Lillia Callum-Penso

lpenso@greenvillenews.com

It happened quietly. In fact you might not have even noticed, save for the delicious smells emanating from the building at 99 Cleveland St. The Greenville location of Sidewall Pizza Company. opened softly this week.

On a Tuesday evening, the covered patio was over half full with couples and families who’d wandered by.

“This location gives an opportunity to be a little off the beaten path, and be in a location people have an affection for,” says Loren Frant, co-owner of Sidewall. “And, there is a really vibrant neighborhood right here that we found has already embraced Sidewall as their own even though it’s newly opened.”

That community center role is the essence of what owners, Frant, along with Andy O’Mara, want to create. They did so with the first location of Sidewall in Travelers Rest, and they hope for the same with the one in Greenville.

Frant and O’Mara say Sidewall is a chance to offer great food, but also great experiences and great effect. The restaurant has held numerous fundraisers and benefits for everything from raising money for a local Leukemia and Lymphoma chapter to donating funds from a specially created pizza to Officer Allen Jacobs’s family to donating proceeds to a TR family who lost their home in a fire.

“We’re not looking to be in a certain building just because its ready for a restaurant,” O’Mara says of growing the business to Greenville. “We want to be some place we feel we can have an impact, and not just a business impact.”

Space-wise, the 1,800-square-foot Greenville location is similar to the original. It is compact and carefully orchestrated with roll up garage doors that separate the inside space from the outside.

One new feature is a more separate bar area. It offers a traditional bar with seating for about eight or nine. But one new feature, what O’Mara calls “an indoor-outdoor bar,” also offers diners a chance to sit on either side (inside or out) of a long bar area that opens to the outside.

Bar offerings will remain true to the Sidewall goal of focused, but thoughtful. The list includes local and other craft brews as well as quality wines by the glass.

Sidewall has risen to some level of fame for its creative pies, extra special salads and drool-inducing flavors of homemade ice cream. The menu in Greenville will follow suit, but Frant promises some distinctions, mainly on the lunch menu.

Unlike the TR location, Greenville’s will offer a nice selection of sandwiches. Like the other menu items, these will be carefully curated and center on fresh, seasonal and when possible, local ingredients. All sandwiches will use bread from Bake Room, the new bakery located in the Village of West Greenville. Owner, Wade Taylor, is a former employee of Sidewall.

“With the sandwiches, our goal is not to have 100 sandwiches,” Frant says. “It’s to come in with a cores set of sandwiches that we think we can do well that have the Sidewall print on them.”

There will of course be an Italian that uses the fresh meats and cheeses that go on the pizzas, as well as a homemade Italian dressing. Chicken salad is also a definite. They hesitated on that one, Frant admits, especially since that was the most popular item at The Savoury Corner, the space’s previous occupant and a Greenville lunch staple for many years, but says Frant, “we looked at it as kind of a fun culinary challenge for our kitchen.”

Plans include creating something unique like a chicken salad of the week that would allow for some seasonality and creativity. A Greek chicken salad might be made with Greek yogurt instead of mayo and with fresh herbs, and a summer-inspired chicken salad might be made with fresh, local produce.

A hummus sandwich will offer a similar opportunity and already Frant says the kitchen staff have been working on various flavors. A recent test batch included peppadew peppers.

“Our kitchen folks are excited about that creativity," Frant says.

And, they're excited about the chance to create something new here in Greenville.

"We’re just really excited to get to know this community,” Frant says. “To see some familiar faces of people who have dined with us in Travelers Rest, and to get to know some new people.”

For now, Sidewall Greenville is open just a few hours in the evening a few days a week. The restaurant will be open Wednesday evening and Thursday evening from 6 to about 8:30 p.m. To keep up with the hours as they are now, check the Sidewall Facebook page.

The restaurant is also hiring for all positions. Those interested can e-mail to sidewallpizza@gmail.com.