Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

This little stripmall storefront on Platt Springs Road has apparently been a number of restaurants over the years.

I'm guessing Jilanos was the last as I can't find TK's Pizza in the phonebook, and when I enhance that blank sign and turn it around, I get the Jilanos marquee:

Well, it appears that Pop's NY Pizza on Harden Street is no more. However, it also appears that this was more a re-flagging than a complete reboot as the new operation just switches out the first word to become Liberty's NY Pizza.

In either case, I've never been enthralled with the New York style of pizza, so I never got around to Pop's and though I wish them luck, probably won't to Liberty's either.

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I first knew this place as Al Amir.

After that closed, a bar called Stingers set up shop, and I totally missed the fact that it had closed until *its* follow-on operation, Marinoni's had also closed.

Actually it may not be strictly accurate to say that Stingers closed. According to this Free Times story, the same owner ran both restaurants, so it's more accurate to say that Stingers transitioned into Marinoni's. Unfortunately, I never got to either, and I have to say the pizza described in The Free Times sounds really good.

IrmoJeff had a bit more to say about Stingers here.

(Hat tips to commenters IrmoJeff & Jonathan)

I mentioned in my closing for New York Butcher Shoppe & Grille that my visit to take those pictures was only my second to Lake Carolina.

My first vist was actually some years earlier, probably in 2008, when I read a review for a new pizzeria. I suspect it was in the Free Times, but could have been in The State's "Weekend" section. At any rate, it was an excellent review, and I resolved to check it out though I had no idea in the world where Lake Carolina Way was.

My difficulty was somewhat compounded by trying to make the visit well after dark, but I finally found my way in. I have to admit that given the trouble I had getting there, I was seriously underwhelmed by the actual pizza experience. I forget exactly what put me off, but I *think* it was one of those places where they didn't have anything smaller than a 14" pie, and I ended up having to order a calzone, which was mediocre. At any rate, though the details are a bit fuzzy now, I was never tempted to go back, and the place had a very brief run, opening in 2008 and apparently closing in 2009.

For some reason I did not think to get a good picture of the new tenant without obstructing trees, but it is currently Tasty China.

Zeus Pizza was the follow-on operation to Tony's Pizza in Parkland Plaza, using in fact a good bit of the same signage and interior setup.

As you can see from these pictures, the restaurant was a long narrow space. I think it might have benefited from more window tables, but the one time I ate there, I found it pleasant enough. As I recall, I had the stuffed shells with garlic bread, and it was perfectly fine. At that time, the restaurant had a cloth sign for "Zeus" hung over the "Tony's" lettering, as you can see in commenter Andrew's photos at the Tony's link above. I presume that if they had made it over the initial hump, they would have eventually gotten permanent letters over the marquee.

I'm not exactly sure when they closed -- The April issue of Skirt magazine is still in the inside rack, but that may be bi-monthly. I'm going to say it was probably at the end of May giving them about an 8 or 9 month run.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

UPDATE 1 August 2012: Zeus is open again. See the comments for details, but here is the website.

UPDATE 4 October 2012: As mentioned in the comments, Zeus is unfortunately closed again:

I never went to Bove as my impression of it was always that it was too tony a spot for me to be a regular. It was the type of place that had named chefs and a deep wine selection.

Some time last year, it occurred to me that I never saw any cars there, and I stopped to take a look. There was no indication whatsoever that the place was closed, in fact there was what seemed to be a unique-for-the-day menu posted on the door and all the fixtures were in place. However, that menu never changed, and now that I was paying attention, there were no cars ever.

Bove was on US-17 in Pawleys Island, just north of the Sonic and south of the new Fresh Market. A few miles north on 17 in Litchfield Beach is an office complex and small mall called The Exchange.

