The first time I dined at Devereaux's was shortly after the restaurant opened in 2005. My friend Beth Callaway asked me to come to Greenville for the night so she could show off the town she grew up in. I remember being so impressed with downtown and wondered why my native Charlotte hadn't done a better job with making the "uptown" more of a destination spot like Greenville had. We stayed at her parents house in Greer and made the trek downtown for dinner at Devereaux's for what would turn into a wild evening on the town--little did I know it would be the first of many the ended up at either Connolly's or the Cazbah. I remember dining on duck and drinking Chateauneuf du Pape that first experience at Devereaux's. Fast forward two years later, my husband and I moved to Greenville and I started my job selling wine and beer with a distributor then called Piedmont Beverage now known as RNDC. I was two weeks into my job and I had been tasked with tasting wines with Steven Greene and Justin Tilley so they could write a menu for the upcoming Fisher Vineyards wine dinner. I received the samples late one afternoon, my boss frantically drove them back from Columbia on a particularly hot June day. The samples were warm when they arrived at Devereaux's, both the reds and the whites and had no time to cool them down, I had to taste them with Justin and Steven as they were. Needless to say I was embarrassed! Justin didn't say much, but Steven was very vocal stating that the wines clearly were not a fit for the kind of food that he cooked. Me, still being pretty inexperienced at that point didn't know what to do, I had nothing to offer other than I had been instructed to taste the wines because the dinner had already been set up and was being held the following week. Juelle Fisher, one of the founders of Fisher Vineyards was coming into town to work the market and then to host the wine dinner that evening at Devereaux's. After working the day with her I rushed home to freshen up for my first of many wine dinners to come at Devereaux's. That evening the guest chef was friend and former mentor to Steven Greene and Spencer Thomson, Michael Kramer from McCrady's in Charleston. Albeit a rocky start, the dinner thankfully turned out to be a smashing success! The sold out dinner was held in the restaurants' private dining room, always a tight squeeze for popular dinners. That evening I fell in love with Steven's cooking as well as the wines from Fisher Vineyards. I ate everything on my plate and drank everything in my glass.
In July 2012, I hosted my own sold out wine dinner at Devereaux's but this time the wines featured were wines from the Gallo portfolio, but once again the guest chef was Michael Kramer. Very cyclical and somewhat poetic for me since I started my career at RNDC with a dinner at Devereaux's and basically ended my career with RNDC with dinner at Devereaux's. Two months later I was driving across country to Oregon after the conclusion of Euphoria.
I missed all of the excitement of the 2006 Leatherheads filming in Greenville with George Clooney and Renee Zellwegger while they frolicked about Greenville at night with the commoners. Both George and Renee were often regulars at Devereaux's and other fine dining restaurants in town. I did, however, stalk Thomas Keller, Michael Mina, and Grant Achatz one evening at Devereaux's when they were here on a BMW/Michelin tour. I had dinner in the dining room with my husband Alan but barely paid attention to him while we ate because I was so star struck by the chefs dining across the restaurant from me. I never had dinner at Devereaux's during Euphoria, but it was always the hot ticket in town each year, being the VIP ticket holder dinner featuring most notably chefs such as Thomas Keller and Guy Savoy, and many others as well.
Last week my husband and I dined one last time before Devereaux's closed its doors to the public the following day. We shared wild mushroom risotto to start, and for our entrees he had the Bethel Trails lamb with cumin scented pearl pasta, carrots and eggplant fries and I had the stuffed rabbit loin with fava beans, carmelized onions, and cauliflower puree. How fitting that we drank Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape over dinner and finished with the cheese plate and over-sized profiteroles for dessert. We went out in style....just like the restaurant deserved, because dining there was always dining in style. Devereaux's will always have a special place in my heart having made a lot of professional memories there as well as personal ones, dining on some of finest cuisine in town while sharing lots of wine. Cheers to you D Unit!
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| Fisher Vineyards wine dinner menu from June 14, 2007 featuring guest chef Michael Kramer and proprietor Juelle Fisher of Fisher Vineyards. |
