The latest incarnation of the Greenville Bar & Grill is not a rehashing of what it had been for so many years because, as co-owner Terri Russo says, “that time has passed.”
Gone are the boarded up windows meant to help acoustically when bands would play, and gone are the three layers of floors that many previous owners had just added onto instead of stripping.
You could say it’s the original Bar & Grill, found amid all the rubble.
Russo and her three partners, all of whom had worked together at Primo’s for about 10 years and who had frequented the Bar & Grill in the late ’70s and early ’80s, had a soft spot for this 1930s-established eatery and watering hole.
“Nobody wanted to put the work into it to keep it up and going because it was in such bad shape, but it’s been a real labor of love for us,” Russo says. “We wanted to keep its integrity, but also at the same time we wanted it to be new, and different.”
A long while’s restoration (which the foursome initially thought would last some 90 days) was made so because of permits and the fact they kept finding things such as three floors and wiring in strange locations. This year, the foursome re-opened a fresh and spare restaurant in exactly the same structure people remember. The floors are original, as is the sign, which was permitted back in 1929; the bar is long and sleek, and the windows are no longer boarded up.
The menu has lightened considerably, as well.
Both the restaurant’s chef and sous chef hail from the Crescent Court and are preparing fare such as Tequila Pan Roasted Shrimp, Asian BBQ Salmon, Grilled Seasonal Vegetables and Achiote Herb Roasted Pork Loin, in addition to bringing back bar-room favorites such as quesadillas, chicken fingers and sammys galore.
Reviving the ideal that walking into a neighborhood establishment such as the Greenville Avenue Bar & Grill should garner “a friendly face and people that know you by your name or by your drink,” you could say that everything old has become new again.
GREENVILLE AVENUE BAR & GRILL
2821 GREENVILLE
469-334-0001
Asian BBQ Salmon
1 cup sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoons ancho chile powder
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 salmon filets, 6 ounces each
In a small saucepan over high heat, reduce the vinegar to ¼ cup. In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegar syrup with the mustard, honey and ancho chile powder and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let rest 30 minutes. Preheat grill. Brush the salmon with the glaze and grill three minutes on each side for medium.
