Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club Review & Mother’s Day – Part Two!
Hello again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you’ve had a great week so far! For this edition of Foodie Adventures, we’re reviewing the brand new Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club during their grand opening week and checking out Papi’s Tacos, Falls Park, and Myles Pizza with my mom! 💜🙌
Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club – Grand Opening Week
18 E. Coffee St., Greenville, SC
We made it out to Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club this weekend, and it was definitely worth the trip downtown! 🎉
It’s seldom since COVID-19 started that we get to meet up and spend time with our foodie friends, but so glad we got together for this! Heather and some new friends we made from the last Foodie McFooderton event were invited out to help celebrate their first grand opening weekend, and the place was packed.
We got to meet Colin and Miguel, the two front-of-house managers, right as we walked in, who were both super welcoming and attentive to us with all of our questions relating to the menu, what they loved about the new space, and more.
I had a few minutes to talk with Chris Rosensteel, one of the two owners. Chris also owns and is the head chef at The Uptown Company, a full-service catering company in downtown Greenville, SC. Jeremy Krauze, who I saw briefly but didn’t get to introduce myself to, is the other half of the “dynamic duo”, and the brainchild behind the main concept for the restaurant. After being involved with numerous downtown restaurants and bars for the last 13+ years, Jeremy formed a clothing company called White Rabbit Supply Co. in 2018, which has done some amazing fundraisers and events for the local community over the last couple of years.
I ask Chris where they came up with the idea for Society, or what motivated them to create the restaurant. After about 20 to 30 years in business between the two of them, both himself and Jeremy wanted to make sure that they ran this restaurant differently.
Chris mentioned how most of the restaurants that were opening in the last year weren’t entirely unique and different in terms of cuisine or the way the restaurant operated. They both noticed that restaurants downtown had similar menus, and not many of them were open late at night.
They stressed that moving forward at Society, the kitchen environment needs a change. With Society, they wanted people to understand that working at a restaurant or in the kitchen should be a job that people enjoy, not only as a short-term opportunity but as a career. He gave the example of restaurants needing to be flexible with adapting shifts when giving their staff vacation. Instead of scrambling to make things work that night, the restaurant should operate around knowing that people need time for breaks, to be with their family, and proceed accordingly.
I definitely appreciated my time speaking with Chris. You could tell he had not only been in the industry a long time, and he had seen what was great about the Greenville culinary scene, but also what could be different. I think one of the best examples of Society winning in this strategy is in the creativity of both the menu names (which I absolutely loved) and offerings, along with how they treat their staff.
With so many of us in the group, we tried to fit in as many dishes as we could! We started with the “Hot Chick Ramen”, a tonkatsu-style broth with ramen noodles, hot fried chicken, jalapenos, cilantro, pickles, a soft boiled egg, and a biscuit, y’all! It was super flaky and buttery and was a great vehicle for sopping up that yummy broth.
Next came the sammies! Here’s where all those fun names came from I mentioned earlier. We got three sandwiches: First, “That s*** is Havana’s”, their take on a Cuban sandwich (slow-roasted mojo pork, seared ham, pickles, gruyere cheese, and English mustard), The “Seoul-Mate”, which is a Korean BBQ fried chicken sandwich (topped with tangy Asian slaw and toasted sesame seeds), and finally, the “Post Baloney” sandwich which Chris said was one of his favorites on the menu. It was a thick-cut piece of fried baloney, a fried egg (aren’t all sandwiches better with a fried egg??), tomato, mozzarella, English mustard, and finished with a sriracha drizzle.
We also got an appetizer for the table called “The Fig and The Pig” – a toasted flatbread with ricotta-thyme spread, arugula, fig jam, sliced figs, crispy prosciutto, parmesan, olive oil, and sea salt. It was absolutely as tasty as it was pretty! Ours actually came with blackberries but it was delish all the same. 😋
Everything was fantastic, couldn’t find a single thing to criticize. They weren’t taking reservations this week, but the restaurant was still absolutely packed from the time we got there to the time we left around 10 pm. They even had a bouncer outside to prevent Society from becoming overcrowded, as without somebody making sure the restaurant stayed at a safe capacity, the place would just be absolutely jam-packed. Even with how busy it was, we never felt like there wasn’t someone attending to us, and our server Dylan was definitely a great guy.
If you haven’t been to Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club already, I highly recommended it. We can’t wait to go back for more sandwiches and ramen in the future! 🍜🥪💜
Mother’s Day, Part Two!
