- Our first stop takes us to a farm to table restaurant in Asheville, where I visited shortly after Hurricane Helene struck in the mountains.

The Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village was practically destroyed by the storm, but we are delighted to report this popular dining spot is up again and running.

- When we opened Corner Kitchen in 2004, we wanted to be different.

What we do is we handcraft the food.

So when you came in, you wanted a burger, but you wanted it just set up on a salad.

Not a problem.

You wanted us to do things that are gluten free, and we created an entire protocol around Celiac in this restaurant that had handcrafted food done properly for these folks.

So we have no problem with special orders, and that creates a sense of welcome.

We want to make it easy for the guests to really enjoy themselves and then be surprised by how good everything is.

- I ordered the boozy French toast, which has a little bit of booze slipped into the sauce there.

It's rich, but the bread's not actually that filling.

Like, you can really dive into it, eat a great meal, and not walk out feeling like you're crazy full.

- So here I have the chicken salted boulter.

Gorgeous dish, and it's really good.

It's not dry at all.

Very moist.

Amazing combination of flavors.

Yeah, I'm still processing how good this is, honestly.

- So this neighborhood is Biltmore Village.

Well, Biltmore Village is one of the lowest points topographically in Asheville.

And what happened during Helene is that the water was up to the ceilings in the ground floor of this restaurant.

I think I came in three days after the water went down.

I don't think either one of us thought we would walk away from this.

We felt like we would rebuild.

This is our community.

Joe and I both feel really strongly about the village and its place in Asheville.

It's really a place that we love, and we didn't want to just walk away from it.

- The last 11 months looked like starting somewhere, and that somewhere was digging out.

And then we started the rebuilding process.

Yeah, it was quite difficult.

But the payoff and the silver lining is that we really enjoyed what we ended up with.

- It really felt good.

The first day, I smelled food cooking in the kitchen.

I smelled them-- smelled bacon.

Our bacon is the greatest bacon.

And then when we started serving people, it was such a great feeling to do that again.

And we had such a great response from the neighborhood and the community.

So it was heartening.

- I mean, it's been emotional, for sure.

You know, I think it's been a roller coaster, for sure.

But I think it's been just good to get back in the kitchen and cooking with my chefs.

And, you know, the owners have been awesome with giving us the autonomy to set us up for success.

And it's just great to serve the community again.

I think that's the most important thing.

I think everyone's shown a lot of love.

- The changes that they made were probably really difficult, but they were beautiful improvements after so much disaster.

It kind of is a testament to resiliency and the community overall.

And I feel like Corner Kitchen expresses that so naturally as well.

We do have a physical representation and just seeing how they brought it back to so much life.

- It's just the most wonderful place.

Of course, the food's amazing, and the staff is second to none.

But it's just got a feeling when you walk in.

It's happy.

It's joyful.

It's welcoming.

It's comfortable.

Especially now, having gotten through the last year, you drive up to it, and it just looks like a beacon of hope.

- This place absolutely went through hell, and it was wonderful before, but it's even better now.

Everything is beautiful.

The crowds are coming back.

It totally captures what Asheville is going to be on the other side.

And you just can't get away from the symbolic power of what's going on here at Corner Kitchen right now.

- The fact that they understand the amount of work it took and the time it took to rebuild, and we're the first restaurant in the village, independent restaurant in the village, to reopen.

I think people really love seeing something that looks normal.

- Just to see the village coming back, I think it'll be fun for people.

You'll be excited to see the growth, but also you'll be able to see, hey, these people have been through something.

And I think that's OK.

Yeah, people are excited about it, and it's great to be sort of leading the way, but also part of.

- The Corner Kitchen is at 3 Boston Way in Asheville.

And they're open from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM and 5 PM to 9 PM daily.

For more information, give them a call at 828-274-2439, or go online to thecornerkitchen.com.