My memory is that The Exchange was built in the late 1970s or early 1980s as a very upscale place. I particularly remember that on the north side of the gallery, just above where the tourism office now is (if indeed *that* is still there..) there was a specialty cheese shop, with all sorts of exotic cheeses that you could not (then) find in a typical grocery. There were also jewelers and upscale clothing botiques as well as some art galleries. Well -- it was simply a place that the Grand Strand was not ready for. First, I doubt they truly realized how seasonal the market was -- just because things looked good in June and July didn't mean that you would see customer-one in October, and second, that's not the kind of crowd that came to the beach in those days. Certainly now there are a bunch of well off retirees, but people toting a load of kids to the beach and Pavilion weren't going to have the time or inclination to peruse fancy cheeses -- essentially what happened is that every original tenant went bust over a very short period of time.

The second incarnation of the place was as an art mall. There were several galleries, one of which was very good and stayed many years and others which came and went. There were also spaces for painting classes and exibits and a couple of artist studios.

During this phase one of the long term tenants, The Coffee & Chocolate House opened. I never could understand how they subsisted on the meager foot traffic, but finally decided that mostly the place was a work area for their catering which seemed to carry them (and as far as I know they are still there).

The other long term non-art tenant was Pastaria 811. They were in a back slot which had originally (during the inital incarnation of The Exchange) been some sort of deli, and were a very good Italian restaurant. In fact, I would say they have the best bread on the Grand Strand, and one of the best pizzas in South Carolina (curiously, the other best pizza in SC is now less than a mile removed). In addition, the salads and pasta dishes like "stuffed shells" were quite good as well.

I should probably have tried to cut down the number of pictures of the place that are below after the break, but I'm a little sentimental about it as I ate there with both my mother and father.

As the years passed I ate there less frequently because my hours gradually shifted to the point I would go out to lunch at 3:00, and the Pastaria is one of those places that closes between lunch (ends at 2:30) and dinner (starts at 4:00), but still I would catch pizza there every now and then.

A year or two ago they did a major expansion, opening a new dining room area in what had been part of the Chocolate & Coffee House space (in the meantime, the good art gallery had moved in with the Coffee house), so I was very surprised, after they went to that expense, to hear that they were moving. I can only figure that 1) The Exchange was continuing to implode and they feared for its future stability and 2) The opportunity to get a building directly on US-17 that was already outfitted as a restaurant was too good a deal to pass up.

At any rate, they started moving into the old Bove space in January, and are now up and running. I went by recently, and the bread, stuffed shells and pizza are just as good from the new kitchen as the old.

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Tony O's Pizza is the follow-on operation to Steak Out, in a little building next to the Waffle House (and in front of Cussin' Bill's) just west of the I-26/Saint Andrews Road interchange.

I had noticed some time late last year that it was a Friday or Saturday night, prime pizza time, and the place didn't seem to be open. I wasn't totally sure as it was rather late. Even stopping by didn't settle matters, since as far as I could tell, everything inside was ready-to-go and there was no posted sign. The fact that the door was chain locked seemed unusual, but not conclusive.

Finally I stopped by one night and there was a sign on the door indicating an emergency and that the place would re-open in early March. I certainly hope everybody is OK, but it seems clear now that at the least, the place is closed for an extended period (though the sign is now gone).

UPDATE 19 May 2012 -- As commenter Andrew notes, the signs for Tony O's have now been taken off the building, so I'm taking "temporary?" off the post title:

UPDATE 23 June 2012 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is to be another Nick's, and the "coming soon" sign is already up:

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- Work continues on Nick's:

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While I was out and about today, I noticed some guys apparently hanging a new banner that said Zeus Pizza on the marquee of Tony's Pizza at Parkland Plaza. When I got back by after making a few other stops, it appeared that perhaps I was wrong and they were taking it down, or they needed some more tools to make it stick. Either way, it's clear from looking at the signs in the store windows that the name change is official. I drove down the street to the Tony's near 12th Street, and there is no indication of any change there, so I guess just this location has changed ownership. (The Parkland Plaza roadside sign still lists Dollar Discount as well as Tony's).

The door sign namechecks Columbia's Greek Festival. I certainly took the opportunity to stop by this weekend and have some Baklava and Galaktoboureko!

(Hat tip to commenter Tonkatoy, sort of)

UPDATE 30 September 2011 -- Commenter Andrew sends these two pictures of the new Zeus banner I saw now being successfully installed: