The Green Room opens in old Paris Cafe spot

If you were out for Fall for Greenville this past weekend, you might have noticed that Paris Cafe, that quaint little purveyor of quiche and paninis, has gone au revoir, and that something decidedly different has opened in its place at 116 N. Main.

The Green Room made its debut last Wednesday (Oct. 7) with its lunch menu and plans to unveil its breakfast, dinner and late night menu tomorrow. The idea, according to owners Jason Fletcher and Tim Doyle (who also owns downtown bar Meat Heads, which, incidentally, he is trying to sell if you know anybody with money burning a hole in their pockets and a love for basement watering holes catering to hipsters) was to create a fine dining experience with a casual feel, "similar to restaurants in Charleston," Fletcher says.

The two had been looking for a location for about a year, and when the Paris spot opened up, they jumped on it. They spent the past three weeks changing the interior and establishing the menu with pastry chef Camie Turner, previously a baker at High Cotton, and executive chef Wiley Laidlaw, who has worked for restaurants in New Mexico and Charleston.

Lunch highlights include grilled artichoke salad, Indian chicken salad sandwich and Cuban panini, and dinner highlights include blue cornmeal crab cakes, oven roasted chicken with sweet potato mash, and pan-seared ribeye steak with a red onion steak butter and parmesan truffle fries. Desserts include pumpkin cheesecake and bread pudding.

Fletcher says everything—from the bread for sandwiches to the Andouille sausage used in the shrimp and grits to the breakfast muffins—is made in house, part of the reason for the restaurant's name (it's also a nod to Doyle's Irish heritage and the relaxing "green room" celebrities hang out in backstage at talk shows).

Having lived in Munich for five years, Fletcher is especially proud of the bar's beer and wine selection, including Augustiner Edelstoff, a German beer. Fletcher says he has an agreement with the brewery that The Green Room will be the only downtown bar allowed to sell the Edelstoff.

The Green Room is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night dining seven days a week. Keep an eye out for live acoustic music in the future. For more information, call (864) 335-8222.

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