For Columbia’s foodies: Bake sale, chocolate and champagne, new restaurants

Food events

St. Katherine’s Philoptochos Bake Sale and Lunch: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, March 24 at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Menu includes chicken souvlaki, pastichio, and green salad; ready-to-bake pans of spanakopita, tiropita and pastitsio; tsoureki (sweet Easter bread), and mixed pastries.

1931 Sumter St. Place orders for dinner online at stkatherinesphiloptochos.org/bake-sale-luncheon or call (803) 461-0249 or fax (803) 254-6197 for pickup, 4-6 p.m.

Taste of Lake Murray: 6:30 pm. Thursday, March 24 at Doubletree by Hilton. This is the fundraising event for the annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration on Lake Murray. Sample dishes from area restaurants, and enjoy music from The Mark Roberts Band. Tickets are $60 per person and include food, beer, wine and specialty drinks.

2100 Bush River Road. Tickets available at Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board offices, 2184 N Lake Drive, (803) 781-5940 or at www.gofundme.com/lakemurrayfirework

Farm to Table Pop-Up Beer Dinner: 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 25 at the Brickyard in Cayce. Chef Henry Griffin and the team from Ristorante Divino, along with chef Kristian Niemi from Farm to Table Event Co., prepare a four-course, family-style dinner with beer from River Rat Brewery.

Brickyard in Cayce, next to the Blossom Street Bridge by the river. Tickets $75 per person available at eventbrite.com. More information at www.farmtotableeventco.com.

Wine, Bubbles & Chocolate, 6-8 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Gervais & Vine. No reservations needed as you learn which wines go best with different flavors of chocolates. Joseph Vernon, of Evolution Through Chocolate, hosts.

620 Gervais St. in the Vista. (803) 799-8463, www.gervine.com

Michael Mondavi Presents: California and Beyond. Special Live Stream event 7 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Total Wine & More. Submit questions for the third-generation Napa Valley winemaker as he talks about his California wines and iconic reds from Italy and Argentina. Use #TWTASTING to submit questions via Total Wine & More’s social media channels.

275 Harbison Blvd. Tickets $20 per person at eventbrite.com

New restaurants

The Black Market Tavern: Folks familiar with Aaron Klugh know the Columbia restaurateur has proven he knows beer. Now it’s time for the Kraken Gastropub owner to venture into cocktails with his newest eatery, The Black Market Tavern, 2303 Devine St. Black Market will occupy the space that was once home to Hair of the Dog Tavern and Lulu’s Hot Dogs.

While Devine Street businesses and the Devine Street Association are pleased to see all new businesses open on the corridor, one that offers food and/or beverage is “super exciting,” said Jennifer Suber, Devine Street Association marketing coordinator.

“That adds a little bit of diversity to Devine,” Suber said. “We’re known as the boutique corridor, which is fantastic, but we love for people to have a beverage or a bite to eat while they are shopping with us.”

Black Market Tavern is scheduled to open next month.

Persis Biryani Indian Mexican Grill: Naveen Mallipeddi may have figured out a way to put an end to many a date-night and family-night-out argument.

The local franchise owner has opened Persis Biryani Indian Mexican Grill, 1728 Bush River Road, in the site of the former El Chico Mexican restaurant. Persis Biryani will have its official grand opening later this month.

Persis Biryani is an Indian food chain with 16 locations across the United States, from North Carolina to Wisconsin. Mallipeddi decided to incorporate Mexican fare into the menu at the eatery’s new Columbia location as a way to draw in fans of El Chico.

“Just going out as a customer myself with my family, some of us would want one type of food, and some would want another,” Mallipeddi said. “With this location just being El Chico – which was a famous local Mexican restaurant – I just decided to combine both tastes into the menu.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 12:58 PM with the headline "For Columbia’s foodies: Bake sale, chocolate and champagne, new restaurants."