‘We deserve it’: New Myrtle Beach restaurant specializes in healthy eating, unique dishes
While some will observe Earth Day on Thursday with a special event, Earth Café will simply go about its daily business of serving healthy and organic meals.
The restaurant opened in late February on 38th Ave. North in Myrtle Beach and offers vegan and vegetarian plates, salads, fresh-squeezed juices, and fruit and vegetable smoothies.
It also offers bacon, an Angus beef burger and French fries for those who prefer meat, with peppercorn turkey bacon and the impossible (non-beef) burger as alternatives.
“Whenever I go to Los Angeles or Florida with friends and family I go to all these nice places that have all the juices and smoothies,” said partner Ayala Benezra. “. . . There is a need for it in Myrtle Beach. We deserve it too.”
Earth Café is owned and operated by Ayala and her sons Joey and Gill.
Ayala is a native of Israel, so menu items are often Mediterranean-inspired.
The brothers regularly exercise and eat healthy, and Joey participates in jiu-jitsu and CrossFit competitions. Several of their relatives are vegan or vegetarian and now frequent the restaurant.
“Me and my brother eat a little bit healthier and it’s really hard to find a place around here in Myrtle Beach that caters to that kind of audience,” Gill said. “It’s with a slight Mediterranean twist. It’s just our background and that’s stuff our mom has been cooking for us since we were little.”
The building and property were purchased late in 2019 and the Benezras envisioned opening a year ago, but their plans were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The restaurant has a number of breakfast items including omelets and scrambles; several salads with the option of adding chicken breast, salmon, tuna salad or chicken salad; starters such as hummus, a Mediterranean flatbread and avocado cali bruschetta; and several sandwiches that can all be made vegan.
At least three fresh-squeezed, cold-pressed juices are bottled each morning featuring a combination of several fruits and vegetables in each. An organic acai bowl features honey oat granola, banana and berries drizzled with honey, peanut butter and coconut flakes.
Earth Café gets much of its organic food from the FreshPoint produce distributor, and sells some local products including elderberry syrup from K-Bar Farm in Loris.
Menu additions are coming, and will largely be Mediterranean dishes including Shakshuka, which features eggs and a tomato-based sauce in a skillet.
Earth Café is open for lunch and dinner from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. six days per week. It is closed on Sundays in April because like many businesses in the area it is short on employees. It will likely stay open later in the summer, and may be available for private events in the evening.
It has a patio for outdoor dining with umbrellaed tables, and serves beer, wine, mimosas and bloody marys.
Ayala, a hairdresser who has owned and operated Allure hair salon for more than two decades, has been a restaurateur previously. She and her brother Yossi opened Panini 38 near the former location of Allure, which has since moved to 59th Ave. North.
That restaurant closed about 15 years ago and she has been wanting to open another eatery for several years.
There are other healthy restaurants on the Grand Strand including Clean Eatz and Healthy Living Café, though there is not an abundance of them.
Earth Café has yet to advertise or have a grand opening, but it has been busy, as many of her hair customers have become her restaurant customers, and word has spread.
“The clientele is here,” Ayala said. “People want this kind of food. They want salads with their sandwiches, not just French fries.”
There’s a chance the Benezras will expand to other locations if the initial restaurant is successful. “This is store No. 1,” Gill said.
This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 3:02 AM.
