Restaurants/Food

Consumer Stories

Starbucks closes temporarily while other quick serve restaurants adapt to Covid’s second wave

No large sign out front. No sign of baristas. Foggy weather and fogginess in general at Starbucks on Thursday morning outside of the Riverwood Subdivision in Evans. Many cars patiently waited in line one by one and when they didn’t hear a response to their orders they drove up to the drive-thru window. There, they saw a small sign apologizing that the store and drive-thru were closed. Some headed a short ways away in the parking lot to the Rooted Coffee house where employees were busy taking orders at the

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Consumer Stories

Grand Opening of $1.7 Million Evans restaurant is today!

If practice makes perfect, then Slim Chickens franchisee Jim Bennett should feel pretty good about today’s grand opening at the corner of Washington Road and North Belair in Evans. On Tuesday, Bennett and his team served hundreds of complimentary meals from a limited menu to friends and family as a way of providing needed training for its new staff. Other than a brief outage of a Point of Sale (POS) system at the beginning of the dinner hour, dozens of customer service employees took orders and served hungry volunteers. Meals

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B2B Stories

How we can help the CSRA hospitality industry in need

Editor’s Note: This story was first published on May 27th. With the emergence of the Delta Variant, not a lot has changed for the hospitality industry in the CSRA. On Tuesday morning the Starbucks Coffee Shop on Washington Road at I-20 CLOSED because there was not enough staff to service guests. They re-opened Wednesday morning after locating workers. On the same day, one of the Gary’s Hamburgers had to close at 3 pm—the stories go on and on.  As part of our weekly strategic alliance with AU’s Hull College of

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Consumer Stories

Jacl’s is a jack of all trades and master of game night!

This reporter’s been to a café and lounge in San Francisco where they didn’t serve alcohol; actually, been to one in Paris too. But, I can’t say I’ve ever seen one in South Carolina. But Carla and J.J. Ponce created Jacl’s Café and Lounge, across Pendleton Street from St. Thaddeus Church, to be just that, a respite for the mind and body. Jacl’s is also a haven for board game players and folks who just want some peace and quiet. Going on day and night (they stay open until 10

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Consumer Stories

Both Doc’s Porchside locations now open for business

Bryan Hensley misses the wings at Wild Wing Café, but he just discovered Redneck Egg Rolls at Doc’s Porchside. Doc’s replaced Wild Wing’s two CSRA locations in Grovetown and Augusta, which closed July 31. Hensley visited the Grovetown location, which opened Monday, Aug. 16, at 5147 Bluegrass Trail near Kroger. “Doc’s Porchside has the great atmosphere and a variety of awesome foods, including Redneck Egg Rolls,” – a unique combination of pulled pork, pimento cheese, and collard greens, he states. The Augusta location at 3035 Washington Road opened on Wednesday,

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Consumer Stories

Real Restaurant Review: Rio Cantina tries to hit it out of the park at Green jackets stadium

Editor’s Note: Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Monday he shares the results of a business lunch he’s had with a colleague as a way to advise our business community on the good, bad and the tasty across the CSRA. He doesn’t let ABD or the restaurant know where he is going and his opinions are his own. He grades the restaurants he visits on a 1-5 scale with “5” being outstanding. We call this our “Real Business Lunch Review”.

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Consumer Stories

Covid causes catering business to pivot to new business model

Blue Collard Catering took on the Covid-19 pandemic and so far, they are winning. In a decades-old house at 113 Waterloo, just off Richland Avenue (U.S. Hwy. 1), is a most unusual “food store,” the dream child of a most unusual Aiken native. First of all, there are no Blue Collards, except in the imagination of owner Christian Carlisle. But his busy fine foods take-out business specializes in the best lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, cakes, guacamole, sausage made in their kitchen, goat cheese logs, jalapeno burritos, tomato and

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Consumer Stories

Local business makes impossible product… possible with expansion efforts

Imagine a hamburger made from plants that looks and tastes just like one made from meat. While that may sound impossible, Angel Everett and her husband, Danny, have developed a 100% vegan burger. Everett – co-owner and director of Dawg! That’s Vegan – founded the business in February 2021 to offer customers a healthy alternative to the traditional hamburger. “We use beets to make it look red and coconut oil for fat,” says the U.S. Army Reserve veteran. “We cook all of our ingredients in olive oil.” They even add

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Consumer Stories

Real Business Lunch Review: Sunrise Grill

Editor’s Note: Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Monday he shares the results of a business lunch he’s had with a colleague as a way to advise our business community on the good, bad and the tasty across the CSRA. He doesn’t let ABD or the restaurant know where he is going and his opinions are his own. He grades the restaurants he visits on a 1-5 scale with “5” being outstanding. We call this our “Real Business Lunch Review”.

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Consumer Stories

Japanese restaurant to open second location in Evans

A popular local Asian restaurant plans to open a second location in Evans. Yosko Japanese Steakhouse will open the new location at 3118 William Few Parkway, Unit 9 – the former home of The Flying Biscuit Café – in the Market at Riverwood. The new restaurant will be located just a few doors down from Top China, which has been very popular in Riverwood. The address of the current location is 2825 Washington Road in the Fairway Square Shopping Center in Augusta. Yosko serves a variety of chicken, steak, and

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