Here’s a look at Greenville’s newest downtown restaurant

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Greenville’s newest downtown restaurant just so happens to be located in one of the area’s most visible spots — and it’s off to a quick start.

Indaco Greenville, a restaurant by Charleston-based The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, is located in the Main@Broad mixed-use development at 40 West Broad Street and started taking reservations on June 9.

The Greenville location has a main dining room in addition to a covered outdoor patio with access from Main Street. This is the third Indaco to open, with other locations in Charleston and Charlotte, and soon-to-open Atlanta location.

“We are the new thing in town, and everyone seems to be enjoying it,” said Begley. “The outdoor bar has been nonstop, it’s family-friendly, and we look forward to having our sister restaurant O-KU opening next door as well in July.”

Indaco, which took the place of Rick Erwin’s Nantucket Seafood, is led by executive chef Josh Begley, who has been in the restaurant industry for 15 years, and Indaco for the last two-and-a-half years.

Begley started cooking when he was 15 years old and started in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher in high school. He went to school for criminal justice in college and said it wasn’t for him, though.

He went on and worked for a chef who went to Johnston and Wales, who then pushed him to further his education in culinary arts. Earlier in his career, he worked at Four Seasons and an Upstate New York Italian restaurant where he fell in love with this style of cooking and Neapolitan pizza, he said.

Begley moved to Charleston and worked at O-Ku eight years ago when he first moved there, then worked at Indaco.

“I’ve always loved Italian food,” he said. “There is something about pizza and pastas I gravitate toward as my favorite food and favorite thing to make is pizza. There is something relaxing about it.”

So, being an executive chef at Indaco has been a dream for him.

“Everything here is chef-driven,” Begley said about the restaurant’s ever-changing menu.

See what’s on the menu

He said there are some staples, like their meatball recipes and margherita pizzas at all locations, that are the same, but most everything else is up to the chef and what’s available at local farms.

“That’s how I like to cook, too,” said Begley. “The menu changes every week because it’s based on what farmers have locally, and it’s something different and unique we can bring to each location.”

Popular dishes include Indaco’s Peach pizza as they get their local peaches out of Holly Hill; their Radiatori pasta is another staple, classic but with a modern twist and pasta is made from scratch; and there are more “adventurous” recipes like their charcuterie board, said Begley.

Everything for the most part is made in-house, he said. For example, in Greenville, a whole hog is delivered and butchered every week from Providence Farms in Anderson — something the other locations have the inability to do because of space.

“We use everything thing out of it,” said Begley. “I’m a big believer in honoring animals for food and nutrition so nothing is wasted.”

The Greenville-based developer on the project is Windsor Aughtry Co., and they have partnered with The Indigo Road Hospitality Group to bring these two restaurant concepts to Greenville. Charleston-based David Thompson Studio is the architect and designer for the project alongside Clayton Construction Co., the general contractor.

“We are really excited and thankful for Greenville for welcoming us,” said Begley.