Restaurants in Easley

At Zarza Eclectic Cuisine, co-owner Jose Landa commits to “giving people an experience … Something that can't be found anywhere else in Spartanburg,” as he told GoUpstate.com in 2011. Under his supervision, nimble chefs do just that, melding culinary influences from South America, western Europe, and the Mediterranean into menus of pan-regional fusion cuisine. In addition to baking saffron-scented pans of paella, they also grill Argentinean chorizo and slow-cook legs of lamb in blackberry wine and herbs. An in-house Argentinean butcher personally fillets fish and carves steaks from grass-fed, Angus-certified beef.

Bordered by an exposed brick wall, the 120-seat dining room occasionally hosts live music performances, which can entertain diners as they try to differentiate their salad fork from their tuning fork.

Diners gather at Pier 221 Seafood Restaurant for an abundance of fresh seafood prepared in myriad ways. The broiler sizzles up everything from fork-tender salmon steaks and juicy scallops to 10-ounce cuts of rib eye served alongside a school of jumbo shrimp. Kids and adults talk across the table with mouths full of fried whole catfish, deviled crab, or the children’s menu’s chicken tenders. Fish platters appease ampler appetites with a cornucopia stuffed with flounder and crab meat, and hefty sandwiches and lunch dishes vanquish midday cravings like a fire hose extinguishing a single match.

The chefs at Harbor Inn Seafood cast a wide net across America’s vast waters, hauling up recipes for seafood standbys ranging from river-dwelling catfish to Atlantic denizens such as scallops and crab. Undersea eats arrive fried and boiled, taking their place at the table with terrestrial delicacies including juicy cuts of prime rib and filet mignon.

For the past decade, Blue Sky Café owners Julianna and Mark Pletcher have continually added to a menu nearly as big and cheery as the restaurant’s namesake. Cooks are proud of their hefty, hand-formed burgers and their chicken—each served in a dazzling array of preparations—but there are just as many health-conscious wraps and salads and vegetarian and vegan dishes. A recent development is a creative, sweet-and savory brunch service, where cheese and garlic turn grits into a bowlful of decadence, prosciutto and parmesan put the Sicilian in a Sicilian frittata, and the kitchen’s all-day love of sandwiches is transposed into the Figgy-Honey: two slices of raisin-cinnamon toast clasping cinnamon goat cheese, honey, and fig preserves.

Kids get their own, more-flexible-than-usual menu, though they’ll have to weigh whether to dig in or finish what they’ve been drawing with provided crayons on the paper placemats. A further draw for tots is the playhouse that stands on an oasis of a patio, whose tall wooden fence encloses hanging lanterns, huge umbrellas, and plants trailing from every wall as they toward their goal of trying the sweet-potato fries everybody keeps talking about.

With more than 30 years of dough-kneading experience, the chefs at Iannucci's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant have crafted a menu of time-tested, authentic Italian food and pizzas. Choices such as eggplant and hamburger top Iannucci's housemade dough and sauce, allowing pie lovers to build a large 16 inch or Sicilian style to their liking or to look like them. For dinner, pasta fans can quell hunger tides with the baked ziti a la joi or satiate carnivorous cravings with the veal parmigiana, each chaperoned by the pizzeria's signature breadsticks. When the time comes to celebrate a birthday, reunion, or AVP: Alien vs. Predator anniversary, patrons can ogle the catering menu to spice up the shindig with a tray of meatballs or italian sausages, meat or spinach lasagna, or a large greek, italian, or house salad.

Hannah Flanagan’s captures the welcoming the welcoming camaraderie of the Emerald Isle in its menu of hearty pub staples and more than 100 bottled and draft brews. While glasses clink to the sound of rousing cheers, fresh, local ingredients transform into Irish favorites including bangers and mash, Reubens piled high with corned beef, and mushroom-laced pot roast. Flanagan's also puts forth a seasonal menu of weather-matching fare, gracing tables with country-fried steak in the winter and sautéed kites in the spring.