A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Since we both work and have no kids, we eat out a lot. I like trying new places, and am happy to pass along my opinions on these new restaurants. For these reviews, I try to stay away from the obvious chains (Chili’s, Applebees, Wendy’s, and other things ending with a long ee sound.) I’m also confining my reviews to the general Upstate area. We’ve had lot’s of fantastic meals on our travels, but I’d rather pass along the cuisine of this area.
NOTE: This restaurant has closed.
Laura was in Florida and I was craving bratwurst and sauerkraut. My usual partner in crime for such cuisine is Keith Dover, so I gave him a call. He’d already made plans for the evening that didn’t involve German food, but invited me to tag along. That’s how Keith, Tony Sane, and I wound up at Danny’s Briar Patch Restaurant in Marietta.
Laura says that I suffer from agoraphobia. While it’s true that I don’t particularly like crowds, it’s not necessarily the crowds that bother me. It’s large, unpredictable groups scrambling for a limited resource. That resource might be limited seating at a venue, but most often it’s food. For this reason I’ve never been a fan of Fall for Greenville.
Food trucks seem to fall into this same category. They seem to be wildly popular right now, especially as something of a novelty in our area. While some of them looked quite intriguing, with interesting menus, they also tend to attract the types of crowds I’d prefer to avoid.
Such was the case with Asada. When I heard that the Latin fusion food truck had opened a brick and mortar restaurant, I had to try it out.
When Laura is gone I usually try to visit a couple of new restaurants. This time I found myself either dining with family, or eating my own cooking. Even so, I saw a sign for a new place on Pelham Road and decided to check it out. So, Friday evening I headed over to Busca Mediterranean Cafe.
Background
Busca is located in the space once occupied by Schwaben House German Restaurant. Schwaben House moved to a new location on Laurens Road, leaving a big empty in this little shopping center. The manager’s wife, who was operating the cash register, said that the restaurant opened on December 8th.
When I did a bit of digging online I had a few unusual hits. There were no reviews on Yelp or Urbanspoon for Busca. However, all of the Google reviews for Busca referenced a “Carolina Pizzeria.” The reviews for that place were tepid, at best. If you go to carolinapizzeria.com it redirects to the Busca website. Carolina Pizzeria still has a Facebook presence that hasn’t been scrubbed. The photos on the Facebook page look exactly like the place that I visited, down to the artwork on the walls. This leads me to believe that the December 8 opening was more of a rebranding/renaming event, perhaps with a change of ownership.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a restaurant review. Diets and limited income just aren’t conducive to eating out a lot. Even so, a new one caught my eye, and I decided to check it out. Tandem Creperie recently opened this year, right on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.
Last Sunday we had gone on a leaf-peeping drive, and stopped for the first time at The Forest Coffeehouse, down the street.
The coffee at The Forest was excellent, and it reminded me of all the new spots in Travelers Rest, and I remembered seeing an article about Tandem. I hadn’t had crepes in ages, so I decided to head up that way.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a restaurant review. It’s a bit more difficult when you’re not eating out as much, and you’re trying to watch your weight. Even so, today Glynda wanted some company for lunch, so we decided to try a new place, Bacon Bros. Public House. I’ve heard good things about Bacon … Read More “Pigging Out at Bacon Bros” »
August 7, 2014 We were enjoying our time on Samish Island. After driving many, many miles up the west coast from San Francisco, it was refreshing to hold still for awhile. We still had lots of chores around the house – sorting through some things, and packing up a few things to ship back east … Read More “Local Skagit Discoveries” »
Continuing the impossibly busy weekend…
Today we had friends drop by for a visit. We were happy to have Steve and Linda Serkiz come by for coffee. I hadn’t seen them in years. I was at Furman with both of them, and Steve was in one of Laura’s first classes that she taught there. Steve is now down at the Savannah River Site as a research scientist, doing some very cool things with carbon nano tubes and other nano technology. I may have to wrangle a visit so that I can get a closer look at Ellenton and some of the other SRS ghost town sites.
In the evening I was supposed to be two places at once. I was SUPPOSED to be singing the National Anthem at the Greenville Drive game with the Greenville Chorale. However, the opportunity to attend Phantom of the Opera at the Peace Center came up, and we opted for that instead.
I had been working around the house most of the day and needed to get out and about. I decided a cup of coffee was in order, but I didn’t just want Starbucks or Atlanta Bread Company, my usual haunts. Then I remembered Java Fix, a coffee shop in a tiny weird building on Wade Hampton Boulevard. That simple decision turned into an afternoon’s adventure.
I’m a sucker for weird angled buildings. These are usually built to take advantage of a limited footprint where roads intersect at a sharp angle. Often there will be an entrance at the narrow end, then the place widens out. There used to be a really cool building at the intersection of Poinsett and Highway 183, but it was torn down when the Pete Hollis Boulevard was build. That was a shame.
Located where Mohawk Drive veers off of Wade Hampton, Java Fix is in a tiny little angled building. I think it started as a car service place. For awhile it was a record store, and I remember stopping in to browse. It’s also been a hairstyle saloon and several other things before the Fix people took over.
I must have driven by it a thousand times – an old Pizza Hut with the distinctive architecture now converted into another restaurant. However, this time it caught my eye. Laura and I were on our way back from a paddling trip. Later we would be back up this way for a play at Furman, … Read More “Bocca Pure Italian” »
As most readers by now know, I am fascinated with old ghost towns. However, what I like even more is when I find an area that was previously in decay now coming back to life. Such is the case with the old Taylors Mill in downtown Taylors.
The phrase “downtown Taylor’s may not have much meaning to Greenvillians. Most think of Taylors as a nebulous area somewhere on the Eastside of town before you get to Greer. There is actually a downtown area, just off of Wade Hampton Boulevard, beyond Taylors First Baptist Church. There are a few storefronts, but the most prominent features are the old Taylors High School, now converted into a Fine Arts Academy and Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the old Taylors Textile Mill.