Parsley & Mint reopens in downtown Greenville, sheds fast-casual for full service | Greenville Business

GREENVILLE — The reopening of Parsley & Mint downtown happened about as quietly as it could Valentine’s evening as would-be patrons peeked in, curious both about what’s new and whether they could be served.

Executive chef and owner Paul Ryll waved them in.

One presented a buy-one, get-one coupon from the previous, fast-casual iteration of the Mediterranean restaurant that closed temporarily in December in preparation for a pivot to a full-service concept.

The coupon was honored.

“I just want to feed people,” Ryll said as he alternately cooked in the kitchen and pecked on a laptop to handle the business side of things.

The new Parsley & Mint, in its location next to Lululemon and beneath Jianna at the corner of South Main Street and Falls Park Drive, stays true to its roots as a Mediterranean eatery that uses locally sourced ingredients with a focus on healthy eating.

To make healthy food taste bold, the menu relies on an assertive use of spices that are stored in small, hand-labeled jars displayed from the kitchen for all to see.

The two-month closure allowed for renovations that included removing the assembly-line counter that accommodated a fast-casual experience and turning it into a bar where craft cocktails are served.

The idea was to turn the restaurant into more than a lunch spot that resembled its second location near Furman University, and instead create a destination for after-work cocktails and dinner.

One addition will be a weekend “bottomless brunch,” a combination of unlimited drinks and food.

For $25, Ryll has cobbled together a menu that allows him to offer endless food for a two-hour period. Drinks can be had for another $22.

Offerings include Mediterranean pimento cheese, marinated olives, pickled red onions and cabbage, Spanish tomato bread, Turkish eggs benedict, Lebanese fattoush, Israeli salad, sumac chicken salad and lamb kofta.

The idea of bottomless food came from Washington, D.C., restaurant Agora when Ryll was in culinary school.

“It was such a great meal and we were looking down and were full, ate bread, ate a ton of pita, you get some eggs and other stuff, and I thought ‘why don’t more people want bottomless food?'” he said.

The brunch will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

The restaurant will remain a weekday lunch stop, open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Between 2:30 and 5 p.m., bar service will be available, with dinner served 5 to 10 p.m., except on Tuesday. The restaurant is open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Last March, Ryll and a business partner took over the downtown space from the similar healthy-eating establishment Happy + Hale. This past summer, the second location opened in the Publix shopping center off Old Buncombe Road near Furman.

Follow Eric on Twitter at @cericconnor.