Wow, it was hard not to put Sidewall Pizza on this list, but its sister cocktail bar Rocket Surgery is stratospherically good. Now under the helm of chef Stephen Musolf, this modern mixer in tiny downtown Travelers Rest is a gourmand’s ideal hangout. The cocktails are consistent, and apps, features, and brunch (get the cinnamon sugar bacon maple donut holes) are photo-worthy time and time again. The nondescript building and barely-there signage only add to what’s inside.

The renowned coffee roaster is now at Hampton Station, a former textile warehouse complex in the burgeoning Water Tower District and adjacent to the bicycle-loving Swamp Rabbit Trail. Due South amped it up adding chef Adam Cooke, formerly of Blackberry Farm and others; a mostly plant-based menu is a stand-out, with bowls and toasts aplenty, housemade ice cream, brunch and pop-up monthly dinners. Everything at adorable Hampton Station is worth a stop including Birds Fly South Ale Project, White Duck Taco Shop, and a Sunday Farmers Market, weather permitting.

Greenville’s original growler stop is possibly the best beer and wine by-the-cup bar in the Upstate. Local owners, omnipresent, make for an informed experience and the surrounding neighborhood of North Main is apt in a way that makes you want to house hunt. This is Greenville’s best food truck stop including the ever-fantastic Thoroughfare, mentioned in all sorts of national publications.

The reuse of this 1934 Feed & Seed Building is astonishing and put Midtown Greenville on the map when it opened not quite two years ago. Better still, the diversity of the staff at Willy Taco and its funked-up vibe and blown-out interiors (by notable restaurant designer Sandra Cannon) are only matched by the twisted imaginings of SC chef ambassador William Cribb. The best margarita in town is here and bring the pup on the comfortable covered patio and deck.

Lunch is served nearly everyday and dinner is offered on Saturdays, but Aryana is a gem of a stop on Coffee Street and worth scheduling a trip around. For $10, visitors receive the menu of the day, which includes two proteins, two starches, and two vegetables along with pita. Proprietor Nelo Mayar, who is warm and lovely, believes in breaking down whole foods and teaching young people to cook and serve to her standards. Aryana is the place to eat in GVL for vegetarians and vegans, as every vegetable dish is independently sauced.

Greenville swooned when The Anchorage got a James Beard nomination last year and for good reason. Chef Greg McPhee’s treatment of Southern ingredients feels direct and relevant in the succinct interiors of his West Village eatery. The cocktails are the perfect mate to a delightfully restrained wine and beer list and patrons will find themselves toggling between the drinks as half-plates arrive one after the next. McPhee’s love of seasonal vegetables is apparent and protein cuts are sauced with clean, acid-leaning flavors

Chef Alex George is a darling of the Village of West Greenville scene with three family-owned businesses: Carol’s Ice Cream, The Village Grind coffee shop (his sister Lindsey’s), and the flagship eatery: Golden, Brown & Delicious, known locally as GB&D. The once lunch-only modern diner is in full swing with dinner service. Greenville’s most celebrated burger is often available lunch and dinner, but the daily ramen, bibimbap, or mac n cheese variation is return worthy. A much anticipated bar with its own food menu opens early 2019.

This second story restaurant, bar, and terrace is a beautiful place to dine or sip in the heart of downtown GVL overlooking both Main Street and Falls Park. Chef Michael Kramer is a pasta-extruding dynamo and the 360-degree oyster bar is a place where pretty people hang late afternoon and throughout the night. A honeyed whipped ricotta with toast is a quiet standout on the menu as well as braised dishes.

The Skittles commercial “taste the rainbow” will ring through your head while at 8th State Brewery, located in the basement of the original Greenville Claussen’s Bakery Plant. Is it beer, ale, juice, sours or some type of pumped up smoothie? Who knows, but count this unabashed lab experiment delicious. Beer arrives in shades of natural red, orange, yellow and green. And, blue? Yep, that too. Local bands play on weekends and bar snacks arrive savory in all the right ways.