A little burr, SC Restaurant Week and other Greenville food news

a frozen bubble pic by Gap Creek Gourmet fan, Tricia Kyzer

Good morning, folks! I hope you all survived the cold snap.  Whew! I swear I don't ever remember it being that cold outside.  15 degrees when I was driving my daughter to school. 15!  Brrrr. Someone on Facebook posted pictures of frozen bubbles.  I so wanted to go outside and blow some and see what would happen, but I just couldn't make my body and brain agree on standing out in the cold. 

I am keeping warm by eating bread.  Seriously.  I am in major bread mode.  On Tuesday I ate a Chocolate Croissant from Upcountry Provisions in Travelers Rest for breakfast and then a giant piece of bread (a ginormous sample) from Great Harvest Breat Company for lunch. Oh, and I walked out of the store with two loaves of fresh out of the oven bread that I have continued eating on for three days.  I think I might go into full fledged hibernation soon. 

Last night my Greenville Small Plate Crawl partner, Carolina Epicurean, and her husband came over for dinner.   I made this AMAZING Italian Pot Roast again.  Yay for Rachael Ray.  This is still the best pot roast I have ever eaten in my life.  And no, I didn't take a picture.  (What is wrong with me?  Wait.  Don't answer that.)

Today is the first day of South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's South Carolina Restaurant Week. Should be a national holiday, as far as I'm concerned. Greenville Restaurants roll out the red carpet with crazy awesome dining deals during the 11 day culinary event.  For the past two years, we've gone to American Grocery, but this year, we are trying out one of Greenville's newest restaurants, Rare. I keep hearing rave reviews so we're going to go give it a whirl with our friends Nina and Mark. Here's a link to their Restaurant Week Menu. Of course, you'll be hearing all about my experience here next week.  Restaurant Week runs until January 19.  You can follow them on Twitter @RestaurantSC.

Greenville Small Plate Crawl is coming up March 24-26!  It's another great opportunity to try some of the best restaurants that Greenville has to offer. Mark your calendar and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

A big change has happened at one of Greenville's downtown Restaurants.  Table 301, the group responsible for Soby's and the recently closed Devereaux's, is doing a little bit of shuffling. According to eGreenville, Chef Spencer Thomson, formerly of Devereaux's is taking over the kitchen at Nose Dive.  This is very exciting for me because I really like the atmosphere at Nose Dive, especially the upstairs bar area, but I really haven't enjoyed the food there.  One of the few places in Greenville I just couldn't get behind, and I love the guys at Table 301.  I really, really wanted to love this place, but just couldn't.  But the new chef seems to be switching up the menu which will include the Truffle Tater Tots so famous at Devereaux's. I'm excited for the change and can't wait to get in there for a menu tour! 

In other Table 301 news, Soby's is having a five-course wine dinner on January 24 with special guest, Racetrack celeb and winemaker Randy Lewis. The dinner will showcase Napa Valley's  Lewis Cellars, which was established by Randy and his wife Debbie.  Table 301 Chefs Shaun Garcia and Rodney Freidank have created a special menu to accompany four of Lewis' highly-acclaimed wines and Lewis will be on hand to answer questions about the winemaking process. Lobster, duck, Wagyu beef and bison are on the menu. The dinner is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For reservations, please call (864) 232-7007.

And the biggest news of all (besides the fact that it's my birthday month) is that ADAM ROBERTS (Squealing!!!!) The Amateur Gourmet is visiting Greenville late this month and I think I am going to get to sit down for a meal with him!  I am so excited.  I really, honestly, can't stand myself.  I am catching up on all of his podcasts and rereading his blog and his two books.  I am a HUGE fangirl. I'm telling you, he is coolio, coolio, coolio.   I was actually working on getting him to come visit Greenville myself as a guest of Gap Creek Gourmet and when I got in touch with him, I found out he was already coming!  I guess he's sort of on tour or something.  At any rate, it will be the absolute highlight of my year.  If anything tops this, it's gonna be a damn good 2014.  And you know I'm gonna blog the heck out of meeting him, so stay tuned.

One more thing before I buzz off... quite literally since I've finished like three cups of coffee during this post.  I'm loving the new addition to our fleet of pets.  Her name is Noel.  I might love all her fur off before she is full grown.  I am smitten. If I had known how cute and cuddly they are, I would have had guinea pigs my whole life.  

Cheers! Have a good week!