Two of the 18 new tenants for The Commons Phase II project will feel familiar to fans of existing restaurant Golden Brown & Delicious, with nods to current menu favorites and one of the first dinner services held in 2016.
Noodle Night and Luna Pizzeria, the latest concepts from Golden Brown & Delicious co-owner and chef Alex George, will occupy two adjoining stalls in the newest section of the popular food hall in Unity Park. Planned for the northwest corner of the 30,000-square-foot warehouse, the restaurants will each occupy approximately 600 square feet.
The planned opening will coincide with the opening of the full Phase II unveiling, which is projected for February 2024, George said.
Both will operate with counter service. Luna Pizzeria will have an exterior wall with an approximately 10-seat outdoor bar overlooking the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail. Noodle Night’s bar will open to the interior common area. Each will have a dedicated grab-and-go cooler with handhelds and other pre-made dishes corresponding to the menus.
Unlike GB&D, the spaces will not include additional seating, but diners will have plenty of common area seating from which to choose.
The concepts and the menus will reflect George’s learnings from the last 3½ years in The Commons with one main goal — cutting down time customers spend in lines.
“Speed will be crucial for this next phase of The Commons,” he said.
A pass-through window will allow the two kitchens to share ingredients for collaborative menu items. Each will have its own staff and lead chef, all of whom will come from GB&D’s current kitchen crew, George said.
“We’re giving opportunities for people to grow with us and do the things they want to,” George said. “Having the ability to expand without it being nearly as stressful because we have teams and supports in place — we’re really lucky.”
Noodle Night
When GB&D first opened in 2016 as a lunch restaurant in the Village of West Greenville, George began testing the dinner service waters with what he dubbed “Noodle Night.” It began as a heavily ramen menu, drawing inspiration from the TV series “The Mind of a Chef” hosted by Anthony Bourdain, and specifically an episode with David Chang titled “Noodle.”
Eventually, Noodle Night became Monday night’s theme in GB&D’s new location at The Commons. Menus featured all manner of noodle dishes representing the culinary perspective of the full kitchen staff. As customer volume increased with the popularity of Unity Park, the ability to vary the menu diminished in order to meet demand. Noodle Night was put on pause.
Now, Noodle Night will have a permanent home and one of the more inclusive menus in Greenville. Based on customer requests and his own eating habits, George has created a menu that will cater to omnivores but with special consideration for vegan and gluten-free dietary preferences.
“Ramen is what I love so it will always be there, but we’ll expand on that,” George said.
The menu will allow customers to build their own noodle dishes, offering categories from which to choose the style of noodle, broth or sauce, vegetables, proteins and other elements. Staff-recommended composed dishes — such as jajangmyeon with noodles, black bean sauce, beef and snap peas — will range from ramen to carbonara, depending on what is fresh and local.
“I ate a lot of instant ramen,” George said of his formative years. “It’s an incredible expression of what comfort food is. It has versatility and the ability to carry anything.”
Bottom line: It’s fun and he wants customers to get creative with their builds.
Noodle Night offerings will also include bubble tea, a sake bar, vegan sushi, yakitori and banh mi-style sandwiches. While the menu skews heavily Asian-inspired because of the concept’s origin and how veggie-friendly various South Asian cuisines are, George says there’s no set style or parameters to limit his staff.
Luna Pizzeria
Those who know George personally or have paid attention to his menu designs and social media channels understand the love he has for his dogs.
Mars, a white and black-spotted pit rescue, has graced restaurant names and menus for several years, even after his passing. Luna, a beagle mix, is now the latest of his rescues to be memorialized in a restaurant name after her recent death.
GB&D has been making dough and firing pizzas for a few years but only on certain days. Now, New York-style pizza by the slice and other Italian-style specialties will be available every day.
Dough will continue to be made in-house but with better equipment — like a custom wood-fired oven — and better processes, George said.
In addition to classic and artisanal pizzas, guests can expect grinders, calzones, Italian sodas, an amaro-forward cocktail selection and house-made gelatos.
Next phase for GB&D
As for that collaborative pass-through window, Noodle Night will serve meatballs from the Luna Pizzeria menu with fresh spaghetti, while other doughs and sauces may be shared between the two.
What won’t necessarily be as obvious is the connection between the two new concepts and GB&D as George assumes the role of proprietor of all three. Part of the next stage includes a strategy for maintaining profit at GB&D while the new phase of restaurants gets established.
Counter service will remain at GB&D, but the dining room and bar area will eventually become full service Thursdays through Sundays — a return to George’s original, pre-COVID plan for the restaurant.
“I’ve learned from The Commons that it’s high energy and activity, and instead of trying to fight it, to build off of it,” he said. “We can make exciting food that’s not so fraught.”
