Mediterranean-inspired restaurant sets opening date in Glenwood South

The project has been eight years in the making, LM Restaurants brand director Katherine Goldfaden said Monday. The company purchased the building back in 2008, with the plans to put a Carolina Ale House on the top floor and take time to build out the first and second floors for Vidrio.

Vidrio is housed in a 13,500 square-foot space that also includes a second floor banquet and semi-private meeting space upstairs. The second floor also boasts its own kitchen.

The daily menu will feature a mix of Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Turkish, Lebanese, Moroccan and other Mediterranean flavors. There will be a focus on fresh seafood and slow-roasted meat. Guests will be able to watch as executive chef Ian Sullivan and his team prepare food on the wood-fired grill and stone hearth oven.

Vidrio will also import its own olive oil directly from the founder's Greek village.

Vidrio is Spanish for "glass" and its decor will reflect that with a rainbow of hand-blown glass and mosaics of hand-painted tiles. There will also be rope chandeliers that adorn the dining room and hundreds of wooden dowels that hang at the bar.

While most of the construction is complete on Vidrio, LM Restaurants wanted to use the holiday season to give them extra time to work through the final details of the menu, Goldfaden said.

Having just obtained its permits, Vidrio is stocking the kitchen this week and firing up the grills for menu testing.LM Restaurants also owns Taverna Agora, a Greek restaurant on Hillsborough Street.