Food & drink notes: New restaurants

Restaurant news

Now open at Jackson Square: Columbia’s latest mini-mall at Percival Road and Forest Drive now includes Tex-Mex restaurant Tijuana Flats. Grand-opening specials include Throwback Thursdaze with a Tijuana burrito, chips and drink for $5.99; Rock Out Party Friday with live music and giveaways 6-9 p.m.; Local Hero Day Saturday with 50 percent off an entree for police officers, firefighters, teachers, EMT, military, doctors and nurses with valid ID; and Kids Eat Free Sunday, Dec. 20, (one kid’s meal free with purchase of adult entree; for kids 12 and under). Daily drink specials 4-7 p.m. include $2 drafts, $2 wine, $3 sangria, $10 buckets and $3 local craft beer.

Grand reopening for Za’s: Za’s is open once again, with a new menu and new owners. Rob Ward, a co-owner of Cantina 76 taqueria and bar, along with his business partners, bought the place earlier this year and made some renovations. The new menu, unveiled at Za’s grand reopening last week, focuses on Italian dishes such as calzones, bruschetta, brick-oven pizzas and pastas – all of which use locally sourced ingredients, according to Ward. Za’s is also introducing three new salads with the new menu – roasted pear and chicken, chicken BLT and a salmon orzo pasta salad.

Libyan foods and sweets: Columbia has a new Libyan restaurant and sweets shop in Boeshreen. In addition to chicken, lamb and beef gyros and falafel sandwiches, Boeshreen offers Egyptian macaroni bechamel, a ground-meat mixture between layers of macaroni smothered in a creamy bachamel sauce; and shakshouka, a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers and onions and spiced with cumin.

Moe’s Grapevine weekly specials include $3 Martini Night Wednesdays and Bottomless Wine Night Thursdays. Moe’s serves Italian specialties.

More candy!

It seems a lot of our readers like their sweets.

We recently highlighted some of our favorite places for a candy fix, and we heard about one we should have included on the list – Tic Toc Candy Shoppe, with locations in Five Points and Lexington. Tic Toc is locally owned and sells a range of candies, from the classics to more modern flavors. Custom baskets of goodies can be created.

Susan Ardis, sardis@thestate.com, @foodsusan; Janet Jones Kendall contributed.