Let’s start at the beginning.
It’s the summer of 1988. Sue a waitress, catches the eye of Ben, a bartender. They shared food, wine, romance, and a dream of having their own place.
Fast forward to 2012. And now Sue and Ben Green have a chance to make that dream a reality. They searched for a place that matched their style and found a fading-but-promising coffee house in the now revitalized Main Street of Hendersonville, the best street in town. It appears they have uncovered a gem.
The Green Room Café and Coffeehouse is cozy with 5 outside tables, over a dozen inside tables and a comfy seating area – living room style. True to a café, Saturday night had a guitar duo – playing loud enough to enjoy and low enough to talk over – the perfect ambience. The service was excellent and personalized, adding to the neighborhood feel.
The Green Room Café is known for its lunch, but the breakfast and dinner fair are first rate. The menu is broad yet only one page, just a few specialties in each category. (Thank you – is anyone really fond of a menu that reads like a catalog?) The dinner menu (Friday and Saturday nights) includes appetizers, seafood, steak, pork and chicken. It has sandwiches and burgers, salads and soups with plenty of vegetarian options.
They open at 8:30 am for breakfast as they prepare for the day. The breakfast-lunch menu, like the dinner menu, isn’t too large but has so many delicious choices! They even have crab cakes, not a typical menu choice unless you’re in Baltimore. Please don’t ask for French fries with your lunch, the Green Room does not have a deep fryer (yay!), they pride themselves on heart-healthy and chef made.
They keep busy in the kitchen making sweets, brownies, muffins, pies, cakes, cinnamon rolls and scones. Stop by for a cup of coffee/latte/espresso and your favorite sweet. Yes, they have gluten free options from the local GF bakery around the corner. (Cooked separately too.)
Our visit on Saturday night started with a glass of wine, a California Malbec and a California Cabernet. They also have beer including the local Sierra Nevada and Dale’s Pale Ale. Along came complimentary warm pita bread and herbed olive oil.
Round two was Brie with FROG jam and pita slices. FROG jam comes from the local Lyda Farms and it stands for Fig, Raspberry, Orange and Ginger. Can warm Brie be comfort food? Because it was.
For the main course we had pecan encrusted salmon, and the evening’s special of steak & shrimp primavera. The shrimp primavera with lots of fresh basil, and tomatoes was our favorite. It was lightly sautéed in extra virgin olive oil, the only oil in the house. The steak was well marbled, cooked as ordered, and about the most tender rib eye we’ve ever had. The classic pecan encrusted salmon came with sautéed seasonal vegetables and an Israeli couscous (larger than the American version) with quinoa. It was all very fresh and house-made, we knew the chef enjoys creating.
You can’t visit a café without trying the coffee, so we ended with the homemade cheesecake drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce, along with a cup of coffee from the local fresh roasted Sweet Gypsy Coffee. The Green Room Café has a full service espresso bar, which exclusively uses Sweet Gypsy. The NY style cheesecake was perfect. We can’t wait to go back again for breakfast and lunch, or just a coffee and homemade treat. See you there!
The Green Room Café and Coffeehouse
536 North Main Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792
(828) 692-6335
Sunday & Monday 11 a.m. to 3-ish
Tuesday – Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 3-ish
Dinner: Friday & Saturday 5:30 p.m. to 9-ish