Co-Working Space in Downtown Charleston, SC

Indaco, the much-anticipated, Charleston-based Italian restaurant from the group behind O-Ku on Howell Mill Road and Oak Steakhouse in Alpharetta, opens Friday, October 6, at the 725 Ponce complex on the Eastside Beltline.

Located in the same complex as Kroger near Ponce City Market, Indaco is known for its wood-fired pizzas and protein dishes and pastas like bucatini tossed with blue crab or mezzalune stuffed with sweet potato puree. Expect an emphasis on Italian wines, along with classic cocktails, including a take on the Aperol spritz in the La Firma and the Beltline Negroni made with reposado tequila, Hoodoo Chicory, sweet vermouth, Campari, cacao, and mole bitters.

With seating for up to 130 people in the dining room, with banquettes punctuating the center of the room, and a large outdoor seating area offering covered and non-covered dining, Indaco brings the breezy aesthetic of the Amalfi Coast to the Eastside trail. A bocce ball court at the restaurant also features seating nearby.

“Our large outdoor patio space sitting just above the Beltline was a huge draw for us,” says Indigo Road Hospitality Group founder Steve Palmer of opening at 725 Ponce. “The location really lends itself to our cuisine and culture at Indaco. We want to make it fun and approachable for all, which is very much in the spirit of the Beltline.”

When it comes to food, Palmer says the Beltline location features some of the Charleston restaurant’s greatest hits. But other dishes cater specifically to the Atlanta crowd, such as the semolina fritters topped with caviar and a tuna and n’duja tostare.

He’s also excited to feature local and regional meats and seafood on the menu. This includes a whole hog butchery program from Riverview Farms in Ranger, Georgia. The whole-animal approach to meat dishes at Indaco is seen in the pork salami toscano using off-cuts of pork served with house-made pickles and semolina crackers and the duck agnolotti en brodo.

“It’s another good example of how we utilize all parts of the animal with using the meat in the filling and bones in the broth,” says Palmer of the duck agnolotti. “It’s also a great example of our how we blend Southern and Italian cuisines, since it’s our play on tortellini and brodo.”

For pizzas, Palmer is particularly fond of the roasted mushroom pizza baked in a wood-fire oven, considered the focal point of the restaurant’s open kitchen. There’s even a chefs choice option for the table ($55 per person), which comes with three courses served family style. Meals should end with a square of rich tiramisu or desserts sporting seasonal produce and flavors, like the apple crostata with spiced Chantilly cream.

It’s important to Palmer to make Indaco part of the communities surrounding the Beltline in the Old Fourth Ward and Poncey-Highland neighborhoods, including eventually offering grab-and-go food for people strolling the trail, working nearby, or simply looking to pick something up on their way home. Brunch and lunch are expected to begin in the coming weeks, as well as a menu of food and drink options exclusive to the patio and outdoor seating areas at Indaco.

“I love that we’re able to offer different experiences to different guests, whether they’re coming in off the Beltline looking for a quick pizza and glass of wine or have made a reservation for a special occasion,” he says.

Check out the dinner and dessert menus for Indaco Atlanta below:

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COFFEE COFFEE

WINE WINE

ESPRESSO - 3

DOPPIO ESPRESSO - 6

AMERICANO - 4

LATTE - 5

CAPPUCCINO - 5

FRENCH PRESS - 4

MICHELE CHIARLO - 14

Moscato D’asti, Piedmont 2021

DONNA FUGATA

“BEN RYÉ” – 16

Passito Di Pantelleria, 2021

MARENCO “PINETO” – 14

Brachetto d’Acqui,

Piedmont 2021

GIULIO COCCHI – 15

Barolo Chinato, Piedmont NV

BADIA COLTIBUONO – 19

Vin Santo, Chianti 2014

MICHELE CHIARLO - 14

Moscato D’asti, Piedmont 2021

DONNA FUGATA

“BEN RYÉ” – 16

Passito Di Pantelleria, 2021

MARENCO “PINETO” – 14

Brachetto d’Acqui,

Piedmont 2021

GIULIO COCCHI – 15

Barolo Chinato, Piedmont NV

BADIA COLTIBUONO – 19

Vin Santo, Chianti 2014

TIRAMISU – 13

ganache,

coffee-soaked lady fingers,

mascarpone cream,

coffee chocolate sauce

Apple crostata – 14

apple butter, caramelized

apples, spiced chantilly

TIRAMISU – 13

ganache,

coffee-soaked lady fingers,

mascarpone cream,

coffee chocolate sauce

Apple crostata – 14

apple butter, caramelized

apples, spiced chantilly

ZEPPOLE – 12

meyer lemon curd

dark chocolate

budino – 12

hazelnut whipped crème

fraîche, hazelnut crumble

Affogato – 10

single espresso, soft serve,

pistachio orange biscotti

ZEPPOLE – 12

meyer lemon curd

dark chocolate

budino – 12

hazelnut whipped crème

fraîche, hazelnut crumble

Affogato – 10

single espresso, soft serve,

pistachio orange biscotti

SALTED CARAMEL – 9

Italian butter

cookie crumble

SALTED CARAMEL – 9

Italian butter

cookie crumble

AMARO MONTENEGRO – 9

pistachio orange

biscotti crumble

AMARO MONTENEGRO – 9

pistachio orange

biscotti crumble

AFTER DINNER AFTER DINNER

DESSERT DESSERT

SOFT SERVE SOFT SERVE

ESPRESSO - 3

DOPPIO ESPRESSO - 6

AMERICANO - 4

LATTE - 5

CAPPUCCINO - 5

FRENCH PRESS - 4

Loading Indaco_ATL_Dessert_Menu_09.18.23_1_.pdf. Page 1 of 1

Open Sunday - Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

725 Ponce De Leon Avenue, Atlanta. indacorestaurant.com.

The first development approved on Johns Island off of Rivers Road is intended for affordable housing.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals approved the removal of 21 grand trees Wednesday to make room for affordable housing, a school district building and another fast-food restaurant.

The first development approved on Johns Island off of River Road is intended for affordable housing.

Owned by the city, they viewed the property as an optimal location to add additional affordable housing units in the Charleston area.

The board approved the developers to remove 14 grand trees, with one engineer on the project saying it was a team effort to get this project completed.

“The board’s condition of trying to preserve those interior trees is not a surprise; it was, it is, our goal moving forward, but we do have some stringent stormwater measures to hit,” one engineer said.

“We will certainly work on trying to manipulate that area and still get the storage that we need for stormwater, while also preserving what could be a really cool kind of interior courtyard area,” another engineer said.

Also on Johns Island off of River Road, the next development approved is for the Charleston County School District to use.

The site was originally approved months ago, but due to construction setbacks and wetlands growing, the developers now need to remove five grand trees.

One engineer on the project says the updated plan is the best option to remove the least number of trees possible.

“We were finding that in addition to missing the amount of trees that we could miss, but we are also providing a road that’s actually serviceable, and drainable for the particular project that we have,” one engineer on the development says.

The last development voted on by the board is the Chick-fil-A in West Ashley with the removal of two grand trees.

The restaurant is typically backed up, so they are looking to add a third drive-thru lane with hopes of eliminating traffic in the area.

“We are in support of a two-lane entry going into the three lanes so that we can still have as much stacking in the ordering as possible to eliminate any traffic onto Savannah Highway,” Project Engineer Trina Dae says.

The next meeting for the Board of Zoning Appeals – Site Design will be Nov. 4.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

We are a pastor, a rabbi and an atheist who love working together. We know it sounds like we should be walking into a bar at the beginning of a joke, but in fact, we’ve been walking into meetings of the Charleston County School District’s Health Advisory Committee for years. Until recently, our work was uneventful. After the school board removed us on Sept. 25, many had questions about who we are and what we do.

We cannot say why we were removed. We don’t know. At the writing of this column, we have yet to hear from the board. We learned of our removal by watching the meeting along with everyone else. As we did, we were struck by the difference between the way the current school board is operating, rushing 5-4 votes through after closed-door sessions, and the way our committee has worked collaboratively and transparently for years.

The Health Advisory Committee’s mandate is to carefully review health curricula and then make recommendations to the board. The committee is an example of how the school district can function when we gather around the table with trust in each other and mutual respect for our diversity. Committee members are parents, students, teachers, medical professionals and clergy. While we are different from each other, we share a common ethic of working together for public education. We have been doing this work for years, quietly going page by page through different curricula and recommending the most comprehensive, medically accurate materials.

We have done this work without factions, politics or hidden agendas. Instead, we have worked as a unified group by listening to each other, deliberating, working through problems, checking and double-checking law and policy, and even laughing together at the end of long meetings. In short, we have worked across the lines of our differences to find consensus and provide the best resources available to our district.

We must underscore that, in contrast to the school board, our committee meetings have been entirely open to the public. Our conversations have been respectful and inclusive of all our committee members. Our work has been done with care, and all of our recommendations were accepted by the previous board.

We believe that the strength in our Health Advisory Committee lies in its diversity. We gather with many different life experiences and perspectives, and each of us brings something unique to the table. We benefit from the rich pluralism in the school district. When a pastor, a rabbi and an atheist work together, we mirror what goes on in our schools every day. Teachers, students and parents of all backgrounds gather to support their local schools, cheer for athletic teams, load up the band instruments, stay late for tutoring sessions and volunteer to make our schools work for everyone. We are willing to work together with the goal of high-quality public education for all our kids.

We ask the board to publicly reaffirm its commitment to pluralism. Removing and replacing Health Advisory Committee members with a less diverse slate diminishes our work. Doing so with the narrowest 5-4 margin, and with no explanation given, is an affront to the ideas of respect, collegiality and consensus-building that we should model for our kids. Our district deserves better.

We call on the board to restore the committee and answer the question on the minds of this pastor rabbi, and atheist: Is this a district where we will continue to value pluralism, or is it now a place where a few pull strings behind the scenes and push the rest of us aside?

The Rev. Jeremy Rutledge is the senior pastor at Circular Congregational Church. Rabbi Greg Kanter is associate rabbi at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. Bonnie Cleaveland is the S.C. director for American Atheists.

Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston County School District parents and grandparents who rely on the school bus to bring their children to and from school every day say they are fed up.

They claim buses are consistently late and want the district to take more accountability. Whether it’s to pick up or drop off, parents say buses have been around an hour late, sometimes more.

They say it’s frustrating and inconvenient, but it’s also concerning that their students may be missing time in the classroom.

Some have turned to teaming up with the other parents and grandparents in their neighborhood to carpool and get the kids to school when they just can’t wait any longer for the bus.

Charleston County School District’s website has a transportation complaint form they want people to fill out so they can investigate and address concerns, but John Brown says that is not good enough.

“That is ridiculous and as asinine as you can get,” school district grandparent Rev. John Paul Brown said. “What if I’m a person that doesn’t have Wi-Fi or email because I choose not to. And who gets it anyway, and when do they respond? They give you the email system so that they don’t have to deal with you.”

Parents explain that when they try to report the issue, the district gives them the runaround.

“I know I’ve reached out to the district, and they’ve told me there aren’t any problems, and as a parent who is having problems, I beg to differ,” parent Joy Brown said. “So, it is very frustrating.”

In a statement, the district’s Executive Director of Student Transportation James Lynch said:

At this time, 93% of our routes have assigned drivers. The remaining open routes are covered through double runs. First Student advertises and recruits daily to fill driver vacancies. Starting pay for bus drivers is $21.75 per hour with paid training, retention incentives, and benefits. We are hopeful that driver staffing will improve in the near future.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Bar Tab is a recurring column in The Post and Courier Food section that highlights a locally made or sold adult beverage.

The owners of James Island’s Kwei Fei have a new project downtown, and Beautiful South is serving up elevated Southern Chinese food and a topnotch cocktail program to boot.

Beverage manager Lily Cantral comes from The Ordinary and FIG, and her time at these establishments shows with eight drinks that simply wow on Beautiful South’s menu.

Most pay homage to ingredients prominent in Asian cuisine, many of which are also used in the kitchen to make dishes like the sweet and sour pork, Lo Mein and scallion-oil noodle.

There are a few showstoppers on the cocktail menu, the first of which is the Beautiful South Martini, made with sesame gin, Fino sherry, vermouth, MSG and salt. The flavors collide in a briny but nutty luxuriant mixture that exudes enticing aromatics, one common denominator between all the cocktails on the list.

“Aromatics are huge for me, and the nose of something tells me a lot of what I need to know about what I’m going to drink before I even taste it,” said Cantral. ”...I think adding the level of thought to the aromatics of a drink is really important, because it adds to the layered experience of enjoying a cocktail.”

As for the sesame martini, you can smell and taste the sesame. And it’s divine.

“It kind of strikes a balance somewhere between a dirty martini drinker and a classic martini drinker, but definitely very savory,” said Cantral, who spent months experimenting with drinks before solidifying the menu you’ll see now at Beautiful South.

Another highlight is the Jade Mountain, a nod to the marriage of tiki drinks with Chinese food. It’s basically a matcha colada, using a blend of rums and full-fat coconut milk as well as salted honey and, of course, pineapple.

The rums used include aged, white, overproof Jamaican and agricole, the latter of which provides a vegetal perspective. Altogether, the flavors complement each other seamlessly.

Presentation thrives with this next beverage I’ll mention, which Cantral said is the most popular of the bunch. It’s the Love Your Enemies, a tequila and mezcal clarified milk punch that she describes as a “labor of love.” The clarified milk punch, which includes lychee and oolong, takes days to create in a batch format.

But how it’s served is stunning. The crystal-clear punch is presented in a clear teacup over ice on a clear glass saucer.

“I thought it was visually fun and super striking,” said Cantral, who is correct.

It comes with a flower on top for a singular splash of color and a subtle sprinkle of cinnamon on the base. And this brand of mezcal shouldn’t turn away those typically averse; it’s milder and more sessionable than typical.

I can’t leave off the GT & B, either, the Gin & Tonic & Baijiu. Baijiu is a Chinese grain-based liquor (this one’s made from sorghum), and while it may just be the funkiest drink on the menu, it’s as refreshingly familiar as it is adventurous. The Baijiu provides a flavor profile that features orchard fruit, melon, grass and earth. Then the Nordic Aquavit provides spice-forward hints of caraway, anise, fennel and coriander.

“It’s a personal favorite,” said Cantral, who noted that every drink she made was with the mind to support and enhance the food being served. I recommend a true dinner out for proper pairing.

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