DRIPPING SPRINGS – A new health food restaurant soft-opened in Dripping Springs in December 2024.
With a goal to serve people only the healthiest, best quality foods, Kate Smith and her husband, Charles, opened Nectarine, located at 2001 US290, Suite 116, Dripping Springs.
After experiencing some health issues, Smith discovered that having a gluten-free diet and focusing on whole, organic foods, actually boosted her health — but that didn’t come without its challenges.
“Our two boys also were having their own kind of health issues, so we had to really seek out gluten-free, organic [food] as much as possible for them, as well as dairy-free,” said Smith. “Both of my boys are allergic to gluten and dairy and so, it just became really a challenge of not feeling well and then, trying to feed your family well, just felt like kind of this mountain.”
Before moving to Austin, the struggle to find healthy, organic, gluten- and dairy-free foods was stopped when they stumbled across Rhiana Glor’s restaurant, “Healthy Creations” in Encinitas, California.
“We ate there way too much, like all the time. We ended up actually getting to know her manager really well and he was telling us how they were looking for a new location,” said Smith. “We started talking about how we were looking for a location to possibly start something. So, it just was this beautiful, kismet connection. She found a fantastic location, right on [State Route One] and so, we ended up partnering and doing the concept together. The rest is history.”
After moving to Austin, Smith was looking for a new location to set up shop. In 2020, the family moved to Marble Falls and tried multiple times to get a place to open up their next venture, but none of the places in and around that area worked out.
“[We] actually put offers on three places to open a Nectarine [restaurant] and every one of those, just for whatever reason, wasn't in the plan. And so, we really just kept saying, ‘[God knows] when this is gonna happen,’” said Smith.
Finally, they landed in Dripping Springs, where they found their perfect location and turned their focus to sourcing healthy ingredients for their restaurant.
“One of our issues is sourcing here. Sourcing organics here in Dripping Springs specifically, has been a difficulty,” said Smith. “Coming from Southern California, we had no issues and so, it wasn't something we were anticipating having an issue with. But we've had to work really hard and we still have to try to make sure that we have all of our sourcing because our tagline is ‘nothing to hide’ and we want to stand behind that 100%.”
Currently, the Nectarine menu is not fully available. Items such as coffee and other drinks, some baked goods, as well as acai bowls are available at the moment. Other items, such as breakfast food like pancakes and breakfast tacos, as well as lunch foods like sandwiches and pizza, should be available around the end of March.
“We are really at the mercy of just a lot of people working very hard to help us achieve that. It came as really a surprise to everybody involved that that issue arose and was out of nobody's fault,” said Smith.
Nectarine is now open six days a week, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. To learn more about Nectarine and Smith’s vision for health in the community, visit www. lovenectarine.com.
