Ten months – 318 days – after Helene ravaged Historic Biltmore Village, Corner Kitchen is back and stronger than ever

For over 20 years, Corner Kitchen has been a cornerstone of historic Biltmore Village, beloved by locals and sought out by visitors who heard the word about their warm service and contemporary comfort food. That includes President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama, who dined there in 2010.

It was the kind of place that felt like it had always been there, and in a way it had.

The building itself is over a century old, one of the charming pebble stone cottages constructed from 1895-1905 as a ‘company town’ by George Vanderbilt, owner and builder of The Biltmore. The first residents of 3 Boston Way in 1903 were the Waddell family.

The home became a rental property, then in 1980 – like many of the other addresses in the Village – it transitioned to commercial, first as an architect firm, then a restaurant, then a coffee shop.

On February 16, 2004, chef Joe Scully and business partner Kevin Westmoreland opened it as Corner Kitchen, and in the two decades since, have served generations, employed hundreds, and cooked a countless number of Sunburst trout, right from Sunburst Trout Farm in Waynesville.

The Village had experienced flooding three times – in 1916, 1940 and September 2004, which closed the new restaurant for three months.

It was a building that kept declaring it would always be there. Which is why, when flood waters ripped up the landscaping and swept over the patio, smashed the two large walk-in coolers together, breached the front porch then rushed inside the restaurant to the ceiling of the first floor, Joe and Kevin didn’t consider defeat.

The day after, Joe made his way out of his neighborhood on his mountain bike to Biltmore Village, where he found utter devastation. When Kevin joined him, they surveyed the incomprehensible destruction and determined that the storied timeline of 3 Boston Way would not end with them.

“There was never a real moment when we considered not doing it,” Kevin recalls. Joe quips, “We were like two teenage boys standing at the top of a waterfall, looking down, wondering if we should jump. Other people have jumped and lived, why not us? So, we jumped.”

They jumped into a 10-month process, chronicled by often poignant, often humorous, but always forward-thinking videos narrated by Joe that were posted nearly weekly on Instagram. The more reticent Kevin made occasional cameos, but the rising star was Joe and his wife Vanessa Salomo’s 7 ½ year old daughter Frankie. With her flaming red hair and flamboyant personality, she was the perfect color commentator, and according to Vanessa, loved every minute. “She is just like Joe,” she says. “She loves that spotlight.”

Vanessa – COO for Corner Kitchen and their sister downtown restaurant Chestnut – prefers a backstage, behind-the-camera role. While her husband and Kevin were overseeing demo, renovations, construction, and crews of professionals and volunteers, she was dealing with paperwork, insurance, documents, purchase orders, unemployment claims, and working with the city, county and FEMA to keep it between the lines.

As chair of the AIR Board, she worked with member restaurants to determine how to help one another and do what they could to salvage the loss of the busiest season of the year. With her third hand, she juggled her position as vice chair of the Historic Biltmore Village Association.

“We had our first meeting less than one week after the storm hit at Starbucks, not the one destroyed but the other further up,” she recalls. “The core group stood outside because there was no water, and we said, ‘What do we need to do to get back?’”

Ruth’s Chris Steak House offered their space to meet, which they did on a weekly basis every Wednesday at noon, inviting the Village community, and representatives from city, state and federal agencies, relevant businesses and groups to address safety, power, water, permits and clean-up. “The entire Village was covered in mud and debris; businesses were boarded up. We brainstormed on how we could get it to look pretty and urged everyone to maintain their property even as they were closed. We raised $75K for cleanup.”

A significant amount of support has come from Biltmore Estate. “Since the storm we built a relationship with the estate we never had before. The estate always drove people to the Village, though we were much more siloed before,” Vanessa explains. “But they joined the association, they came to every meeting, they were big sponsors and helped so much with cleanup.”

Finally, just over ten months since Helene roared through Western North Carolina, Corner Kitchen was ready to serve – brunch and dinner, seven days a week. On Saturday August 9, they held an all-staff breakfast meeting to welcome back 80% of staff and introduce the newcomers, talk it out, and get on track as much as possible before official re-opening.

On Sunday, August 10, they hosted invited guests for Friends & Family, brunch or dinner. “It was very emotional, it was like throwing a big party. I talked a lot and shed a lot of tears.”  In fact, she notes, “Joe was so overwhelmed he did not stay the entire time, but went home.”

By opening day on Monday, August 11, she says they had probably received 40 bouquets – including a bucket of roses from the Biltmore – and plants; the media was there, and customers poured in. “There were so many people in the restaurant that I left for the office to do the boring, mundane things I do,” she says with a laugh.

While the first week was a blur, a month in they have found their footing; FOH staff has gotten accustomed to the new step down to the main dining room, BOH has adjusted to a switch of the prep and dishwashing areas, and diners have found their preferred tables and ordered their favorite dishes. They’re delighted by Corner Kitchen’s first “real bar,” in the room to the right of the entrance where the fireplace always beckons, and Table #27 is a favorite for parties of six.

Though the owners had decided they would not post a sign indicating the flood level inside the restaurant, staff very soon came to Vanessa and pleaded for them to do it. “They were getting asked by everyone who came in how high the water had gotten, so I called Scott Allred (local muralist and artist) and asked him to make us a couple.”

Then they hung them – one by the staircase and one for the side porch – at 13’ from the floor.

— Written by Kay West

— AIRfare is sponsored by McGuire, Wood & Bissette

Photos courtesy of Corner Kitchen
First photo: Kevin and Amy Westmoreland, Vanessa Salomo, Joe Scully (L-R) welcome diners back to Biltmore Village
Second photo: Culinary Director, Brian Crow, back in the kitchen
Third photo: The new bar in its new location at Corner Kitchen