Women's Clothing Boutique Near Me Simpsonville, SC

SIMPSONVILLE — Even in 2018, when Phil Watts and Victor Juarez were contemplating their first joint restaurant concept, they knew there would be more than one restaurant and they knew there would be more than one concept.

Now, the partners behind Tacos & Bla Bla Bla are opening Nixtamal Mexican Kitchen. While the former concept is centered on quick service Mexican food, the latter is more about experience and taking time to soak in every aspect of the dining experience.

Nixtamal, located at 679 Fairview Rd. in Simpsonville, will serve fresh, Mexican-inspired food with a decidedly future-thinking twist.

“So we’re going for an authentic Mexican cuisine with a fresh modern vibe,” Watts said.

Nixtamal is a reference to the traditional way to prepare corn for processing.

The food is rooted in the flavors and spices and techniques Juarez learned from his grandmother in Guadalajara, but the presentation is over the top, Watts said. Case in point — table side guacamole designed to serve up to 8 people. Diners will be able to up the ante of the starter by adding things like pork belly, dried peppers and feta cheese.

Nixtamal will also feature a seafood tower that comes not just with head on shrimp and oysters, but with ribeye and chorizo sausage in the mix. The cocktails will follow a similar style, with the focus being on flavor, but also wow factor. Expect large displays of whole fruit slices and decadent garnishes.

“A lot of our menu items are what we’d call showstoppers — over the top, embellished kind of food,” Watts said. “Pick up your phone, put it on TikTok kind of things.”

In some ways the concept for Nixtamal is a sign of the times. Those times require restaurants to up their game when it comes to social media, Watts said. Having worked on the business side of food as a rep with Sysco for 15 years, Watts can’t help but be a numbers and statistics guy. Those numbers show TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are integral to business now.

TikTok in particular is getting a lot of attention for generation traction for a brand or business. The app now has more than 1 billion users each month, according to data released by the company in 2021.

“It’s critically important,” Watts said of social media’s influence on restaurant success today.

The theme will carry into the restaurant’s décor. Expect neon signs, vibey music and lighting that makes it easy to take pics with your phone.

“We’re trying to get ahead of that curve,” Watts said.

This is not Watts nor Juarez’s first foray into restaurants. Watts grew up in the business, the son of a restaurant owner in London, Ky. Juarez learned to love food through his grandmother’s recipes. Food was at the root of every family gathering, almost like part of the soul of his family.

Watts furthered his culinary training at Johnson and Wales, but never took it too far. He worked at a few restaurants in Charleston, including Bonefish Grill, in the early days of that restaurant, but instead joined Sysco. That job took Watts and his family — his wife and three young kids — to Greenville in 2017.

Juarez has worked in restaurants for decades. He has owned La Fogota since 2004. That’s how he met Watts. In time, the two got to know each other and they began to dream of opening a new restaurant together, uniting their business and culinary skills.

The result was Tacos & Bla Bla Bla, which opened its first location in Simpsonville in 2018. The fast-casual Mexican-inspired restaurant has grown thanks to a focus on freshness and fast service. Now, there are seven locations throughout the Upstate.

Nixtamal brings more of Juarez’s family recipes to the fore, including posole, chilaquiles, beans and of course the homemade tortillas. Plans call for opening at least two more Nixtamal Mexican Kitchen locations in the next two years. The first is slated to open in Greer later this year, Watts said.

The business partners have plans to launch other concepts. The first, which will center on Southern fare in a family-friendly environment, will open in Fountain Inn within the next year, Watts said.

“I think certain people like Victor and myself are born with a desire for hospitality,” Watts said of the shared passion for restaurants. “You just really enjoy seeing other people enjoy things you create. You’re just kind of born with that hospitality piece.”

Nixtamal Mexican Kitchen is slated to open the first week of May. For more follow Nixtamal Mexican Kitchen on social media.

SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. —

Some residents in Greenville County are fighting to keep two proposed developments out of their neighborhoods.

On Monday, a public hearing was held for them to voice their concerns. Even though no vote was taken, they wanted to make the county council know these projects are not what this area needs.

One project is expected to bring a retail/flex-use space, a 10,000-square-foot child care facility, and a 5,000-square-foot playground to an area off Lee Vaughn and Woodruff roads.

However, people living nearby believe the infrastructure is not where it needs to be. They said traffic would be a mess and that it would ruin the area.

"That property is zoned residential. We have 174 lovely homes right next to that, and nowhere in five forks that we have a strip mall shoved up the back end of a neighborhood," One resident said.

"We take our lives every day. We are terrified coming out of our neighborhood and trying to make a left turn onto Lee Vaughn and having traffic cutting across Lee Vaughn is just asking for accidents, I do believe," another neighbor said.

The other project will bring 170 townhomes off of Adams Mill Rd and Five Forks Rd.

