Sports bar eats with a Southern flair wrapped up in hospitality is the premise for the new Doc’s Porchside, formerly Wild Wing Café, which should open within the next week.
The locations at 5147 Blue Grass Trl. in Grovetown and 3035 Washington Rd. in Augusta are undergoing massive transformations, and co-owner and manager Daniel Scholer aims for the transition to be smooth and accommodating while still expressing a distinctive style.
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“Same staff, same management. We’re going to run the same type of operation,” said Scholer, who hopes the new restaurants will open the week of Aug. 16. “We just changed up the ingredients.”
In addition to the buildings being updated, the menu is getting an overhaul. New dishes include fried green tomatoes, pulled pork, pimento cheese, shrimp and grits, a po’boy made with pork belly burnt ends, a pulled-pork patty melt and more.
There’s even a spin on the Wild Wing Nashville hot sandwich. Scholer calls the new creation the Carolina hot sandwich, and it includes coleslaw, pickled okra, Reaper wing sauce and honey.
“We took traditional sports-bar type food that we already had and gave it a Southern flair,” said Scholer.
Scholer hopes the restaurant will provide a down-home atmosphere and it reflects in the moniker. “Doc” is a tribute Scholer’s father, owner Jan “Doc” Scholer.
“The porch is where people hang out,” said Scholer. “We are still a place where people gather to watch a football game, to watch a live band, to play trivia.”
Doc’s Porchside will still be a place for all kinds of events, from an 85-year-old birthday party to charity events, rehearsal dinners and family outings.
A definite date has still not been set for the opening of the renovated restaurant locations. Scholer hopes to be able to open both locations on the same day. Updates will be released through the restaurant’s social media.
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Doc’s Porchside will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the week and later on weekends.
As the staff strives to get the locations up and running by next week, Scholer stays busy knowing the ideal outcome of this renewal will be business as usual.
“What we’re doing with flipping two restaurants at the same time is just such a huge task,” said Scholer. “Our goal is to get open and be able to execute our menu and our service. We’d like to get back into a routine of putting on a good time.”
Wild Wing Café closed both its locations July 31 after the Scholers declined to renew their franchise agreement.
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“Our agreement came up with our Augusta location and did some soul-searching within the family,” he said. “It was either sign on for five or 10 more years or jump off and do our own thing. We felt like we were ready to develop our own concept.”
For more information, follow Doc’s Porchside Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/docsporchsideaug and https://www.facebook.com/docsgrovetown, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/docsporchside.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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