Restaurants in Greenville

Curries spicy and mild douse simmering dishes at Dales Indian Cuisine, whose authentic menu aims to honor Indian culinary traditions. Juicy morsels of lamb, shrimp, and chicken marinate in spices such as ginger and coriander before heat from a tandoori-style clay oven seals in their savory flavors. Warm naan soaks up juices from vegetarian specialty dishes, with all-natural ingredients free of additives, preservatives, or distracting ads for New Coke.

• For $10, you get $20 worth of dining. • For $19, you get $40 worth of dining for a table of four or more. • For $15, you get a family take-out dinner with ribs for three (a $27.99 value).

Bakers at zpizza toss up fresh dough and organic ingredients daily to create a menu of toothsome trattoria favorites and a plethora of pizzas, many with options that keep vegans and the gluten-shy in the crusty, bubbly loop. Layer a dough foundation with organic tomato sauce, vegan or skim mozzarella from grass-fed cows, additive-free sausage and meatballs, and other select toppings to create your own appetizing architecture ($7.25+). Chicken, cilantro, and sweet corn baste in tangy sauce on a large ZBQ pizza ($19.95), and rustica pizzas ($8.95 each) proffer atypical combinations such as the Moroccan's pesto-smothered mix of roasted eggplant, caramelized onion, and pine nuts. A range of sandwiches and calzones ($6.95), pastas ($7.50), and large salads ($8.50–$8.95) round out zpizza's offerings, filling midsections with semicircular, tubular, and geometrically undefined edibles. Patrons can enjoy their food on zpizza's outdoor patio, located next to a serene water fountain, and catch live music on select days.

Café Tiramisu continues the culinary legacy of the DeMartino family, who ran the revered eatery Piccolo Mondo for nearly 20 years. As his sons handle Café Tiramisu’s business end, patriarch Paul DeMartino focuses on the grill, preparing a menu of antipasto, homemade pastas, and sumptuous entrees inspired by the cookery of Northern Italy. Steaming dishes make their way into the dining room, where wall-mounted lamps cast a soft light upon white-clothed tables and the bar's impressive selection of red and white wines, served by the bottle, glass, or the cupped hands of an overeager dinner companion.

According to a 2009 Newsobserver.com profile, Backyard Bistro knows a thing or two about ribs. To create this St. Louis–style specialty, the Bistro encrusts the pork in a dry spice rub and leaves it to bask in heat and hickory smoke for three hours. They then wrap each rack in aluminum foil with a splash of apple juice, returning them to the smoker for another four hours before charring them on the grill under a glaze of tangy or sweet barbecue sauce. The Bistro also stokes up the smoker to tenderize the dry-rubbed pork shoulder––another specialty––for 12 whole hours, while slices of juicy beef brisket await to be smothered between hefty slabs of white bread and saddled next to sides such as crisp coleslaw, Mama T's potato salad, and baked beans. Both the regular menu of barbecue and American comfort food and the straightforward Sunday brunch represent the efforts of several local businesses. Brioche rolls for burgers and english muffins for benedicts are sourced from La Farm Bakery, then crowned with poached eggs and canadian bacon. The bar's 16 taps pour Bud Light and Belgian-style Backyard Brew, the locally brewed house draft, to cool meals taken out on the patio or into a neighbor's hot tub, while inside it's all about sports. Five big-screen TVs broadcast every play in high definition, and speakers at each table give diners the option of turning down the volume if they'd rather tune out.

North Ridge Pub's casual kitchen whips up varied dinner and brunch menus of upscale pub grub. Meat minders take the Cameron steak's 9-ounce lean cut of beef ($13.95) for a dip in a soy-and-pineapple pool before laying it out on the grill to roast, and coat tender slices of meatloaf ($8.95 half/$11.95 full) in a secret sauce whose taste can only be deciphered with the help of a decoder ring. Savory sandwiches such as the Carolina shrimp burger ($7.95) and crab-cake sandwich ($7.95) warm hands as well as stomachs.