Gina’s Café Inside Local Landmark
Soulful blue plate specials
By Becky Billingsley
Monday, February 8, 2010, Myrtle Beach – Friendly’s Barber Shop, owned by Dolly Thomas, has been at 1403 Carver St. in Myrtle Beach for more than 50 years. Now Regina Chestnut is beside the barbershop serving blue plate specials and more at Gina’s Café.
The tiny restaurant, which was first known as Eva’s Café starting in 2005 but became Gina’s in August 2009, has two booths and six counter seats, and is spotless. A riveting feature on the counter is a clear glass cake dome featuring the day’s fresh dessert.While there is a menu listing chicken salad, barbecue, burgers, turkey wings, gizzards and liver & onions, most people just go for the day’s blue plate special.
For $7, the weekday specials includes a meat, vegetable, rice and gravy, macaroni and cheese, bread and a non-alcoholic drink such as tea, Kool-Aid or bottled water. On Saturdays the special changes to salmon patties, flounder, fried spots, grits, hushpuppies and fries.
Three friends and I visited on Feb. 1, which was a Monday, and we hit the jackpot: on Mondays you get your choice of any meat on the menu. I had a fried pork chop, which was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and sinfully delicious. My buddies had fried flounder, fried shrimp and fried chicken, and they all said their choices were wonderful (and no one had any left on their plates).
Our sides that day were white rice (but no gravy) that had firm and separate grains, satisfyingly seasoned green beans cooked the South Carolina way: soft and salty. We also had macaroni and cheese that was nice and cheesy, but it was a little bland.
Our hush puppies, however, were excellent: golf ball-size puffs of brown crispy sweetness.But as much as we enjoyed our lunches, our eyes kept straying to that cake dome where a Lemon Pound Cake was resting seductively with its drizzle of icing. It was everything we hoped for – moist, tart, sweet, luscious.
Regina said the cakes are made by her aunt, Bertha Chestnut-Sherman, and cousin, Cynthia Outing. The cake of the day changes; some days you might find Red Velvet, Italian Cream, German Chocolate or Carrot Cake. Local favorites are the Red Velvet and Italian Cream, Regina said, and they sell out fast.
Gina’s Café is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and it is open later on Fridays and Saturdays. The number is (843) 839-9480.
If you’d like to have an adult beverage after you dine, the Cadillac Sports Bar is also in this tiny business complex, on the other side of the barbershop.
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