The bakery case is where most first-timers linger: pan de bono baked through the morning, buñuelos, chocolate croissants, and thick squares of tres leches. El Paisa is a Colombian panadería and sit-down restaurant on CCC Camp Road in Greer, run by a family that baked in Colombia before they opened here. A lot of the time it is the owners themselves working the counter and carrying plates to the tables, and the room keeps the easy, unhurried feel of a place that knows its morning crowd by sight.
It is as much a full kitchen as a bakery. Early hours bring the paisa breakfast, arepas con queso, Colombian coffee, and hot chocolate; by midday the menu turns to empanadas and hearty platters of grilled meat with rice, beans, sweet plantain, and Colombian sausage. Along one side, a small grocery section carries Colombian sodas, snacks, and pantry staples, so people tend to leave with a bag of treats on top of whatever they came in for.
The pan de bono is the thing customers name first, a warm, cheesy bread with a chewy pull, and the case keeps refilling as fresh trays come out through the day.