On the morning of Jan. 25, 2023, six Columbia restaurateurs got news.
For the first time in the capital city's history, three restaurants received nods for the James Beard Foundation awards. Jessica Shillato of Spotted Salamander Cafe and Catering, the trio — Sarah Simmons, Aaron Hoskins and Elie Yigo — behind restaurants like City Grit and Il Focolare Pizzeria and Tim Gardner, head sommelier and owner of Lula Drake Wine Parlour, were all named semifinalists in the prestigious awards likened to the dining version of the Academy Awards.
“It’s about time (our city was recognized),” Gardner told Free Times when the nominations were announced. “There’s been such interesting, phenomenal work being done over the last few years to bring outstanding experiences to people here and we often get skipped over for touristy towns and there’s just so many good things happening here.”
The nominations were one of the most impactful things to happen in this year's Columbia food and dining scene. But, it wasn't a quiet year. A handful of long-awaited restaurants and bars like MOA Korean BBQ and Bierkeller Columbia opened their doors and unique pop-ups and restaurant collaborations dominated the dining scene. All the while, folks in the restaurant industry raised concerns over the rising cost of doing business and the long ignored problems for minimum-wage service workers.
In 2023, Lula Drake Wine Parlour joined City Grit Hospitality Group and Jessica Shillato of Spotted Salamander as semifinalists in the prestigious James Beard Foundation awards.
As 2023 comes to a close, we talked to local chefs and restaurant owners about what trends they saw this year and what they expect next year to hold.
The Vista is on the up-and-up
Home to retail, restaurants and laidback art galleries, the Vista has spent the last few years figuring out what it wants to be. It's home to mainstays like Art Bar, an eclectic dive, and Motor Supply Bistro Company, a decades-old fine dining Southern restaurant.
But, in the last few years, it's been home to major chains like Panera Bread, Starbucks, Mellow Mushroom and Jason's Deli.
It still has about half of those chains — Jason's Deli closed in February 2022 and Starbucks in December 2021 — but restaurant owners said the growth in the Vista with new, locally-owned restaurants opening (and more on the way) looks promising.
"It's been cool watching the Vista grow and kind of revitalize a little bit," said Grant McCloskey, bar manager at northeast Columbia's Ratio, noting places like The Dragon Room opening and The Hollow making plans to open soon. "That corridor of Gervais is really starting to blossom again, which is really cool to see."
The Dragon Room, an Asian small plates restaurant and cocktail bar from the team behind Black Rooster, opened this summer in the former Ristorante Divino space at 803 Gervais St. The late-night hours made the cocktail bar one of the few other bars in the area to stay open until 2 a.m.
Next year, long-time bartender at State Street Pub, Chris Fitz, is set to open The Hollow, a wild-game restaurant, in the former Jason's Deli space. The upcoming eatery's menu will focus on wild game, with meat from animals such as elk, rabbit and venison along with fresh wild vegetables. It’s what Fitz calls a “forest to table” concept.
Bar owners sound alarm over rising cost of liquor liability insurance
Among all of the issues the Post and Courier and Free Times reported on this year, the rising cost of liquor liability insurance for restaurants and bars seemed to be the thing on the minds of many business owners. And it's an issue that threatens to completely alter the state's bar scene.
“Right now, every dime we make is frantically being put into savings for (insurance policy) renewal in February,” Andy Rodgers, an owner of Art Bar, told Free Times in early December. “It’s coming up fast and we don’t know if we’re going to have enough money for that. It’s just a hamster wheel at some point that we’re going to have to get off of.”
Bar owners like Rodgers have seen the cost of their insurance policies skyrocket in the last three years, more than doubling for most each year. At Transmission Arcade Bar on Main Street, owner Cam Powell said since they opened in the summer of 2020, his liquor liability insurance has risen from $10,000 in the first year to $65,000 in 2023.
The issue has already caused a handful of bars and restaurants to close across the state, including iconic venue Smiley's Acoustic Cafe in Greenville, and threatens others.
This December, State Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, announced plans to file a bill creating a committee to investigate causes of rapidly rising insurance prices in sectors across the state and possible solutions, the Post and Courier previously reported.
“I do have hope something could change,” Transmission's Powell said. “It’s nice to see that other people are starting to rally around this cause because it’s a major issue. It’s affecting the entire state now.”
