Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

Word’s getting out about culinary secret

Secret Chef Café

Chicken Salad at Secret Chef Cafe contains crunchy minced celery. Photo by Becky Billingsley for Weekly Surge.

 

Setting the Table

Secret Chef Cafe was opened recently in North Myrtle Beach by Irvin Pereira and Jessica Pereira, who also own I See Pastries in Carolina Forest.

Irvin Pereira is a longtime local pastry chef, and this new location is at 1000 2nd Ave. N. in the former location of Side Street Cafe in the North Myrtle Beach Corporate Center.

The decor is neutral and chic with caramel brown and maroon accents. You can order at the counter or have table service, and there are a handful of two- and four-top tables in the narrow dining room. A television mounted high up in the corner by the counter is tuned to news.

Secret Chef Cafe serves daily breakfasts and lunches. While I was there, jazzy Christmas music was playing.

Down the Hatch

The premise when the Pereiras opened Secret Chef Cafe was to have a series of different chefs come in and work a couple of weeks at a time, so that diners would be pleasantly surprised by a variety of dishes and cooking styles. However, that quickly proved too difficult to manage, and now they’ve hired a permanent chef.

So the secret is out now - the chef is Mike Barone, who has previously worked at The Office and House of Blues. He’s in the midst of adding new dishes to the menu, and I hope he includes some of his Italian dishes. I especially like Barone’s Lasagna.

Breakfast choices ($1.75-$6) include omelets, egg plates, biscuits, fried egg sandwich, pancakes and fresh fruit. There are also fresh baked goods, such as the individual cupcake-size monkey breads Jessica Pereiria is whipping up. She says the $1 treats sell out fast.

I went for lunch and tried the Island Chicken Salad Sandwich for $7, and was assured it is staying on the menu. It’s served on a large buttery croissant and is supposed to come with fries or chips and a fountain drink, but I was asked if I’d prefer fresh fruit and gladly took the server up on the offer.

The chicken salad was wonderful. The meat is finely chopped, and it’s crunchy with fresh minced celery. It was placed in the croissant on a bed of diced fresh tomato. I took the sandwich home with me and split it up into two lunches, because the serving size was so generous.

The day’s special was Chicken Florentine (Aha! The Italian influence!) with cheesy mashed potatoes and a vegetable.

Other lunch dishes Chef Barone is serving include a Vegetarian Island Wrap ($5, comes with fries or chips) containing lettuce, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and mangos in creamy Italian vinaigrette; Reuben Sandwich ($7) and a Salad Duet ($6) where you get a scoop of chicken salad and a scoop of tuna salad on greens with tomato, cucumber and fresh fruit.

Desserts are $2-$6 and include a so-called “Ginormous” Slice of Cake, Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie, Jumbo Macaroon and Pecan Bar. They can all be topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Check, please

All the specialty baked goods available at I See Pastries can also be ordered at Secret Chef Cafe, including birthday cakes, wedding cakes, ice sculptures and pastry platters.

Secret Chef Cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and the phone number is 280-3799.

Secret Chef Cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and the phone number is 280-3799.

Becky Billingsley provides fresh restaurant news daily at MyrtleBeachRestaurantNews.com.

Becky Billingsley serves up fresh news daily at MyrtleBeachRestaurantNews.com.