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Folks who want to try some of the best-known Rock Hill and Fort Mill restaurants can do it on a deal, with the arrival of two restaurant weeks.

South Carolina and Charlotte each have restaurant weeks where eateries set fixed-price menus. They overlap this month. Most options include appetizers, an entree and dessert, and many restaurants encourage reservations.

Last year, York County launched its own restaurant week with the YoCo Taste Trail Week. That event happens in the summer.

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Food & Drink

July 03, 2023 7:00 AM

Restaurant Week South Carolina began Thursday, and runs through Jan. 21. Six York County restaurants are participating:

▪ Carolina Ale House in Kingsley has a three-course lunch or dinner for $24.99. Entrees are a Buffalo zinger wrap and sourdough patty melt.

▪ Flipside Restaurant Group’s Salmeri’s Italian Kitchen, The Flipside Cafe and The Flipside Restaurant have three-course dinners for $32 or $35. Entrees at Salmeri’s include lobster and shrimp ravioli, Cajun shrimp fettuccine, pumpkin ravioli. Flipside sites have almost their full entree menus participating.

▪ FM Eatery, also part of the Flipside group, offers four courses for $40. Small plate choices include Cheerwine braised beef short ribs, buttermilk fried Argentinian red shrimp and braised lamb gnocchi.

▪ Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken is on the list, but a menu isn’t posted yet.

All of the York County locations are in Fort Mill or Rock Hill.

Four more Fort Mill and Rock Hill restaurants have deals on the menu with the return of Queen’s Feast in Charlotte. Charlotte Restaurant Week brings eateries together for prix fixe menus at $30-$50 per person. Reservations are recommended, and the dinner-only event runs from Jan. 19-28.

More than 100 restaurants will participate. The ones in York County are:

▪ Fish Market Bar and Grill in Baxter has $35 and $45 options, with entrees lobster mac and cheese, fig-glazed salmon, petit filet and Chilean sea bass.

▪ Napa at Kingsley is $40 per person with entrees like mushroom ravioli, pan-roasted salmon and braised short rib.

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January 04, 2024 1:05 PM

▪ Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails in Rock Hill lists a $40 menu with entrees country fried steak, Creole chicken linguine and autumn succotash.

▪ The Pump House, also in Rock Hill, also has a $40 menu, with entrees like shrimp and Anson Mills grits, mushroom pot pie, chicken and dumplings, slow braised short rib and grilled pork chop.

For some York and Lancaster county residents, the nearest participating restaurants may be across the state line. Communities like Ballantyne and Union County border the Lancaster County panhandle.

Steele Creek and Gaston County bump up against Lake Wylie, Clover and Tega Cay, while Pineville is connected to Fort Mill and Indian Land.

Those North Carolina communities have a combined 16 restaurants listed.

This story was originally published January 11, 2024, 12:05 PM.

City planners want the public's input on what amenities to include in the new 140-acre Southside Regional Park.

ROCK HILL, S.C. — The City of Rock Hill wants public input on plans for a massive regional park.

City planners are designing a 140-acre park with green space, trails, and sports amenities. The goal is to build something that will generate tourism dollars for the city.

The Southside Regional Park will sprawl from Heckle Boulevard to the downtown area.

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"It'll have a baseball component, it will be football, or what I will call rectangle fields," Parks, Recreation and Tourism Operations Supervisor Mark Sexton said.

Sexton told WCNC Charlotte that the park will partially be funded with the city’s hospitality tax, so it must generate tourism dollars.

"This is another opportunity for the City of Rock Hill to just continue to expand on [those] sports tourism opportunities, to have some amenities that we can continue to invite, you know, basically visitors and guests to our community," Sexton said.

According to Sexton, Rock Hill generated $80 million in tourism money last year. He said the future park will be another way to add to that when visitors come to town for sports tournaments and games.

RELATED: Waxhaw leaders approve new 2040 plan and large development Tuesday

"It's a win-win for everyone," Sexton said.

The project encompasses existing parks, like the Arcade Victoria Park, which will get needed upgrades.

"No kids come here like that no more," Rock Hill resident Michael Teasley told WCNC Charlotte. Teasley lives near the park and said it used to be filled with families but now it's quiet.

Jessica, another Rock Hill resident, who didn't share her last name, hopes the renovations will breathe new life into Arcade Victoria Park. "I just think it’d be really good, especially for this area," Jessica said.

Jessica also wants the public sports facilities to come with more youth programs.

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"If they have more, I would say budget-friendly programs for the children to be able to do, it would keep a lot of kids out of the streets," Jessica said.

The entire project is estimated to cost more than $100 million.

Sexton said the city will design a plan over the next two years and wants the public’s input on what amenities to include. A community meeting was held on Tuesday and Sexton said more will be scheduled in the future.

Rock Hill will have another food option in University Center with the planned opening of Dank Burrito early next year.

The North Carolina restaurant chain will open its newest location at 343 Technology Center Way in The Park at University Center. This is the company’s first expansion into South Carolina.

Dank Burrito offers burritos, tacos, bowls and salads. The 3,300-square-foot Rock Hill location will offer five craft beers, wine, canned beer and seltzers.

Menu options include a Danksgiving burrito, Cheerwine beef quesadilla and Nashville hot chicken burrito plus scratch-made salsa, slaw, kimchi and guacamole, according to a company announcement for the new site. Pork belly, honey trufle Buffalo chicken, carne asada, tree hugger (vegetarian) and cheesesteak options are available in burritos, bowls or tacos.

