The Masters Week debut of The Proper Plate in downtown Aiken this week has been successful, but most of the diners have been local residents instead of visitors from other parts of the country and world.
“There have been a few [golf tourists], but a lot are regular people I’ve seen around town,” said the new restaurant’s co-owner, Greg Pierce, on Thursday. “Ninety-percent are probably locals.”
He also reported that that business had been “unbelievable” and “more than we thought it would be” at The Proper Plate, which opened Tuesday.
“The response has been overwhelmingly supportive for this concept,” Pierce said. “There is nothing like it around town anymore like there used to be."
The Proper Plate is offering “nothing fancy, just good country cooking,” he added.
A meal of one meat, two sides and one kind of bread costs $14, and additional sides are $3 each.
The meats include fried chicken, rotisserie chicken, fried pork chops, hamburger steak, pot roast and chicken livers.
Among the sides are creamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, lima beans, green peas and rice and gravy.
The bread options are buttermilk biscuits, jalapeño cornbread and sweet bread.
Salads, soups and more also are available.
The Proper Plate is welcoming diners at 119 Laurens St. N.W. from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
“Our food service line has been busy from 11 until 5 or 6 o’clock,” Pierce said. “We haven’t really concentrated too much on our [take home] casserole business, but we will be in the future. We haven’t stocked it fully yet. We’re just trying to get our regular lunch and dinner business going.”
In addition to The Proper Plate, Pierce and his wife, Angelia Roberts, own two other restaurants: The Feed Sack at 1593 Whiskey Road in the Mitchell Shopping Center in Aiken and The Feed Sack at 1069 Edgefield Road, Suites 103/105 in North Augusta.
They also own Savvy Home furniture stores in the Mitchell Shopping Center and at 3120 Washington Road in Augusta.
“We’re not done,” said Pierce of the couple’s business ventures.
The launch of another restaurant “is on the horizon” on Aiken’s Southside, he revealed.
“We’re working on two different concepts, and we’re not sure what we’re going with yet,” Pierce said. “There is no rush. It could be next year. We have to perfect what we have and not take our eye off the ball.”
For more information about the Proper Plate, visit the The Proper Plate Aiken page on Facebook or properplatedowntown.com.
The Proper Plate’s telephone number is 803-226-0462.
