Greenville's New Tastes of the South Tour

Around mid-October, John Nolan of Greenville History Tours is adding a new culinary tour to his lineup of Tours of Greenville, and this weekend, I got a sneak peek.   The Tastes of the South tour includes stops at five downtown restaurants and includes more fun facts, food and Southern flavor than you can possibly imagine! For this adventure, I grabbed my (very pregnant) friend Cam. I'm lucky to have buddies who are always up for a good culinary adventure. 

First stop: Soby's New South Cuisine at 207 South Main Street.  We made our way down to the wine cellar where a beautiful long wooden table lay waiting for us complete with tall glasses of sweet southern ice tea.   I had never been down there before, so it was a really cool treat. Apparently, for larger dinner parties, you can rent the space. Who knew?  It's just good ju-ju to be surrounded by this much expensive wine.

Chef Shaun Garcia served us Seared Scallops with Haricot Verts and Sweet Corn Maque Choux, which is normally paired with their Crabcake.  I could eat it all day, every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly fine. 

Soby's was actually my first love.  It was the first restaurant I fell in love with in Greenville, back in the day when it was one of the only nice restaurants on Main Street.  This restaurant sparked my infatuation with nice restaurants and mind blowing food. 

Next stop, High Cotton Greenville at 550 South Main Street. We were greeted by manager, Caroline Schoen, who took us downstairs to the Chef's Table in the West End Room. Visiting Chef  Forrest Parker from Maverick Southern Kitchen's Post House in Old Village Mount Pleasant (I'm going there mid-October!) and High Cotton's new Chef, Adrian Carpenter welcomed us to the table and gave us a quick intro to Maverick Kitchens and homegrown Southern flavors.  We dug into small rich bowls of Shrimp and Grits: sautéed shrimp, Andouille sausage, country ham, fresh tomatoes, green onions, garlic, and Timms Mill yellow grits. 

I was super excited to hit the next restaurant, Ford's Oyster House and Cajun Kitchen (631 South Main Street) because I think their chef, Damion Norton is just plain awesome and I love any chance I get to see his smiling face. I interviewed him for a piece for eGreenville before and he walked me through the high points of their menu.  This is one of the unsung restaurants in Greenville.  The food they are putting out is freaking awesome.  

For this tour we were greeted by Cajun Jo, the assistant to the manager, who is actually from New Orleans and has the cutest accent.  She shared some neat Cajun history and facts with us (you'll have to take the tour) and we noshed on plates of Fried Alligator and Pickles and Chicken Gumbo. The bartender brought out a very hard hitting mixed drink made with Bullet Rye that paired well with our taste of New Orleans.

And our last stop of the tour was Smoke on the Water, located at 1 Augusta Street. We feasted on Southern style cornbread with butter, creamy, SHUT UP!!! delicious Mac n Cheese, large plates of tender pulled pork and dry rub ribs with house made barbecue sauces and washed it down with Thomas Creek Swine Ale especially made for the restaurant. 

After four restaurants, we were absolutely stuffed, and had plenty of interesting information about Greenville's culinary history to chew on.  John is adding a fifth restaurant, so there are plenty of surprises still in store.  The tour should be up and running by mid-October. And the cost of the tour is $45, a steal for the amount of food you get! To sign up or for more information go to www.greenvillehistorytours.com