“Dank Burrito is not your typical burrito joint where the same tired flavors are used,” said owner Clarke Merrell. The company announced plans to open the new site in January.

It’s part of The Park, with 17,000 square feet of retail space and 450 parking spaces in one of several new decks in University Center.

Neighboring properties in University Center include the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, the 225,000-square-foot Lowenstein Building office and retail area, a Cambria hotel, The Power Plant with apartments and a food hall, The Nest with other apartment space and multiple parking decks.

University Center is a central piece to the city’s redevelopment of former mill and industrial areas downtown. Some sites shuttered for decades are now opening businesses, apartments and retail space.

Dank Burrito continues a Mexican food trend in the Rock Hill region, and specifically the city, toward new restaurants.

Several new Chipotle and Moe’s Southwest Grill sites have opened in York and Lancaster counties the past couple of years. There was the short-lived Cantina concept at Legal Remedy Brewing offering Mexican food dishes. Casa Tequila and Ay Papi Tacos & Tequila opened two years ago, both in Rock Hill.

The food hall at the neighboring Power House site added Chilango Tacos Y Mas earlier this year. Rock Taco opened in downtown Rock Hill just this month. Those spots don’t include a host of area food trucks with taco, burrito and similar options.

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November 07, 2023 1:18 PM

Dank Burrito started as a food truck in Morehead City, North Carolina in 2014. The first storefront opened there the following year. A Raleigh food hall opened another in 2019.

The company intends to franchise more locations after the Rock Hill one, largely across the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.

This story was originally published November 15, 2023, 10:38 AM.

A second South Carolina man has pleaded guilty in the biggest fentanyl bust in York County history after prosecutors say a secret drug lab was found near Lake Wylie close to the Charlotte border, court records show.

Thomas Anthony Perry, of Rock Hill, faces 10 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, according to a plea agreement from the U.S. District Court in Columbia.

Perry, his lawyer, and federal prosecutors all signed the plea deal that was released publicly late Friday, records show.

A plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in front of federal judge Sherri Lydon, court records show.

Two defendants arrested in the case have now pleaded guilty, while two more still face charges days after a judge denied an attempt by one of the remaining defendants to suppress the drug seizure.

In October, Javaris Latrey Johnson of Clover pleaded guilty to the same charge as Perry.

Quonzy Lanard Hope and Timario Martez Gayton, both of Rock Hill, each have pleaded not guilty.

Police and federal agents seized 60-plus pounds of fentanyl from a Lake Wylie area mobile home that included 160,000 pills, according to federal documents and court testimony.

Police also found pill presses, guns, money, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, court documents show.

At a news conference after the Lake Wylie seizure, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman and Sen. Lindsey Graham and local officials said the fentanyl taken from the trailer was enough to kill the entire population of South Carolina.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA says fentanyl is inexpensive, widely available, highly addictive, and lethal.

All four defendants, including Johnson and Perry who have pleaded guilty, remain in federal custody.

Sentencing dates have not been set for Johnson and Perry.

A federal trial for Gayton and Hope could begin as early as January.

The four defendants also face South Carolina state charges from the same incident.

This story was originally published December 18, 2023, 9:48 AM.

Dank Burrito, the chef-driven, North-Carolina-born, anything-but-Tex-Mex, fresh-to-death concept will open in Rock Hill in January 2024 at 343 Technology Center Way, Suite 108, near the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center.

The concept with the slang-inspired name (dank means fresh or of high quality) was founded in 2014 as a food truck in Morehead City, North Carolina by Chef Clarke Merrell, the culinary force behind 81 Hospitality Group. The success of the truck, which was named National Food Truck Rookie of the Year and still operates around Eastern NC, led to Dank’s first brick-and- mortar location in Morehead City a year later. Another location opened in 2019 in Raleigh’s Transfer Co. Food Hall.

Drawing heavily on a love of urban aesthetics, hip hop, graffiti, and global street food — artists Pause and DVNS will be in Rock Hill to install their custom work in early December — Dank Burrito serves up one-of-a-kind food in a unique, funky setting.

“Dank Burrito is not your typical burrito joint where the same tired flavors are used,” says Merrell, Dank Burrito owner. “We combine our favorite flavors from around the world with fine- dining techniques to make new kinds of flavor-bomb burritos, tacos, and bowls that you’ll fall in love with over and over again.”

The Rock Hill location will be about 3,300 square feet with 75 seats inside and another 25-30 outside. The restaurant will have five craft beers on tap and an assortment of cans and seltzers available, as well as wine. Franchise owner Justin Miller says the space will be family-friendly with televisions tuned to local sports, and of course, a diverse music selection playing at all times.

Rock Hill is the first of multiple franchise locations Dank Burrito is planning to roll out across the Southeastern United States – specifically the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida – with the long- term goal of expanding the brand further West, says Merrell. Rock Hill location owner Miller says he met with Merrell in Morehead City in 2022, tasted the entire menu and signed the franchise agreement that day.

The menu is the biggest draw, Merrell says, particularly the specials, which can include the Danksgiving Burrito, Cheerwine Beef Quesadilla, Nashville Hot Chicken Burrito and more. Scratch-made ingredients such as salsas, slaws, kimchi and guacamole amp up the dankness.

Among the most popular street food-influenced flavor profiles, which can be ordered as burritos, bowls or tacos:

The Rock Hill location, conveniently located near the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center and Winthrop University, is expected to open to the public in early January. Download the Dank Burrito app to enroll in Dankster Rewards and find out about gift cards, catering and more.