The Green Room, Greenville, S.C.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been active here, but I had a great reason for that. I simply haven’t had time to blog as of late, mainly because I spent the majority of the past three months undertaking the most important change of my life: giving Amy a new last name.

Yes, after almost a year and a half of being engaged, my wonderful fiancee is now my wonderful wife, and I am even luckier than I already was. Of course, with a wedding comes a honeymoon, and it simply wouldn’t be our lives if the two of us didn’t find ourselves a great restaurant or two while enjoying the start of our lives as a married couple.

One of those places proved to be in Greenville, South Carolina, the largest city in the Upstate region of the Palmetto State. Located along Interstate 85 between Charlotte and Atlanta, Greenville has quietly positioned itself as an underrated gem in the shadows of its two larger neighbors, mainly because of the sheer beauty that is its downtown. After all, there aren’t too many places that feature a downtown with a natural waterfall, and it’s even rarer for such a situation to occur in a city of 400,000 (OK, technically Greenville has a population of 62,000, but that’s only because of South Carolina’s very weird laws on city annexation that make it virtually impossible for cities to grow their official populations in the state), which has helped make Greenville an attractive place to live.

Of course, when that’s the case, that means there are going to be good restaurants to be found. In Greenville, that’s especially true because of the city’s competition not only with Charlotte and Atlanta, but also with fellow South Carolina city Charleston. The Lowcountry (South Carolina is divided into the Lowcountry, the Midlands and the Upstate) has long had a reputation for great cuisine on the beach, and although the Upstate can’t do anything about its geography, it can certainly compete on the restaurant scene. In fact, according to an Esquire article in 2013, Greenville has 110 restaurants within a mile and a half of its Main Street, and that’s just downtown.

Appropriately, one of the best downtown options is The Green Room, located right on Main Street just north of the center of downtown. Unlike the rivalry of Nashville vs. Memphis, the rivalry of Upstate vs. Lowcountry appears to be a friendly one, as The Green Room claims that its style is “Upstate Casual”, which supposedly blends the “casualness of the Lowcountry with the sophistication of the Upstate.” Hmm, that was subtle. Maybe this rivalry isn’t quite so friendly after all.

Friendly or not, it was good news for me, because I’ve clearly learned nothing from my experience in Louisville and headed downtown in shorts, which meant that my wife and I needed a place that doesn’t have a dress code to enjoy our evening in the Upstate. Luckily, not only does The Green Room oblige, but it has a reputation for being home to some of the best fries in the country. Well, that certainly got our attention, considering how much I love famous things and Amy loves potatoes. Possibly the best fries in the country? This was something we had to try for ourselves.

But the fries wouldn’t come right away, because first on the agenda were The Green Room’s mini crab cakes. Amy will choose crab over almost anything when it comes to seafood, and crab has been one of my favorites too for as long as I can remember (thank you, growing up on the Eastern Seaboard), so this was definitely high on our list. It proved to be well-justified, because these crab cakes are some of the best you’re going to find anywhere. What makes them work so well is the chipotle remoulade sauce they’re served with, which provides the perfect amount of zing without overpowering the crab, a delicate balance to manage.

The crab cakes are blended together perfectly and hold both texture and flavor in every bite. About the only negative is that they aren’t very big, which is both a positive and a negative in the fact that they leave you wanting more. It’s a negative because you’ll wish you had more crab cakes, a positive because it’s a perfect preparation for the rest of what The Green Room has to offer.

For me, that included the other thing that The Green Room is well-known for: the TGR Meatloaf. Apparently, this is by far their most requested dish among regulars, and it’s an order of two pieces of chipotle-glazed meatloaf, a side of jalapeno macaroni and cheese and a side of bacon-creamed peas. Considering that two of those include some heat and I readily admit my low spice tolerance, you would think that this dish would actually be a nightmare for me, rather than something on my list. But actually, I really enjoy a good meatloaf and only have it very occasionally because it’s Amy’s worst nightmare. Given the reputation, heat or no heat, I had to give this a try.

It’s good. It’s very good. First off, the heat is nowhere near the level of Prince’s or Hattie B’s, it’s more of a burst of flavor than anything. It’s very well done, because the key to any good meatloaf is the glaze, and the chipotle glaze is different but excellent, making this an outstanding entree. As far as the sides go, the real star is the bacon-creamed peas. The inclusion of bacon is a stroke of genius and creativity that adds a nice unique layer of flavor to what could otherwise be fairly mundane. The macaroni and cheese is also good, opting for the less is more approach to heat as well with only a small amount of jalapeno noticeable. It’s then topped off with a slice of corn bread and some really good honey butter, which is an excellent finish. The honey butter works beautifully with the corn bread as a nice touch of sweetness, a necessary component to proper corn bread.

To that, we added a Southern staple, fried green tomatoes, which are very well done here because of the addition of an herbed cream cheese as a topping. These can be had as either an appetizer portion or a side portion, with the side portion giving you two tomato slices and I believe the appetizer being at least four. The tomatoes are excellent, as the breading is neither over the top nor totally bland, and the cream cheese counteracts the red pepper relish very well. I’d definitely get these again.

Amy felt the same way about her Green Room Salad, which included delicacies such as gorgonzola cheese, cranberries, apples and a homemade black fig balsamic dressing, which gave an interesting level of sweetness to the flavors. She also added blackened salmon to her salad, which came out well seasoned and meshed with her salad perfectly. I’d just had a rather bland salad a couple days ago in Georgia, and she made sure to note the contrast between that salad and this one she had. Nothing says that a salad has to be boring, and with a perfect blackened salmon on it, this salad was anything but.

As far as the fries? They’re parmesan truffle fries with parsley seasoning, which is what makes them such a great experience. The key to using truffle as a seasoning is to be very light-handed, because a little bit of truffle oil goes a long way, and too much of it can totally overwhelm the flavors. But The Green Room didn’t get its reputation by failing to balance the flavors on its fries, and it’s the parmesan and the potato flavors that are allowed to shine through here. These are outstanding and well worthy of their lofty billing. The only danger is that you might not want to order these if you’re on a first date, because the multitude of dried parsley can and will stick in your teeth upon consumption.

But if that’s the worst thing that happens, that’s a pretty enjoyable meal. Greenville might not yet have the reputation that its more famous neighbors do, but it certainly has the quality that earns such recognition. With excellent entrees and some incredible sides, The Green Room is absolutely worth the trip to the Upstate.

Recap

Time to go: Brunch, lunch or dinner. The Green Room has different menus for each time of day, so be sure to check before you go.

Wait during my visit: None, but I have heard the lines here can get very long at peak times, so plan ahead.

Location: The Green Room is at 116 North Main Street in downtown Greenville, S.C.

Cost: It really could be a lot worse in some areas, while a tad high in other aspects. Most entrees will cost about $15-20, while the sides can get expensive at $6 each. However, the fries and tomatoes are quite worth the extra cost.

Parking: Not that bad, considering that Greenville’s downtown offers free parking after 6 p.m. and two-hour free parking during normal work hours.

Seating arrangement: Booths and bar stools

Website: The Green Room

Specialty items: Parmesan truffle fries, meat loaf