If there anything better than breakfast, it’s having breakfast three times in one morning. John Nolan, owner of Greenville History Tours, feels the same. He’s created a brand-new culinary tour of three breakfast-focused restaurants in Greenville that will leave you not only content and full, but yearning to schedule time to go back and spend an entire morning at any of them.
Kidding Around Greenville got a preview tour of the new adventure and we cannot wait to share it with you.
Culinary Tours
If you are unfamiliar with John Nolan and his culinary tours, they are easily one of the best events in Greenville. It doesn’t matter if you’re visiting town, have lived here for years, or just moved in. John has mastered the art of delivering the VIP experience to guests of some of the town’s best restaurants, all the while regaling guests with tales from Greenville’s past, complete with photos.
At the Chef’s Table Culinary Tour, chefs at the restaurant stops mingle with guests, take them into their kitchens, and share food and drinks. John points out the ruins of textile mills, explains how the town was named, and shows old photos of Main Streets. I got to go on one of these tours and it was incredible. I’ve since taken my husband and the experience was just as good.
So when John reached out and told us at Kidding Around Greenville that he was launching a breakfast tour, I was all in. Breakfast is my ultimate favorite meal of the day. Game on.
Breakfast Tour
The restaurant scene is exploding in Greenville but the breakfast places aren’t getting much love. This tour highlights some of the best places in the area and wow, are they yummy.
The tour starts by meeting up near City Hall in downtown Greenville and the hungry group walks over to Famous Toastery.
This is the restaurant’s 22nd location, having had its beginnings in a town near Charlotte. They make everything except their bread from scratch and serve both breakfast and lunch all day.
Our group was treated to the Avocado Benny, which is a poached egg served inside an avocado, topped with melted pepperjack cheese and pico de gallo. And because we are in the South, a side of grits came with the dish. I love grits. And eggs. And avocado. The dish was a winner. It’s one of their best-selling dishes for a reason.
They also served fresh squeezed orange juice (delicious) and coffee (heavenly). Other menu items are French toast, omelets, pancakes, eggs benedict, and fresh fruit.
I’ll be back for sure.
Our next stop was a 15-passenger van, which we all piled into and got a photo tour of “toast artists” (they make art out of toast, seriously), and old photos of Main St. and other places that we were passing on the TV screen mounted near the front of the van.
Biscuits Next
Before we knew it, John had stopped the van at our next destination, Biscuit Head.
Truthfully, this was the place I was looking forward to the most because…biscuits. I love them. I love making them and I love eating them.
Biscuit Head opened in 2013 and has been busy ever since. Their whimsical design and creative dishes keep guests coming back for more. They even have their own cookbook that patrons can purchase.
We had a divine dish of a poached egg with lime zest, a lime crema, and a grilled chicken biscuit with avocado and mango salsa. The biscuit was so good but what pushed this dish off the charts was the jam bar.
This jam bar was crazy. It was all kinds of homemade jam, like sweet potato chai, peach, and raspberry, plus butters like the s’mores butter. It was just as tasty as it sounds. I can still taste the flavors as I write this. This was my favorite part. I should have asked for another biscuit just so I could try more jams.
And Biscuit Head sells all of their jams to go. Winner.
Oh, and the owners surprised us with a little mimosa to round out the meal. As with everything else they served, it was excellent.
French Pastries
Our last stop was LeGrand Bakery, a French shop of fine pastry love on Augusta Street.
The first thing that caught my eye – well, everyone’s really – was the case full of pastries that looked like an angel baked and decorated them. They looked delicious and I could feel the pounds start creeping on just by looking at them. Probably worth it though.
Our sun-drenched table was awaiting us so we had to move on. At each of our seats were three cute little pastries that I knew I had to get to. Mind you, this is stop number three. We already had two breakfasts.
As my fellow diner and foodie blogger ChristenEats said, “By this point, I was feeling full but persevered because I’m a professional.” That’s exactly right. Who else was going to tell you about this food tour if it wasn’t us professionals?
Indeed, I persevered. One pastry was a chocolate croissant. Another was an airy profiterole. The last was a heart-shaped pastry with honey. And a little more coffee rounded out this stop.
The owners told us all about how they came to Greenville and decided to open the bakery. It was sweet, like the pastries.
By this time, we all had to get to work, so we piled back into the van and John got us safely back to downtown Greenville.
Want to go?
Tours started August 15th and are $39/person + tax. They run from 7:30 am to about 9/9:15 am every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
I’d do this as a date in a heartbeat. As a working parent, I’d also have no hesitation to reserve a spot for a client coming into town or as a breakfast meeting. It’s such an interesting idea for a creative outing in Greenville whether you are a native or just visiting.
It’s also a great way to begin a Girls Day Out or even a special Moms Morning Out or something similar. It makes a fantastic gift for friends as well.
Breakfast is underrated in my humble opinion. John Nolan and Greenville History Tours elevates breakfast the way it should be and delivers a memorable experience at the same time.
To sign up, go to the Greenville History Tours website (you can also register for John’s other great history and culinary tours as well).
Does the breakfast tour sound like a fantastic way to spend a morning to you?
Kristina Hernandez is a mom of two girls, freelance writer and photographer and New Jersey native who is thrilled to call the Upstate her new home. She loves cooking, trying new foods, and checking out all that Greenville has to offer.