A collection of downtown Greenville restaurants and chefs hosted a lunch for the construction crew working on the renovation of Church Street Bridge, which concludes this week.
The lunch was organized by John Malik, an accomplished chef and regular contributor to the Greenville Journal via his City Juice column.
Malik started planning the event in late February. He appreciated the work going into the bridge and wanted to do something for the workers. He was able to connect with several restaurants who wanted to contribute food, drinks and space.
The restaurants participating included:
- Yee Haw Brewing Co.
- Scoundrel
- Sum Bar
- DeMarco’s
- Comal 864
- Grand Bohemian Lodge Greenville
- Camilla Kitchen
- Camp
- Belladina’s
- Little Secret
- Larkin’s
- Soby’s
- Stir
- AC Hotel
- Greektown Grille
Malik said he was walking under the bridge one Sunday and saw a sheet with crew phone numbers on it. He called the superintendent, Nash Hale, and told him he wanted to write a story about their time in Greenville, in addition to serving them a meal.
“I introduced myself on the phone and he goes, ‘Wait you want to write about me? Nobody writes about the construction superintendent,'” Malik said.
Hale told him how the crew had been mistreated in other states. People yelled foul things, flipped them off and even threw beer cans. They received a completely different reception in Greenville.
“He said, ‘This town just hits different,'” Malik said. “And so that’s why I did it because we’re that kind of town that would throw a complimentary lunch for the crew that made this beautiful bridge.”
Hale and his team of 35 have worked on the bridge for more than a year. Hale estimated that since the crew began repairs, they worked about 65,000 hours with zero reported incidents.
A grand reopening of the bridge is planned for June 15.