On Jan. 9, S.C. Venue Crisis, a group dedicated to encouraging lawmakers to address the issue, will hold a rally at the SC Statehouse calling on reform.
Pop-ups and collabs led the way
Between nostalgic dinners that leaned on menus inspired by restaurants in town that've long closed — like the Yesterdays Restaurant & Tavern's tribute dinner from The War Mouth and Transmission, or the Blue Cactus meal at Il Giorgione — and the one-off menus themed around different countries or regions, different menus and across-restaurant collaboration dominated the city's food and dining scene this year.
The trend gained popularity as restaurants reopened and patrons returned to dining out as the COVID-19 pandemic waned.
From Elgin, at Ratio restaurant, to Main Street in Columbia, at Hendrix, restaurants used changing menus and exclusive ticketed dinners to draw diners looking for something unique. Before opening, eateries like The Dragon Room used nomadic pop-ups at breweries to build anticipation prior to opening. Cola Love, a local group focused on helping entrepreneurs, has used vacant real estate to hold pop-ups for independent business owners like Pierce Bowers, who owns Dorsia Pasta Company.
"I think there was a good response for all the pop-ups that happened this past year and that there should be more of them. I think they should be more unique going into 2024," Bowers said.
Outside of the traditional, ticketed events, holiday pop-ups were also popular this year. In December, many restaurants on the 1600 block of Main Street owned by restaurateur family The Middletons were themed around the holiday season. Local restaurateur Mike Duganier's places, both Publico locations and Boku Kitchen & Saloon, were also decked out in celebration of the season.
Looking to 2024, Bowers said he hopes more people, both chefs and patrons, will continue to take more risks when it comes to what they offer at pop-up dinners. He wants to see a movement away from typical wine dinners and more towards unique offerings that you can't find elsewhere in the city.
An emphasis on supporting local as chain eateries move in
This year, several chain restaurants and bars opened in Columbia, or announced plans to move into the city.
In the BullStreet District, Delaware-based brewery chain Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant opened in June. Tupelo Honey, an Asheville brunch powerhouse, announced plans to open in the growing commercial district. Cava, a large, casual Mediterranean chain, opened in the former space of the Starbucks in the Vista. Where Yesterdays Restaurant & Tavern once sat in Five Points, New Orleans-based Ruby Sunshine opened this fall.
But, with the city's impressive business growth comes pushback. Restaurateurs and local business owners in the city have complained that the excitement and push for larger development projects like restaurant chains hurt smaller businesses.
"The only downside (of the growth) is that all the corporate scoundrel people are like 'Well we should open a restaurant, too,'" Shillato of Spotted Salamander Cafe & Catering said. "I hope other really great, smaller local restaurants continue to get recognition in town because there's a lot of good ones."
Both Bowers of Dorsia Pasta and Shillato said they hope 2024 continues the trend of locals supporting local businesses.
Service workers in Columbia joined national labor movements to make their voices heard
It started with a letter.
Workers at a Waffle House on Garner's Ferry Road in Columbia, being supported by the Union of Southern Service Workers, handed a list of demands to their management at the beginning of July. They asked for better working conditions, higher pay and an end to mandatory paycheck deductions for meals.
Five employees of the Waffle House at 7428 Garners Ferry Road in Columbia begin a three-day strike on July 8, citing unsafe working conditions and low pay. Hannah Wade/Staff
In early July, a week after serving their letter, the workers went on strike.
They joined a larger movement of service workers across the state and country to take issue with low pay and unsafe working conditions. It wasn't the first, or only, time hourly earners in South Carolina pushed back. In May 2022, workers at the Starbucks on Millwood Avenue became the first in Columbia to unionize their store. In September, workers at the Saluda Pointe Starbucks in Lexington voted unanimously to unionize.
But outside of massive chains, working conditions and finding labor have been top of mind this year. Alodia's Cucina Italiana, a neighborhood Italian spot with an Irmo and Lexington location, faced public backlash this year after staff at the Lexington location walked off the job. A waitress, Zoe Spires, later shared in a viral Facebook post that staff hadn't been paid on time.
Eventually, the Department of Labor fined the restaurant $2,100 for failing to pay 18 employees on time. In late November, the restaurant's Irmo location permanently closed.
