Hendersonville, NC

Reposted with modifications from original posting in Facebook Notes on May 20, 2009:

On planning a trip to the Asheville area we opted to cash in some Hilton Honor points and stay three nights free in Hendersonville. It is only 20 miles from downtown Asheville and gave us the opportunity to stay free the entire stay versus only one night free in Asheville. The added advantage was we got a chance to explore Hendersonville which is something we might have never done otherwise.

Downtown Hendersonville has a limited selection of interesting shops and several nice restaurants along Main Street. It appears to be a growing scene – i.e. hip place to be now that Asheville is "overrun with tourists". Frankly, we enjoyed hanging around Hendersonville a little more than our day outing to Asheville. That is not to say that we did not enjoy Asheville and we would love to stay in Asheville within walking distance of all the cool places at some point in time. There is certainly more people watching to do in Asheville.

It was the amazing food that kept our attention in Hendersonville. And below were the places we tried and adored.

Never Blue: Tapas, wine, cocktails, bottled beer. Wonderful menu with wide range of options. Brad and I shared 4 items: Olives: warm and served marinated, Giant Ravioli: five cheese extra large ravioli topped with spinach and chipotle pepper cream sauce was fantastic, Bullfighter flatbread: serrano ham, asparagus, caramelized shallots and manchego cheese and Piadini flatbread (not on current menu so cannot list ingredients) - both were excellent. I actually ordered Eve’s Delight flatbread but got served the Piadini instead but it was very good. We shared a dessert of brittle basket with white chocolate mousse and berries – yum.

Black Rose Public House: Basic pub with nice but limited draft selection of mainly European brews (Bass, Boddington’s, etc.). Excellent Bloody Mary (Sunday special for $5), Brad had Boddington’s. Stopped in just for drink and to browse menu. Basic Irish themed bar food.

Hannah Flanagans: Second stop in for beer and menu browsing. Extensive beer list with good selection on draft. I had Sweetwater 420 which is a good extra pale ale from the Sweetwater Atlanta brewery (this beer has since become one of my go to selections). Brad had Bass because it was on special. The beer and drink specials for Sunday were much better than at the Black Rose which explained why this place was packed and the Black Rose was not. They have separate entrances for the smoking and non-smoking sides with the main bar located in the smoking side (this likely has changed since the smoking ban in NC). We had best damn wings ever as bar snack. It is like they were marinated in the wing sauce before frying - good and spicy. Got the burger with swiss and mushrooms and the smoked turkey croissant: turkey topped with bacon and cheddar on a warmed croissant. Both were very good.

And I should report that the Hampton Inn in Hendersonville was very nice having recently been remodeled.  An unexpected perk was the location of a massive thrift store and shoe outlet located right behind the hotel.