New restaurants poised to open in Vista area, along Main Street

What could the purveyors of great grilled burgers, lightning-fast pizza and cold-pressed vegetable and fruit juices, all seeking new places to ply their trades, have in common?

If you guessed it’s their plans to come to Columbia’s city center this summer, you are correct.

At least four new offerings – Southern Squeezed, Grill Marks, Wired Goat and Persona Wood Fired Pizzeria are preparing to open between mid-July and late August, the owners said.

Southern Squeezed will be greeting its customers likely within two weeks. It is outfitting its juice bar digs at 1135 Lady St., between Main and Assembly streets, next door to an exercise cycle studio, said Katie Munshaw, a Columbia native and University of South Carolina graduate, who co-owns the business with her husband, Saket Munshaw.

It will be the juice bar’s first store, but hopefully not its only one, she said.

A couple of restaurants – Grill Marks and Wired Goat – are in the throes of a renovation of the old City Market along Gervais Street in the Vista. They plan to open in August.

Grill Marks, featuring fresh-made burgers and shakes, has a restaurant in Greenville. But its Main Street location will be the first in Columbia, said Bob Munnich, North Carolina-based Larkins Restaurants’ managing partner.

Wired Goat opened its first restaurant nearly two years ago in Chapin in a 100-year-old house, said Steven Grigsby, who co-owns and will operate the coffee shop featuring a bakery and bistro-styled menu, with his wife, Jessamine.

Persona pizzeria is looking to get bids for renovation work at 1202 Main St., next door to WOLO-TV studios, according to co-owner John Davis. It will be the California-based company’s first store on the East Coast, he said. Other locations are to open later in Georgia and North Carolina.

Bringing juicing to downtown

“We were living out in San Francisco where juicing is pretty popular,” Munshaw said. “I’m from South Carolina, I went to the University of South Carolina – so I decided I wanted to bring this back to Columbia.

“I know there’s not a whole lot of juicing going on here, but this is pretty popular and it’s really refreshing, especially during the hot summer months.”

For the time being, the couple has been selling their cold pressed juices Saturday mornings at Soda City on Main Street and Tuesdays through Thursdays at the downtown Marriott’s outside cafe, she said.

“We’re excited to be downtown and we’re really excited to be next to the (Jamie Scott’s) Sweat Cycling Studio,” she said. The natural juice drinks are pressed and bottled off-site at DER Kitchens on Main Street, and will be sold mostly in 16-ounce bottles that patrons can pick up and take with them, Munshaw said.

The 750-square-foot space also will include some tables.

When they open Southern Squeezed, the couple hopes they can train their sights on Greenville and Charleston.

Chapin comes to the Vista

Wired Goat’s hallmark will be its fresh-baked pastries and roasted coffee that comes from every region of the globe, Grigsby said.

“Everything that we (offer) generally, we try and make in-house if possible, all the way down to the bread and the sandwich and the hummus,” he said. “What we can’t make, we try to source as locally as possible ... using such vendors as Heritage Fields Farms or Heritage Farms Cheshire Pork out of Seven Springs, North Carolina, or Split Creek Farms in Anderson.”

All breads, muffins, scones, cheesecake, tiramisu and cupcakes are is baked in-house, he said.

Having a second location at City Market, at 711 Gervais St., will afford Wired Goat more space to operate and to grow – about 3,000-square feet in all, said Grigsby, noting the opening is being delayed by a discovery.

“When they first started excavating that building and remodeling it, they had no idea it had a basement in it to begin with,” Grigsby said. “They found the basement, then another room off the basement, so all that got added on.”

Grills goal: Best comfort food in Columbia

“We chose Columbia because of the renaissance that’s happening here,” Munnich said of the Grill Marks City Market site that is to open in mid August. “We really see Columbia progressing quickly into the next phase of its business life, with restaurants and offices moving in, and people living here.”

Columbia looks like a city that will be able to sustain more than one location of the restaurant. Munnich said plans are to expand with more locations in a couple more markets. But the Gervais Street site will remain the flagship. Grill Marks will occupy about 5,000 square feet and employ 60 to 70 workers, Munnich said.

Independently owned and operated, it will not be a bar serving food, but a “high-end” restaurant that serves beer and wine, he said.

Milkshakes are made of freshly made ice cream from whole cream and fresh eggs, he said. Alcohol milkshakes will be offered, as well as beer floats and gourmet toppings for the food.

Burgers will sell for between $7 and $11.

“Our goal is to have the best burgers, best shakes – comfort food, around,” he said.

California beach pizzaria

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Persona pizzeria is a create-your-own style parlor where patrons come in, walk through a “make line” by choosing the ingredients – or they could opt for the house specialty pizzas, Davis said.

“Our ovens get up to 1,000 degrees, which allows us to bake a pizza within 90 seconds and deliver it to the customer,” Davis said.

Dining is “fast casual” and the crusts of the 12-inch pies are light and airy, he said. Salads, desserts, beer and wine will be served. Pizzas start at around $7.

‘We’re excited about the location, being right there on Main Street with the growth that is taking place in the downtown and the Main Street area,” Davis said. “We feel that we will be the only pizza place right there on Main Street that is offering a product that will work well for students and for people having lunch. And who doesn’t like pizza for dinner?”

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 8:56 PM with the headline "New restaurants poised to open in Vista area, along Main Street."