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Traffic was also the main concern, and this project fails to safely account for that.

"The area is already saturated with people and cars but also creates a major safety issue while making it nearly impossible for any emergency medical vehicles to navigate that kind of situation," a neighbor said.

"The five forks area is a small area that has seen a huge amount of development in recent years. While existing residents do support businesses as taxpaying residents, it seems we should be able to expect more of a planned, controlled of any proposed development," another resident said.

One developer said the concerns he heard Monday were not new and believes their plan addresses them head-on.

"At this point, we still feel like that we got a great plan that addressed all those concerns. Everything they brought to the table we understood them bringing to the table. We understand that's where they're coming from. We still feel like the product we brought and the development we could bring would hit all those concerns and be a great addition to the Five Forks area," Lee Vaughn Road and Woodruff Road developer Chad Carson said.

County Councilman Butch Kirven said it's all balancing acting when it comes to these projects, and tonight is the first step in a long process.

County council will have a first reading on both these projects Tuesday, June 20.

An awesome arcade that has the best games from the 80s and 90s is located in Simpsonville, SC and we just had to try it out! Thanks to the Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum for having us come by to do this review.

When I see an old-school Pac-Man machine, I immediately think of my mom and how much fun we used to have to play it (and constantly getting eaten by ghosts). Super Mario Brothers bring back memories I had of my friends and me playing it together in middle school. Yes, I’m dating myself but I don’t even care because there’s a place in Simpsonville where I can now go and play all these retro games and share my own great memories with my kids and make new ones as well.

About the Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum

The Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum, located at the Warehouse at Vaughn’s and near the Ice Cream Station, has more than 50 games for guests to play, including classics like pinball, Pac-Man, Paper Boy, tons of Nintendo video games, ice hockey foosball, and even Frogger.

This isn’t a regular museum; it’s a cool museum. It does have vintage games on display at the counter and you can read about the history of many of the games, but you can play nearly every game at the arcade. The place started because the owner, Mike, really loved pinball and had quite the collection. So, what do you do with a collection? Play with them, of course! Mike, being the cool guy he is, decided to share his passion and hence, opened the Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum.

We found the place to be super clean and the games in great working order. I can’t wait to go back honestly.

Birthday Parties & Special Events

One of my first questions to Mike was if people could have birthday parties there and the answer was a resounding “yes!” When we posted to our Facebook page about the museum, a reader commented that she recently had a birthday party there for her son and it was awesome. I was actually thinking it could be really fun for an adult birthday party – think of all the great memories you could reminisce about!

The Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum also hosts special events and corporate parties. So, if you want to do something nice for your employees, bring them here and let them challenge each other to play Super Mario Brothers 3 and make it through the castle without dying.

The cost for two hours of free play for up to 15 guests is $225 plus tax. Extra guests are $10 each and parties must be booked during non-operating hours. Tables and chairs can be set up per request.

Food is Right Next Door

The Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum is located adjacent to the Warehouse at Vaughn’s, where there are multiple dining options and areas to eat both indoors and out. There’s also an ice cream place right next door to the arcade or you can walk across the street to the Ice Cream Station next to the train tracks.

If you want a fun date night with food and arcade entertainment, this is it. And the arcade is really for any age. I went with my two kids (ages 11 and 7) and their grandmother and all of us had a blast.

Play Time and Hours

No coins are needed at the Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum! The cost for unlimited play is $10/person and that includes all day. So if you want to play for a bit, go have dinner next door and then come back, your admission includes all of that time.

Operating hours are Wednesday – Thursday from 4-9 pm, Friday 4-11 pm, and Saturday from Noon – 11 pm. They are closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Upstate Pinball and Arcade Museum109A West Trade Street, Simpsonville, SC 864.881.1876

SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. —

A multi-platinum, chart-topping band announced the upcoming fall leg of their tour will lead them to the Upstate.

Shinedown is currently crossing the country on their The Revolutions Live Tour with Papa Roach and Spiritbox.

The fall run of shows starts off in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sept. 3 and includes a stop at CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park, in Simpsonville, on Sept. 26, producers Live Nation and FPC Live said in a release.

More news: (Story continues after these links)

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at LiveNation.com. Various presales will be available Wednesday through Thursday.

This week, the band’s hit single “A Symptom of Being Human” jumped into the Top 25 at Hot AC Radio, promoters said.

This follows Shinedown’s recent #1 at Active Rock Radio with "Dead Don't Die," the band's 20th No. 1 single.

Shinedown is also getting support from fellow chart-toppers Three Days Grace and From Ashes To New.

For this current run of shows, Shinedown has partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to donate $1 for every ticket sold.

VIP packages featuring exclusive access available for purchase.

For all show/ticketing details for the fall dates and previously announced dates, visit www.shinedown.com.

A love of flying created the Foothills Aerodrome neighborhood, but a sense of community keeps it grounded.

