Local roots ground Indaco’s entry into Greenville’s flourishing restaurant scene.
“I’m always so mindful when we are new in a city,” says Steven Palmer, managing partner of Indaco and Indigo Road Hospitality Group. “Greenville doesn’t need us.”
Need or not, downtown Greenville eagerly welcomed the latest installment of the Charleston-founded Italian concept when it opened in mid-June.
“The response has been enormous and overwhelming,” Palmer says. “Not that sales are the only metric, but it was the largest opening week we’ve ever had. What a warm welcome.”
Located in the back half of the former Rick Erwin’s Nantucket Seafood on the ground level of the Courtyard by Marriott, Indaco joins what Palmer calls “a very vibrant, active dining scene.” It reminds him of the sentiment around Charleston’s restaurant scene 15 or 20 years ago, but not because Greenville is behind, Palmer is quick to clarify.
“There was this golden era when everyone was invested in Charleston,” he says. “Greenville is very much that town right now. It’s a very cool community. Y’all don’t need the Indigo Road—you’re doing just fine without us.” With that recognition comes responsibility. “We need to be a part of the community,” he says.
Palmer and the Indaco team have set that intentionality and carried it out in various ways. For a tangible sense of place, they sourced local artisans and craftspeople for the design and build-out of the physical restaurant space: local woodworker DM2 Furnishings’ handiwork is showcased throughout the bar and the patio; Upstate mainstay Schroeder’s Trimworks handled the cabinets, booths, and banquette area; and metal artisans from The Heirloom Companies created custom perforated-metal panels.
Local roots at Indaco
A more conceptual connection comes from the many employees who call Greenville home, some for years and others who chose to move from Charleston to put down roots in the Upstate.
Executive chef Josh Begley, who was looking for a reason to move his family from Charleston to Greenville to be near his in-laws, is one such transplant. In fact, despite his solid footing within the Charleston Indaco team, he was likely to leave the Indigo Road group to move when the opportunity at Indaco Greenville arose.
Begley describes the King Street dining and tourism culture as less than desirable for raising young children. Now settled in Simpsonville, his wife has found Greenville’s libraries and parks to be exactly what they were missing in Charleston, he says.
Regular Greenville diners may recognize chef de cuisine Mike Rednak, who first moved to Greenville in 2017 to work with the team opening Husk Greenville. Most recently, he helped the former Bacon Bros. Public House revive itself for a last hurrah before he joined the Charleston and Charlotte Indaco teams in anticipation of the Upstate opening.
In the last five-plus years, Rednak has seen Greenville’s diners welcome new cuisine and restaurants. He’s happy to have been part of the process and now reap the benefits.
Another new Indaco team member, Vanessa Matonis, who endeared herself to Greenville diners as the former sous chef at The Anchorage and owner of a pastry business, spent the last two years in New York City. She helped open three different restaurants and worked as a pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Clover Hill in Brooklyn Heights.
Her return to work as a server in the front of house at Indaco holds multiple layers of intent: she needed a lifestyle change and wanted to gain experience in the front after working every position in the back. While NYC restaurants showed resistance to hiring her without front-of-house experience, some Greenville restaurants declared her overqualified. Indigo Road, in turn, was familiar: she attended school in Charleston and trusted the way the group values its employees.
“One of the reasons I’ve stuck with this industry is that for two hours or less, we can have someone come in and forget about their stressful job and show them a good time,” she says. “It’s so special. It’s led to such a great network in Greenville.”
Indaco Greenville, 40 W. Broad St., 864.326.4817, indacorestaurant.com
