A small slice of Greenville, and Tupelo Honey Cafe

A wonderful benefit to representing Latvia in the International Festival in Spartanburg was the opportunity to have friends in from out of town. Arianna is a sweet, positive, beaming girl from the east coast who is living in Augusta, GA for a year. We were glad to have her here, not only as chief photographer during the festival, but also as a captive audience to show Greenville to.

Showing off the falls on Reedy River

 

An out-of-town guest was the perfect opportunity to try out brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe, which it seems everyone in Greenville has already been to. People who have been to their Asheville, NC location report that the vibe here in Greenville is different, but I think that is to be expected; downtown Greenville has a much different atmosphere than Asheville. Sunday brunch meant a long wait (as they don’t take reservations), but we took the opportunity to show our guest Main Street.

All photos courtesy of Arianna

 

45 minutes later we were seated, and after a minor puking incident (life with a toddler, and credit to the host who didn’t even bat an eye) we put in our orders. I liked the industrial-rustic décor, and they were accommodating to our +2kids situation with a high chair and lids on the drinks. The ‘southern’ in “Nuveau Southern cuisine” was immediately evident when the biscuits and jam came out; these biscuits were every bit as good as I had read in reviews. They were soon to be eclipsed by the Tupelo crab scramble however; lump crab, fresh spinach, caramelized onions and Havarti cheese, all scrambled with eggs and served alongside breakfast asparagus and sourdough wheat toast. I’ll admit the toast was left uneaten – I was too busy eating what was left of the boys’ pancakes! We had ordered for them off the fantastically refreshing kids menu, and although their portion didn’t include the “whipped peach butter and spiced pecan” topping, the cinnamon and sweet potato flavored buttermilk pancakes were a hit with everyone at the table. There are a bunch of options when it comes to sides, but I’ll vouch for the sweet potato fries and chèvre grits; southern on a plate (other sides include benne coated asparagus, cheesy smashed cauliflower, fried green tomatoes, fried okra and scratch mac-n-cheese)! It wasn’t meant to be for me to try one of their signature drinks on this visit, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be back; this is a great place to bring guests due to location, the high quality food and the family-friendly atmosphere.

 
Our Greenville tour continued in Falls Park. We walked the usual route, starting at the waterfall and continuing across Liberty Bridge around to the giant beech tree on Furman College way. After a stop to blow bubbles it was on to the train fountain, which provided a great place for the boys to cool off - we are still having days of decidedly un-Octoberish weather. We crossed back over the river and passed the old grist mill before circling around the Peace Center back to our car. It was the perfect weekend morning in Greenville, letting our guest sample three of our favorite things about the city: good food, Main Street and Falls Park.

 

The rest of the afternoon slipped by quickly while enjoying the beautiful weather in our backyard. Arianna, thanks for the beautiful pictures of the boys, they don't stand that still for me! Now if we could just do something about that hair... We had to say our goodbyes much too soon, but I know we’ll see Arianna again soon; if we can’t lure her back to Greenville we’ll just have to head to Augusta!