Tucked into the rolling countryside southeast of Simpsonville, Foothills Aerodrome is an enclave of aviation, a place where those who’d rather be flying have made a lifestyle of it.

Steve Barbour, president of Foothills Aerodrome Homeowners Association, is a soft-spoken, longtime commercial airline pilot and Air Force veteran who flew an A-10 in the first Gulf War and later piloted an F-15C, before serving as a flight instructor.

He moved into the community 22 years ago, back when the lots were “covered in kudzu” as he describes it. Now the community is notable for its custom-built private homes and well-maintained grounds, which, instead of backyard pools, feature backyard hangars.

“Some people live at the lake, some people live on a golf course, some people live at the beach,” Barbour says. “These people like airplanes.”

There are 19 homes bordering the 3,200-foot, gently rolling grass airstrip with room for a couple more. And depending on what you’re flying, it’s 70 minutes to Hilton Head, 85 minutes to Myrtle Beach, 45 minutes to Atlanta and 65 minutes to Chattanooga.

“The passion for aviation brings you here. The sense of community will keep you here.” — Steve Barbour

Fly-in, fly-out communities like Foothills Aerodrome are rare in the Upstate, but Barbour points out that private airstrips are plentiful, and the private aviation community is bustling.

“There are seven private airstrips within seven miles of here,” Barbour says between sips of fresh-brewed sweet tea. His 1947 North American Aviation Navion single-engine plane is parked in the hangar a few yards from his covered back porch.

For Barbour, private aviation is a welcome diversion from the stress of commercial flying.

“Commercial aviation, you’re managing an airplane; you’re a systems manager,” he says. “There’s a little bit of hand flying but mostly you’re on autopilot. This, though, is pure flying… landing on a grass strip.”

Through the years, though, Foothills Aerodrome has become more than a place to park an airplane a few feet from where you lay your head. As a matter of fact, Barbour would rather talk about his neighbors than their airplanes, offering up how a shared love of aviation has fostered a deep and abiding sense of community.

The 58-year-old recalls New Year’s Eve 2020, the day he lost his father. Because COVID-19-related protocols limited visitation, Barbour had been unable to share those final, crucial moments with his dad. Crushed by the experience, Barbour, who’d lost his wife to ovarian cancer just a few months earlier, found himself alone.

“I’m sitting here New Year’s Eve, 42 degrees, misty, raining,” he recalls. “I sent an email and text to every resident out here… ‘Meet me at the windsock at eight o’clock.'”

The community

Everybody in the community showed up to honor his dad, who had also been a fighter pilot.

“We sat there, made a toast… sat out there for an hour and had a good ole time in the misty, nasty rain,” he says. “The passion for aviation brings you here. The sense of community will keep you here.”

When an engine failure forced Barbour’s neighbor, Bill Clute, to land his Citabria airplane about eight miles from home in 2020, the community rallied around him, too.

“I landed in a field; it was about five o’clock on a Saturday evening,” Clute remembers. “They came out with tools and two flatbed trailers. By nine o’clock, we had that airplane unloaded in my hangar.”

Clute, a computer programmer by day, performs aerobatics in a Pitts single-seat biplane parked 50 yards from the basketball goal in the family driveway he and wife, Suzanne, share with their two teenage girls. Despite the frenetic pace of life with two high schoolers, Clute says he spends about an hour a week vaulting skyward to practice his maneuvers.

“It’s his happy place,” Suzanne says. “For me, marrying Bill, being introduced to this and it being part of our life — pilots are unique people. They have that instant connection. They have a unique bond.”

“Fly-in, fly-out” communities in the Upstate

Foothills Aerodrome is not the only “fly-in, fly-out” community in the Upstate. There are a few others: Williamsport Airpark near Easley, Chandelle Airpark in Greer, and Oakhill Airpark in Belton.

And, they come in all shapes and sizes, according to information listed on the Federal Aviation Administration registration site.

Williamsport Airpark in Easley, for example, is home to a 2,400-foot-long-by-75-foot-wide grass runway where 14 single-engine planes and one multi-engine plane are based.

Oakhill Airpark is similar, with a 2,400-foot-long-by-100-foot-wide grass runway that 15 aircraft of various types call home.

Meanwhile, Chandelle, in Greer, is home to 18 single-engine airplanes, a helicopter, a glider and three ultralights all with access to a pair of concrete runways – one that is 4,200 feet long and another that is 5,500 feet long. There are also a pair of turf runways – one that is 2,100 feet long and another that is 3,450 feet long.

In all, South Carolina boasts 16 fly-in, fly-out communities that are registered with the FAA, according to information available at www.carolinaairparks.com.

Wondering what the buy-in is for the fly-in, fly-out life? A couple of 1.21-acre lots at Chandelle Airpark that sold in April, 2022, listed for $160,000, each, according to the airpark’s website.