If you’re looking for a new casual place to eat in Spartanburg, The Silo might be right up your alley. The brains behind RJ Rockers and HenHouse Brunch combined forces to bring us an eclectic menu of shareable plates with a slight Cajun flair. Like a lot of people, you may be wondering how you get there: you can enter through RJ Rockers or through the main entrance from the Cribbs/Silo parking lot (pictured below). Parking can be found all around, but your best bets are probably the QS1 lot and the lot down the hill behind The Silo after 5pm.
All over the new Spartanburg restaurant are indications of a lifelong love of beer. There is a fabulous beer can collection room, with a garage-door type window that will be great when the weather is consistently warm. The walls are adorned with the most extensive beer can collection I’ve certainly seen, and checking them out is a super fun way to pass the time with friends. (This room does have chairs now!!)
You’ll also find a beer bottle wall on the way to the bathrooms, whose ceilings are decked with old beer crates and scrabble letters. I also love the garage door that pays homage to the buildings original purpose: Dodge.
The bar is long and inviting, a great place to wind down at the end of a long day. You’ll find all your favorite RJ Rockers beer on tap, plus some specialties like home brewed ginger beer. While your enjoying that cold beer, take a look at the first two sections of the menu for some smaller bites that are sure to please like the Smoked Trout Terrine – you need to like fishy things, but if you do, you’ll love this appetizer which comes topped with a fried trout tail (brings me back to my childhood memories of fishing and cooking with my dad!) If you want to try a little bit of everything, get The Chow Tray to share: you'll get mini biscuits and slices of tenderloin to make little sandwiches, slaw, fried oysters, deviled eggs and several other sides that are all inspired by beer.
If you’re with a group of friends, don’t be afraid to order several dishes to pass around! My favorites to share include the Chicken Not Pie, Upstate Poutine and Ancho Chili Chicken Wings. The Chicken Not Pie is a biscuit as big as your face, smothered with piping hot, creamy gravy filling from a chicken pot pie. This dish goes a long way! The Upstate Poutine has a lot of flavors going on between the blue pimento cheese (tangy), the Son of a Peach preserves (sweet), the bacon (salty), and finally the gravy with its onion-y goodness. Prepare to lick your fingers clean. The chicken wings have a great crunch on the outside while staying juicy on the inside, and the rub is sweet, smoky and a little bit spicy.
For a larger meal that you might not want to share, I’d head toward the Catfish & Chips, BBQ Biscuit, Crawfish and Collards, Crab Cakes or the Shrimp and Sweet Potatoes. (Can you tell I’ve already been here a few times??) The Catfish and Chips is a huge serving of hot, crispy catfish with fries on the side as well as some of the unique boiled peanut slaw, a pile of pickled radish, and the house made tartar sauce. You could eat the fish with your hands the way it holds together, and I like to take a bite with a little of the radish and tartar sauce. The boiled peanut and apple slaw is a must-try! I loved it, but the strong peanut flavor might not be for everyone. BBQ Biscuit – another enormous biscuit, this time covered in BBQ and served with your choice of sauces: Carolina Mustard, Kansas City, or Alabama White (or try all 3!).
Crawfish & Collards – surprisingly delicious with the crawfish and collards smothered in a creamy sauce. The star of this dish could have been the cornbread which had a crunch crust and was quite sweet, but use it to soak up some of that sauce…YUM. You may think crab cakes are a fairly standard dish, but you know when you get good ones – these are chock full of lump crab meat and served with a corn salsa that gives just the right amount of sweetness and crunch. And the Shrimp and Sweet Potatoes – what southerner doesn’t love shrimp and grits? Well get ready for this twist: cajun shrimp + crispy sweet potatoes over a corn risotto...delectable.
We’re not done yet, you haven’t had dessert. It’s a Pound Cake Flight! Three small pound cakes with seasonal toppings like strawberry, chili chocolate and blackberry. Get an order and pass these around at the end of the night to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth! (and see, THEY even pair well with a beer flight)
What I love: the casual, comfortable vibe, the unique, flavorful dishes, and that it all pairs perfectly with our local brews from RJ Rockers. As a new place to eat in Spartanburg, The Silo just fits right in.