Beach Blog Restaurant Spotlight: Chic Comfort at Salt Creek Café
By Becky Billingsley
Some restaurateurs have a knack for artful elegance, and when such talent is combined with tasty and interesting food the result is luxuriously pleasurable.
Almost as soon as Keith and Wendy Wolff opened Salt Creek Café in the spring of 2008, local diners realized something different was afoot. The décor became decidedly tasteful and chic, with an effortlessness about it that infused a breezy casualness and high level of comfort. Everyone realized they were in the hands of people who get it, who know how to make dining a seamless, soothing experience.
The couple does have years of experience in the restaurant business, and Wendy is lucky to have an old high school friend named Kathy Cacicedo who is a professional photographer. Kathy took sepia-tone beach photos and blew them up to giant proportions, and they lend a simple, elegant, family-friendly tone. Other details enhance the minimalist style, such as several beveled mirrors cut in stylized circles to match the restaurant's logo; a simple and decorative hammered steel bar front; brick floors and a freestanding central fireplace; and bead board walls with a soothing turquoise paint below the chair rail.
Overall, the effect is stylish without appearing fussy.
Menus are casually upscale and have beach flair influences from the West and East Coasts.
For lunch there are Yukon Potato Chips with buttermilk chive dip; She Crab Soup; salads such as Fried Oyster Caesar Salad and Shrimp Salad; Shrimp Po' Boy; Meatloaf Sandwich; Fish Tacos; and a quartet of personal-size designer pizzas for $10 or less. If you also get a salad, those pizzas are plenty big enough for two people to share.
When arriving between 4 and 6 p.m. (or until 7 p.m., if you're seated at the bar), you can take advantage of a value menu that includes dishes such as Salt Creek Grits for $5; Barbecue Chicken Pizza for $7; Filet Mignon for $13.50; or Manga! Chicken for $10. That chicken is a breast stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, topped with Alfredo and marinara sauces and served over fettuccine.
The wine list is a carefully considered selection where many vintages are priced at $5 per glass or $20 per bottle, such as Pure Evil Chardonnay, La Terre White Zinfandel, Hogue Fume Blanc, Pine and Post Cabernet Sauvignon, Dog House Zinfandel, and Mark West Pinot Noir. A few pricier selections are available, such as J. Lohr Los Osos Merlot for $30, and Salt Creek has a full bar replete with cocktail standards and specialty drinks.
Dinners span a range of tastes and prices and include those popular personal pizzas, Mushroom and Chicken Fettuccine, Crab Cakes, Lemon Pesto Salmon, Prime Rib, Slow-roasted Chicken, Fish of the Day, and Cuban Pork served with black beans, rice and sautéed plantains. There's always a Thanksgiving Dinner available (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce), Blackened Shrimp Alfredo with tomatoes and scallions is a locals' favorite, and of course there's a classic fried seafood platter with oysters, shrimp, flounder and French fries.
Beef is plated with thoughtful attention to side dishes. Filet Mignon and Porterhouse Steak both come with wild mushrooms and roasted Parmesan potatoes, and the filet also is served with vegetables.
Parents feel good about children's entrees like Chicken and Pineapple on a stick with rice, Shrimp with French fries and Cheese Quesadilla, and the kids' meals come with a chocolate chip cookie and a drink.
Desserts are deliciously fun, such as Pluff Mud Pie that has a cookie crust, coffee ice cream and fudge; or the specialty of the house that involves layers of cookies and whipped cream.
On Sundays, brunch is enormously popular. Adults can set a relaxed weekend tone with a $3 Kir Royal, Mimosa, Bloody Mary or Poinsettia, or a 12-ounce juice is $2.50. Every table receives a complimentary bowl of Cinnamon Sugar Puffs.
Entrees include Eggs Benedict, or instead of smoked ham your Benedict can be topped with Filet Mignon or Crab Cakes. Keith reports the Lobster Omelet is already attaining cult status; it is stuffed with lobster, asparagus and Jack cheese. Instead of plain French toast they have French Toast Casserole with praline topping, and for purists there's a Salt Creek Egg Breakfast with fried eggs, ham, bacon, fresh fruit and a grit cake topped with Creek Gravy for $6.50.
Salt Creek Café is located at 4660 U.S. 17 Bypass in Murrells Inlet; phone is 843-357-2433. They're open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and Sunday Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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