Easley, SC and Greenville, SC
I was so excited to have Mom come down and visit for Mother’s Day! We started out the afternoon with lunch at Papi’s Tacos in Easley, SC. We actually got to meet the two owners of Papi’s Tacos at the Foodie McFooderton Chef’s Alliance event a couple of weeks ago! Their tacos were super authentic and we vowed to check them out sooner rather than later.
Jamie absolutely loved the chicken & chorizo torta that he got, and mom and I each had three different types of tacos. I got the Al Pastor, Carnitas, and Chicken & chorizo tacos. Mom got three tacos too (left pic, from left to right) – Chicken & chorizo, Chicken Barbacoa, and Ground beef tacos. The service there was super quick, friendly, and everything was delicious! 🌮
We would definitely go back here. With its ample parking, seating, and bright colors inside the restaurant, it was great knowing how close it is to where we usually hang out in Easley too. Make sure to check out this or their downtown Greenville location near Falls Park!
Next, we went to go check out Falls Park and the downtown area, since Mom had never seen it. We took her down our usual route – past the Peace Center, hang a left at the Wyche Pavilion, go over the bridge, check out the “Art Walk”, and come upon the backside of the falls. I’m glad we walked in this direction, or we would have missed the beginning of the Wings of the City exhibit!
The exhibit by Jorge Marín actually started at the Peace Center, with the two “splits” sculptures there, along with one inside the Peace Center itself. As we walked through Falls Park we saw more of them, which you can see in the slideshow below or using the interactive map here.
The Jorge Marin “Split Monumental” sculptures outside of the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The sign explaining about two of the Jorge Marin sculptures outside of the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The “Hombre Universal” – Another Jorge Marin sculpture inside the Peace Center in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The sign explaining the “Bernardo Oriental” sculpture from Jorge Marin in the center of Falls Park in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The “Bernardo Oriental” sculpture from Jorge Marin in the center of Falls Park in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The “Ángel Persélidas” sculpture from Jorge Marin in the center of Falls Park in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The “El Tiempo” sculpture from Jorge Marin in the center of Falls Park in downtown Greenville, SC. 
The “Wings of Mexico” sculpture from Jorge Marin in the center of Falls Park in downtown Greenville, SC.
We of course had to stop at the wings themselves, and all three of us got cool pictures with those! #wingsofthecity
The Grand Bohemian Hotel seems like it’s coming along nicely as well, as we took Mom over the bridge to get a shot of us near the falls.
After working up an appetite walking around, we stopped by Myles Pizza Pub on the way home. I had talked up their gluten-free crust to Mom ever since my first visit, and even though we didn’t get to see Meredith, we got to say hi to Chip, one of the owners, and Roger, our favorite server who always waits on us when we go.
We ordered Mom an onion and mushroom pizza with a gluten-free crust, and it was still nice and toasty when we got home to eat it. I wish I could have taken a picture of the look on mom’s face when she bit into that pizza! She was so happy with how it turned out, so Jamie and I didn’t eat any of it and we sent her home with the rest of the pie to have for leftovers. Of course, I did get a picture of Mom in front of the Myles sign, as a lot of people do when they visit from out of town. I sent the picture to Meredith after she had left, maybe next time we can all sit down and hang out!
Of course, Mother’s Day wouldn’t be complete without dessert! Check out the slideshow below for pictures of the cookies that I got both for Mom for Mother’s Day (French macarons, all gluten-free!), along with some extra cookies for Jamie’s mom and my grandma as well. These were from two of my favorite local bakers, Sweets by Julie, our favorite dedicated gluten-free baker, and Morgan from Rhapsody Baking. Julie got us some adorable mini vanilla French macarons, while Morgan crafted these amazing royal icing and watercolor-painted hummingbird cookies, along with raspberry lemon, caramel latte, and honey lavender French macarons. Neither of these sets lasted long, as they were all delish!! 😋🍪
French macarons and cookies from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking. 
French macarons (raspberry lemon, caramel latte, and honey lavender) from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking. 
French macarons (raspberry lemon, caramel latte, and honey lavender) from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking. 
French macarons (raspberry lemon, caramel latte, and honey lavender) from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking. 
Box of vanilla mini macarons from Sweets by Julie Greenville. 
Vanilla mini macarons from Sweets by Julie Greenville. 
Vanilla Royal icing cookies from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking. 
Vanilla watercolor hummingbird cookies from Morgan at Rhapsody Baking.
So how was your weekend, Foodie Friends? What did you do for your mom, grandma, or mother figures for Mother’s Day this year? Sound out in the comments below to let us know your suggestions of what dishes to make or places we should visit next. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗
