When we walked into Tavola, at first glance it didn’t feel Italian.
With its high ceilings, backlit wine displays and tall windows looking out toward Interstate 385, my first impression left me with a shoulder shrug. Then the aromas of the open kitchen found me, as did warm focaccia studded with garlic cloves and served with a savory gremolata, and all was forgiven.
Tavola — Italian for table — has been open for two months at BridgeWay Station and I’m not the guy to rush to the new place and proclaim it anything but new. Tavola is a Table 301 venue, and I know chef Beau Owens fairly well. Both he and Table 301 are highly organized, competent and disciplined.
Tavola’s menu sounds like a greatest-hits album of familiar Italian food: hand-pulled mozzarella, meatballs with pomodoro sauce, arancini, chicken Parmesan, pasta fra diavolo, and panzanella salad. At Tavola, those well-known dishes are given the respect they deserve and are prepared with exceptional ingredients by caring, skilled hands. Surely Owens has spent time in Italy.
“I haven’t been to Italy yet,” he said. “However, I do understand what it takes to create a memorable dish.”
That much is certain. Owens has been executive chef of The Lazy Goat since 2019, and he spent his first day as part of the Table 301 team with me. At the time I was Table 301’s special events chef at The Loft and that evening’s menu required corn soup. Owens asked if there was a specific recipe for that soup and there was not.
“Mind if I improvise?” he asked.
“No sir,” I said. “Go for it.”
His soup was heavenly — luxuriously smooth and redolent of corn and heavy cream — yet there was only corn and a touch of butter, not a single ounce of cream.
At Tavola, his confidence shows up in small cubes of lamb — skewered, grilled and served over a lush rosemary aioli — and in a chivalade sausage that’s made there. Chivalade is ground pork fortified with Parmesan, garlic, basil and parsley and stuffed into a lamb casing, which gives it a softer bite. Our chivalade was served with a glass of nebbiolo and a few bites of that garlic focaccia and at that point, did it matter who had or had not cooked in Italy?
“This was the first restaurant I was a part of from conception to opening, and that experience was priceless,” Owens said. “We spent a lot of time doing tastings with the 301 executive team. We make our pastas daily, likewise our sauces, the focaccia, and we even make a limoncello that we offer up at the end of dinner.”
At Tavola, the staff clicks, the food is exceptional and the overall experience is Italian enough to make you momentarily forget you’re in Mauldin, a stone’s throw from 385.
Tavola is located at 620 Bridgeway Blvd. and is open Tuesdays through Sundays for dinner.
“City Juice” is a colloquial term for a glass of tap water served at a diner. John Malik is a restaurant coach and hospitality consultant. He can be reached at [email protected].
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