Baby, it’s cold outside, but you can stay warm shopping at Frosty Farmer, as the market celebrates its second year with a move to McAlister Square. Providing ample parking and room for additions like a bounce house and a stage for live music, the former mall space can accommodate an average of 100 vendors each week—double the number the market had last year. You’ll find farmers stocked with dairy products, winter produce, eggs, and pasture-raised meats, as well as fresh pasta, cheeses, soaps, candles, and a treasure trove of other products, edible and not. Market manager and founder Shontel Babb will be on hand with her scrumptious Aunt Tel’s Sweet Potato Pies. When Brewery 85 closed, Babb wasn’t sure there would still be a winter market in the area, so she set out to create one. “I knew we could build something grand that would be a winter centerpiece for the Upstate,” she says.
McAlister Square, 225 S. Pleasantburg Dr., Greenville. Jan. 4–Apr 26, Sat., 9am–1pm, frostyfarmer.com
Restaurant
Beyond Sushi
Don’t be fooled by the name. Sushi Go, the restaurant Max Godo opened on the corner across from the Hyatt Greenville in 2010, may sound like just another sushi spot, but the cuisine is equally representative of the chef’s hometown of Saitama, Japan. Hurry downtown to experience the new menu, launched late last fall, in which Godo highlights starters such as a Flower Harumaki, a fresh spring roll filled with avocado, snow crab, and cucumber, wrapped with a bright magenta edible orchid; and Buta Kakuni, meltingly tender pork belly, slow-simmered in a savory soy broth. New sashimi features include blue fin tuna and salmon, both drizzled with ginger soy and sesame chile oil and topped with crispy house-fried onions. Entrees roll out a buttery miso-marinated grilled Gindara (black cod), and a spicy Firecracker roll, which is served flaming at the table.
247 N. Main St., Greenville, sushigousa.com
Up in Smoke
Opened this past fall in Judson Mill, Mill City Kitchen brings a new concept to the mill complex. Chefs and business partners Jason Donnelly and John Shepherd have created a restaurant that focuses on wood-fired cooking, from pizza to proteins for the daily Blue Plate Special, a take on Southern meat-and-three. “We do everything over an open flame,” Donnelly says, “and to balance all that rustic cooking, we opened up an elegant wine bar.” In the adjoining bar, the menu lists a menu of small plates designed to pair with wine. For the Blue Plate Special, pork butt and chicken are always available, and the chefs rotate in other proteins. “The secret to it all is we baste the meat while it cooks over wood charcoal on the rotisserie with a puree of onion, salt, and water, the way it’s done in Brazilian churrasco cooking,” explains Donnelly. The caramelized onion adds sweetness, the water keeps the meat juicy, and the salt helps form a satisfying crust.
701 Easley Bridge Rd., Unit 4160, Greenville, millcitykitchengvl.com
