Discovering One of Spartanburg's Unique Downtown Restaurants

Though my family has lived in Spartanburg for 28 years, we are constantly discovering new things.

I've discovered we have some very fine restaurants, and the days of having to drive to Greenville for quality dining are over.

One of the best discoveries I've made recently happened September 5th when Gayle and I went downtown for the second annual "Spartanburg Creative Tastes" festival showcasing local restaurants. It was our first time attending, and we had a terrific time. We mingled with local leaders, friends from work, and buddies we hadn't seen in ages. The weather was perfect, and at each booth, restaurants were selling plates of food that looked and smelled amazing.

As much as I enjoyed the festival, I preferred taking Gayle to dinner inside one of the city's restaurants we'd never tried before rather than sit outside in the festival crowd. A nice comfortable booth in air conditioning sounded much more relaxing to me.

Our choice of restaurants this night was the Brasserie Ecosse (149 South Daniel Morgan Avenue). Our daughter Kayla told us we would like it.

She was right.

The first thing we liked was plenty of next-door parking.

We also enjoyed the nostalgia of the restaurant being in the former Gilbert Shoe Company.

As a jazz guitarist played, we enjoyed salads, then Gayle had a chicken main course, and I had duck.

Gayle said her food was terrific. So was mine. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender, and I ate every bit.

The wait staff was friendly and super-attentive. We are happy to leave generous tips when we get high quality service like we received at Brasserie Ecosse.

But besides the food, our table talk that night was about what was going on across the street in the direction I faced.

I kept seeing flickers of a movie on the wall of the business facing Brasserie Ecosse.

It was a close-up of the face of someone eating. And eating. And eating.

This movie was a continuous loop that went on the entire 90 minutes we were in the restaurant.

A waiter told me the Hub-Bub guest artists often show movies on outside walls.

Dinner -and- a show!

I got a little tired of watching the guy eating. But judging from what I saw him put in his mouth and chew, my meal was far superior.

Brasserie Ecosse was a unique dining experience for Gayle and me, much different from what we usually seek out. We enjoyed it, and we will definitely go back.

Spartanburg is fortunate to have this restaurant among its downtown offerings.

We also plan to try others we saw at the festival.

It's great to have quality places to enjoy just a few miles from our home.