Dootsie's Italian Restaurant Opens in West Greenville

Chef Joe Cash opens Dootsie's in the Village of West Greenville in early December.

The Italian restaurant will serve at 1233 Pendleton St. Cash, who runs the Michelin-starred Scoundrel in downtown Greenville, spent two years developing the new concept. The space formerly housed LashBar and Red@28th. The renovation is complete and the restaurant is ready for service.

Dootsie's features a 77-seat dining room. The interior includes multi-color tiled floors, terracotta countertops, and cream stucco walls. Handmade wood tables from Greenville fill the room. A glass-enclosed pasta room sits at the center of the layout. Watercolor artwork by Cash's late great-aunt hangs on the walls.

The menu centers on fresh pasta rolled daily by chef Tony Keely. Robert Yates serves as the chef de cuisine. Dishes include Cash's version of his grandmother's spaghetti with sirloin and bell peppers. Other items on the list are fried house-pulled fontina cheese and ravioli tre volte with beef cheek, celery root, and bordelaise sauce.

Cash named the restaurant after his late grandmother, Margaret Simmons, who was nicknamed Dootsie. He grew up eating her bell-pepper-heavy spaghetti bolognese at her Greenville home on Sundays. The name honors the meals he shared with her as a child. Simmons' quadruple-stacked chocolate cake already appears on the dessert menu at Scoundrel.

"For all of our restaurants, we want people to come in and have fun," Cash said. "We're here to make sure that you have a great time and have a great experience."

Katie Skoloff, founder of In Site Designs, collaborated with Cash on the restaurant's look. Cash described the aesthetic as resembling the home of an eclectic aunt living in Rome. The design aims to create a comfortable atmosphere for both casual weeknight dinners and special celebrations.

Scoundrel earned its first Michelin star nearly a year ago and retained the distinction for 2026. The French-inspired restaurant was also a James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2024. Cash opened Scoundrel in 2021 after returning to Greenville from jobs at Noma in Copenhagen, Per Se in New York, and The Pool.

Cash cited the stability of his Scoundrel team as a key factor in expanding his portfolio. "I'm not going to be able to be here every day when it's more than one," Cash said. "Having that solid core team is really important to me. There's no point in doing more if what you've already done is going to suffer or what you're going to do is going to suffer."

Dootsie's opens for dinner Tuesday through Saturday starting in December. Reservations are available online through Resy. Cash, a 2026 James Beard Award finalist, said the new restaurant represents the next chapter of his life in Greenville. "I'm back for good. We want to be part of pushing the food scene forward," Cash said.