's what grows so close to us
and what we can do by barely touching it the least amount of work we can put into
manipulating an item or processing it the better we'll kind of want to slow
things down and get closer to where we came from and the goal that during
service is consistency we want the guests to have an exceptional experience
every time right now we're working with the apples we're doing a nice Granny
Smith style apple and a fingerling potato gratin and it's paired with our
filet mignon and the flavor that the local apple and the sweet potato have
with the grilled piece of delicious meat is one of those memories for me on a day
trip to the Hendersonville area it's tough to choose just one or two food
stops from all of the great options but when it comes to quality theater it's
easy Flat Rock Playhouse back in 1952 the state had designated us as the state
theater which meant they recognized us for our excellence in production and
also education we do 29 shows a year here at the Playhouse you know we are a
professional theater we are recognized by actors deco days so every one of our
shows has at least 13 people who come in from like New York or Chicago or LA but
the rest is pretty much built off of locals it we have two venues this one
and we also had another one downtown that we just are very proud of because
we we didn't want to consider self Broadway mountain style
after theater the day trip nears an end finish it off at jump-off Rock in the
town of Laurel Park right next door to Hendersonville there's hiking and biking
up here and as you can see an excellent view of an amazing piece of North
Carolina the Blue Ridge Mountains Hendersonville and the nearby
communities of Laurel Park and Flat Rock are all within 30 miles south of
Asheville you can find out more information about all of these locations
at visit Hendersonville NC calm