Hendersonville Small Plate Crawl... and puppies. (Seriously.)

I am too full to even drink my coffee this morning after yesterday. Hendersonville's Small Plate Crawl began yesterday morning at 11:30 and I ate all day long!  First thing, I traveled up the mountain to the beautiful little town of Flat Rock for stop number one in my food crawl, Flat Rock Village Bakery.  This little bakery sits behind the Wrinkled Egg and it is AMAZING.  

The pastry chef has mastered crispy, lovely crusts and with that... she can do anything.  I ordered the Savory Tartlette (not so little) with Caramelized Onions, Gorgonzola, Bacon and Potato and a you know I had to try the Pumpkin Spice Cupcake topped with a Pumpkin seed brittle.  The Tartlette was rich and heavy, flavorful... and well, savory.  The cupcake icing was perfect, the brittle was sweet and nutty, and the cake was perfectly moist and flaky.  I have also had the Cinnamon Rolls and Turnovers here.   Best I've had anywhere. Hands down.  My only complaint?  I didn't have someone to share them with!  

As I stood in line at the bakery, this woman walked up to me and asked if I was me.  (It was me.) It was the Carolina Epicurean, the premier food blogger in Western North Carolina. She is the mastermind behind the Crawl and works her fanny off organizing the thing! I was so excited to meet her. She was incredibly gracious and invited me to join her table and chat for a while. We took a pic, but kept her disguise intact with a strategically placed magazine.  

So I was stuffed already (even though I didn't finish all of either dish) and quickly realized that having a food buddy for the crawl was a good idea. (Carolina Epicurean's sister had a bag full of tupperware and a cooler in the car... also a good idea for next year because cleaning your plate at 9 restaurants in one day is painful, even if the food is extraordinary.) But I had to make one more stop to stay on schedule!

Last stop of the morning: Dean's Market and Deli for their signature Frito Pie. 

Then time to walk off all this food with some shopping before returning later in the afternoon with my buddy, neighbor, fellow foodie and poet, Kimberly Gibbs Simms.  

Puppies... I almost forgot the puppies.  I have passed this pet store by The Fresh Market in Hendersonville for years but have never stopped!  I was so excited to get some good puppy sniff therapy. I was tempted to bring one of the little boogers home with me.  Thank God they didn't have a Corgi or I would have been toast! I can't wait to take Sierra back. (Hey Griet: check out the little Dachshund. She was precious!)

So the dogs weren't exactly on the official crawl, but I couldn't help myself... and I thought I'd share the cuteness.

Don't miss out!  Restaurants open today at 11:30 for the last day of crawling!  I'm headed back out out with my friend Wanda for lunch.  If you see me out and about today, say hi!

Hendersonville Small Plate Crawl Schedule

Part 2 of Day 1 coming soon!