Lebron-endorsed Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza coming to Harbison

A restaurant endorsed by King James and the Terminator’s former wife is coming to Harbison.

California-based Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza restaurant chain announced that it will open its first South Carolina location in 2,500 square feet of space at 275 Park Terrace Drive between Bower Parkway and Harbison Boulevard across from Sam’s Club. The restaurant chain, founded by Elise and Rick Wetzel of Wetzel’s Pretzels, has been backed by investors including NBA star LeBron James, journalist Maria Shriver and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner.

With a scheduled November opening, the Harbison restaurant will feature the chain’s artisanal pizzas made in an interactive open-kitchen format that allows guests to customize one of the menu’s signature pizzas or create their own. The pizzas are then fast-fired in an oven and ready to serve in 180 seconds.

The first Blaze Pizza restaurant opened in 2012 in Irvine, Calif. The company currently operates 82 restaurants in 20 states.

Lexington getting fab’rik

A ladies apparel store, fab’rik, will open up shop in Lexington just in time for Christmas shoppers, Hance Jones of Carolinas Retail Partners announced Monday.

The store’s newest location will be in the Target-anchored Lexington Pavilion Retail Center at 5109 Sunset Blvd. The Lexington location will follow the Atlanta-based chain’s format of pricing all of its limited quantity clothing items under $100 — with the exception of the store’s extensive denim collection.

The Lexington location will be fab’rik’s third South Carolina location, adding to one in Greenville and in Trenholm Plaza on Forest Drive in Columbia.

Mobile catering company coming

Meanwhile, pigs may not exactly be flying into Columbia but they should be traveling across the Midlands in top-end trailers later this year as Canadian company PigOut Catering will be placing a half dozen of its mobile catering units throughout Columbia starting in the next three months.

A mobile catering concept founded in 2007 by former United Kingdom hospitality executives Alan and Anne Dickson, PigOut features 16-foot trailers that house walk-in fridges, prep areas, heavy-duty catering equipment and, of course, the roasters, which are PigOut event focal points with whole-pig roasting. In addition to the whole crackling pig, the company’s top menu items include rotisserie chicken and cedar plank salmon.

The units — which the Dicksons are quick to point out are not food trucks, but “full-service, white-linen event experiences”— can be hired for corporate and private events from 20 to 10,000 people. (The company’s corporate clients have included Bass Pro Shops, Harley-Davidson and Google).

The company started its expansion into the United States earlier this year when it placed catering units in Orlando, Fla. The Columbia units will mark the company’s first entrance into South Carolina.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Lebron-endorsed Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza coming to Harbison."