Tavola rolls out lunch menu, Abyss opens downtown: Weekly Dish
Tavola Italian has rolled out a lunch menu. The menu is live Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The lunch menu is currently a light expression of spring. The restaurant held a special lunch May 2 to debut the menu.
Here are some coursed-out highlights:
The spring vegetable panzanella is a bright, refreshing salad with North Carolina-sourced mixed greens, leftover focaccia bread croutons, Georgia olive oil and raspberry vinaigrette. Currently, the berries for the vinaigrette are sourced from outside the area, but Tavola’s executive chef, Beau Owens, said the restaurant will locally source the berries once they come into season in South Carolina.
Frutti di mare is a classic coastal Italian dish. For Tavola’s interpretation, sous vide octopus, blanched calamari and shrimp are tossed in an orange vinaigrette before adding a Calabrian chili aioli. The result is a dish with a kick mellowed out by the incorporated citrus.
Owens also brought out a trio of sandwiches, each distinct. The sandwich course was accompanied by Tavola’s lighter-than-air pasta salad. For the sake of space, our favorite was the mortadella. It is inspired by Owens’ childhood — eating bologna sandwiches — but ups the ante quite a bit.
“I’m born and raised in South Carolina,” Owens said. “So I grew up eating fried bologna sandwiches. And whenever I was introduced to mortadella, I absolutely fell in love and so I had to have one of those sandwiches on this menu.”
The mortadella comes on a sesame roll with spicy mustard, truffle cheese and balsamic onion jam for a salty-sweet celebration.
As a final course, Owens brought out pastry chef Carrie Hayden, who introduced the strawberry panna cotta with lemon fluid gel set with agar-agar.
“With our desserts, we like to have contrasting colors and textures and flavors and a lot of different experiences on one plate,” Owens said.
Tavola Italian is located in BridgeWay Station at 1000 Via Corso Ave. just off Interstate 385 between Mauldin and Five Forks.
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Downtown Greenville’s new raw bar and seafood restaurant, Abyss, hits ONE City Plaza May 9.
The restaurant is part of the same group as the The O5, The One5, and The 07, which are operated by Geno Iozzino and Anmar Natheer. The restaurant aims to carve out a unique experience from its existing sister concepts.
“As far as our dishes go, I don’t want you to be able to get them anywhere else that you go,” said chef Dom Angelo.
Abyss is located at 1 N. Laurens St. in downtown Greenville in the former Reid’s Fine Foods space.
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Laundromat and Indian-focused eatery Green Laundry Lounge is holding a spring event May 17 from 5 to 8 p.m. bringing with it live music and Indian street food.
Green Laundry Lounge opened in 2022 and is located at 10 Moorlyn Lane, Suite G, in Greer.
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