A growing Columbia restaurant group has bought this popular Forest Acres eatery
A local restaurant group with a growing profile has purchased a popular, longtime restaurant in Forest Acres known for its fresh pasta.
The Foundry Group, which has several restaurants in the Midlands and more on the way, recently acquired Pasta Fresca at 4722 Forest Drive, according to Foundry Group executive vice president Steve Cook. The ownership change happened in mid-February, Cook said.
The Forest Acres restaurant was previously owned by Scott and Lauren Goodale, who were 2023 inductees into the Greater Columbia Restaurant Association Hall of Fame.
Foundry has continued to diversify its restaurant portfolio in the Midlands. For instance, it opened the high-end Ember Steakhouse on Main Street in Lexington last year, purchased West Columbia’s well-known Cafe Strudel brunch spot in Nov. 2025, and will soon open Slip 53 oyster bar on Saluda Avenue in Five Points. Cook’s longtime Five Points fine dining establishment Saluda’s also is under the Foundry umbrella.
Cook said he and his partners at Foundry have long admired Pasta Fresca, which is known for numerous fresh pasta dishes, cocktails, soups and salads, a diverse wine list and more.
“Pasta Fresca is a beloved Forest Acres institution,” Cook told The State. “I think they do an awesome job. ... Everything is fresh. The pasta is fresh, the sauce is fresh. Everything is made from scratch and it’s always been that way. Frankly, we feel there is real potential to grow beyond that location.”
Cook stressed that there will be very few customer-facing changes to the restaurant’s aesthetic and its core menu.
“We bought it for a reason,” Cook said. “We think it’s cool, and we think it’s great. A lot of the changes we have made so far are more behind the scenes and less customer-facing. New equipment, some maintenance stuff.”
The Foundry executive vice president noted longtime Pasta Fresca managers Jessica Ellis and Jon Dorrell continue to run the restaurant on a day-to-day basis, and have the freedom offer some new specials.
“But, at the end of the day we are not changing the core menu,” Cook said. “We don’t want to change it. As word (of the purchase) has trickled out and folks have run into me, they’ve been like, ‘Don’t change this dish, whatever you do.’ And I’m like, ‘We aren’t going to. No worries.’”
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