Broadway Café: Vintage Elegance Meets Lavish Tastiness
Story and photos by Becky Billingsley
Some restaurateurs want to “turn and burn” tables, or herd many people in and out the doors as quickly as possible. Others, like Karen Holck at Broadway Cafe, aspire to an ambiance that evokes simpler times when dining was an unhurried event.
Holck has achieved this pleasant state where friends and family gather to chat and enjoy choice foods so delicious their consumption should never be hurried. The neighborhood is the perfect venue, since it is a historic street with vintage buildings.
Anyone who meets Holck instantly has a friend. She is a warm and friendly person whom you could easily imagine would throw her arms around you for a big maternal hug. But she doesn't need to get physical; Holck shows her love with her food.
The decor sets a cozy tone. When the weather is nice the door is open. Sidewalk tables and chairs overlook Broadway Street in downtown Myrtle Beach where there is an air of community cohesiveness. Holck is helping to organize an April 25 street festival featuring all the Broadway Street shops.
Inside the circa 1940s building, Holck has created a cafe worthy of any Parisian back street circa 1925.
Colors are vibrant. Mustard yellow covers plank paneling, and the cement floors feature swirls of black, red, yellow and tan. A trio of inexpensive chandeliers cast warm light into the rear of the restaurant, while a pair of black ceiling fans spin lazily to the beat of 1920s-era swing and jazz. Tables are topped with marble or glass, and high-backed armless chairs are covered luxuriously in a velvety suede fabric the purplish gray of pregnant storm clouds or the creamy white of wispy tropical vapors.
Art on the walls has French flair, and Karen has made creative use of draperies and hanging fabric. It’s easy to imagine one of those curtains being switched aside so a flapper could strut out and start singing something torchy. But for all the eclectic refinement, this is not a “chick place.” Plenty of men come here to relax and appreciate the ambiance and the food.
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It’s a fine place to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee, French press tea, Italian Cream Sodas, a monstrously large Potato Chip Cookie, or a heavenly slice of Holck's special Cafe Aloha Cake studded with toasted coconut and filled with whipped cream and custard. That coffee is a special creamy blend made just for Broadway Cafe by local Cashua Coffee, and it's roasted every Sunday.
A small and diverse menu offers interesting choices. There's Holck's signature Pork, Brie and Berries Salad drizzled with Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette; Spinach Salad with loads of choice tidbits like bacon, eggs, Mandarin orange and house-made croutons; or fresh seasonal fruit topped with creamy vanilla yogurt and nutty granola.
Soup du Jour is never predictable – it could be a concoction called Popeye the Greek or Dirty Leaves – but they're always memorably delicious. You could have a cup of soup and half a sandwich, but after you taste one of those sandwiches you might wish you had the other half to take home for later.
The Broadway Brie and Roast Beef is extremely popular and features gooey, warm cheese on an onion roll. There are Shaved Turkey Breast and Muenster Cheese with cranberry honey mustard on pumpernickel; the Cafe Club with Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, turkey and bacon on whole wheat; and Fusion BBQ where South meets Asia in a delectably unique pulled pork. Even the Chicken Salad and Tuna Salad are exceptional – the chicken contains only breast meat and is flavored with tarragon, while albacore tuna is enhanced by capers and Old Bay Seasoning, and served on artistic marble rye.
“I make (the honey mustard) myself,” Karen said. “It has whole cranberries, brown sugar, citrus – orange – and honey mustard.”
The condiment works. Enough is used to make the sandwich delectable without making the bread soggy, and the mellowness of the Muenster tones everything down to comfortable levels. The sandwich came with ultra-creamy Dill Potato Salad, and exquisite crunchy Broccoli Slaw with pineapple, seedless raisins and Sweet Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette.
In addition to the printed menu, several daily specials are on a huge wall chalkboard. If you're lucky, there'll be those Potato Chip Cookies; a delicious blend of sweet and salty, and big as an infant’s head.
Everything Karen serves comes in generously sized portions.
“In this economy,” she says, “I want people to feel satisfied with the quality and quantity.”
Broadway Café & Gourmet is at 509 Broadway St. in Myrtle Beach. It's open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and often live musicians make it a true cabaret. The number is (843) 685-3902.
The delicious food at Broadway Cafe’ & Gourmet is only surpassed by the graciousness of the proprietor, Karen Holck.