The Library Serves Refinement
By Becky Billingsley
Since the 1970s, The Library restaurant in Myrtle Beach has provided fine dining with tableside cookery, linens and crystal, and while the dress code has relaxed in recent years, it still offers an upscale menu.
The setting is that of a library in a manor house, but recently a new lounge was completed that has a slightly more casual decor. The lounge is also where, from 4:30-6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, Martinis, Margaritas and Mojitos made with premium liquors are half-price, and customers receive complimentary servings of house-made hummus. Every day during happy hour there are also reduced-price appetizer specials.
The Library owner Shad Velasco has begun offering wine flights and premium cognac, bourbon, single malt, scotch and cordial flights, and he has some 30 fine wines by the glass.
Dining selections are mostly classic, and a good many of the dishes have been on the menu since 1974. Velasco is meticulous about offering quality ingredients and labor-intensive preparation methods, such as making his own aged vinegar.
Appetizers are $9-$14 and include Library Mushrooms baked with gruyere cheese, Blackened Beef Tips with Béarnaise, Beef Carpaccio, Shrimp Cocktail and Steak Tartare. Oysters Rockefeller are topped classically with creamed spinach and Béarnaise and have an unusual sweet flavor due to anisette.
Another appetizer choice is Escargot Chablisieno, where the morsels are baked in garlic herb butter in a special crock with holes. Since no snail shells are involved, these escargot are easy to eat.
Several soups are available at $6 each, including Split Pea and Bay Shrimp Soup, a chilled potato soup called Cucumber Doria, French Onion topped with crostini and gruyere, Potato Onion Roquefort and She-Crab prepared with sherry, almonds and burnt crème.
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Caesar salad is prepared tableside, when the server will wheel out a cart holding several ingredients including garlic cloves in olive oil, Parmesan cheese, croutons, Worcestershire sauce, raw egg, grain mustard, whole anchovies and more. There is also a Greek salad option with feta, cucumber, olives and red onions.
Entrees come with freshly baked rolls and a house salad, plus sides of the day. On the day I visited the sides were small roasted red potatoes, haricot verts and Grand Marnier-glazed carrots. Asparagus is also available for an a la carte fee.
Specials normally feature fresh locally sourced seafood, such as grouper topped with a crab cake and Caribbean mango sauce.
Other entrees include Salmon over creamed spinach with toasted Hollandaise; Duck a la Orange; Filet Mignon with Parisian mushroom sauce; Colorado Rack of Lamb; Twin Lobster Tails served with drawn garlic butter and cardinal sauce; and Veal with artichokes and mushrooms.
Other entrees prepared tableside include Dover Sole with Champagne almandine sauce; Strip Steak au Poivre; Steak Diane; Steak Tartare; and Sweetbreads and Burgundy Mushrooms, which are flamed with cognac.
Desserts include a house-made hot fudge sundae, marinated blueberries and Champagne over ice cream, Vienna Chocolate Mousse Cake, lemon or raspberry sorbet, and tableside flamed creations such as Bananas Flambe, Cherries Jubilee and Crepes Suzette.
If you're looking to impress a date or just experience luxurious food and service, The Library is a good bet. Don't be in a hurry; a full meal will take two to three hours.
The Library Restaurant (http://www.thelibraryrestaurantsc.com/) is at 1212 N. Kings Highway, and the number is 843-448-4527. It's open starting at 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
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