‘Everything is a little different’: New Myrtle Beach spot gets creative with biscuits
When Jakob Hovhannisyan moved from his native Armenia to Charleston a couple decades ago, he became infatuated with Southern cooking.
So much so that he still keeps a journal of every location where he has eaten shrimp and grits, with a grade to guide him on whether he should order them again if he returns to the same place.
So naturally he wanted his first restaurant in the United States to feature Southern fare.
“10/Fold Biscuits, A Southern Kitchen” opened last Wednesday in the Magnolia Row shops and dining complex in Myrtle Beach, next to 44 & King restaurant on North Kings Highway.
It’s open for breakfast and lunch from 7/8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. It will be open seven days a week once Hovhannisyan can find enough staff, as he is currently shorthanded.
Creating something unique
Hovhannisyan’s father was a longtime restaurateur, and Hovhannisyan said he himself has two restaurants in the Eastern Europe region — in Armenia and Ukraine — and owned a now-closed sorbet and Italian Ice company called Charleston Ice.
He chose to open his first American restaurant in Myrtle Beach, in part because Charleston already has a number of boutique-type restaurants.
“Part of the reason why I wanted to be in Myrtle Beach is because Myrtle Beach needed a place like this. I want it to be something fresh, something modern, something unlike every other fast-casual type of restaurant in Myrtle Beach,” Hovhannisyan said. “You see our concept. It’s fast-casual, but we wanted to create this atmosphere, this vibe, this music, everything is a little different. Even the menu is not your typical breakfast menu.”
The restaurant’s ambiance music is what Hovhannisyan calls “chill hop,” which is lowkey and mellow and appears to have some light jazz influences.
The name refers to the making of biscuits — the number of times some people may fold or knead dough — and the enlarged “tenfold” size of the biscuits.
Not your typical biscuits
Chef Michael Holler, who was the executive chef for the Italian restaurant Indaco in Charleston, is the primary baker and cook and helped Hovhannisyan develop the menu.
The three kinds of large daily-baked biscuits are buttermilk, jalapeno cheddar and gluten-free, and they are the base of plates either in regular or open-face sandwich form.
There are more than a dozen menu items featuring the biscuits. The combinations are creative and ingredients include fried chicken, smoked salmon, pulled pork, fried green tomato, ham, lightly fried shrimp, slow-roasted brisket, and maple sausage gravy.
Sauces and toppings include caramelized onion, hot honey, whipped avocado, chipotle ketchup, Carolina gold mustard, house-made pimento cheese, hollandaise, Old Bay cream cheese spread, roasted jalapeno tartar, coffee BBQ, and a red chili cream sauce.
And of course there’s a shrimp and grits biscuit in open-face form.
“I had never had shrimp and grits before until I moved to Charleston, then I became obsessed with shrimp and grits,” Hovhannisyan explained. “. . . If I see shrimp and grits on the menu I have to try it, I don’t care where I am.”
There is a salad and yogurt for health-conscious customers, a biscuit bread pudding dessert, and drinks including fresh-brewed ice tea, Topo Chico mineral water, craft beer, a mimosa and a Bloody Mary.
Part of an evolving market
Hovhannisyan said he’s glad to see some more unique restaurants opening over the past couple years in the Myrtle Beach area, including his neighbors at 44 & King.
“I like seeing more and more of these new restaurants opening in Myrtle Beach,” Hovhannisyan said. “. . . I’ve seen how it’s been changing and changing and changing for the good.”
Hovhannisyan would like to eventually expand to perhaps locations on both the north and south ends of the Grand Strand if his initial restaurant is successful.
