A Myrtle Beach restaurant promising a new culinary experience for the area has opened
The owners of Heirloom Bistro are providing a new culinary experience in the Myrtle Beach market.
The restaurant opened on Feb. 11 with a prix fixe menu featuring at least three courses and up to six to choose from at a fixed price per course. Diners have options in each course. The menu will change regularly and according to the seasons.
The multiple courses will allow diners to experience “a lot of different flavors and a lot of different foods, and it ends up being more of a dining experience,” said principal owner Sharon Treffeisen.
Shaun Baxter is a partner and the executive chef. He and Treffeisen are also a team at the Hot Tomato Italian restaurant in Myrtle Beach, where she is the owner and he is the corporate chef.
Thus far, Baxter’s offerings have included Chilean Sea Bass, wild Norwegian halibut, prime filet, large wild-caught Ecuador prawns, Hudson Valley baked brie served with apple chutney, truffles, Hashis Parmentier casserole, Heritage Berkshire pork, and Joyce Frenched airline chicken Oscar — a chicken breast stuffed with jumbo crab meat finished with Hollandaise and asparagus.
“We’re getting really, really good feedback on everything,” Baxter said.
Heirloom is open Monday through Saturday from 4 p.m. until close. A wine party will be upcoming in March, and catering is available. Other special events, such as bourbon dinners, will be planned, and high-end bourbons and scotches are available, as well as an extensive wine list.
Heirloom offers upscale food at upscale prices. Other exotic foods that he plans to offer at times include wagyu beef, aged beef, wild boar chops and Alaskan halibut, and a number of fresh local fish will be featured.
“We’re going to have some fare that other people don’t have,” Baxter said. “We’re not afraid to spend the extra money to get a product that’s of the best quality.”
The small location in Northwood Plaza at 77th Avenue North and Kings Highway offers an intimate dining experience, and much of the woodwork in the dining room and bar has been handmade.
“We want to make your night perfect. We’re looking to do more of a full dining experience,” Baxter said. “Like there are places here that have really good food, and there are places that have really good service, and in-between you have the very few places that have both. And I don’t mean good service as far as being polite. I mean good service as far as interacting, as far as food knowledge, as far as suggestions, as far as being able to pair wine successfully for you if you’re not a true gastronomer.”
Baxter was trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and has been a chef for three decades, including a dozen years on the Grand Strand at restaurants like Ciao, Hot Tomato and Costa Coastal Kitchen & Bar in Murrells Inlet.
“This is basically a different kind of dining experience that we want to bring to Myrtle Beach using his culinary skills,” Treffeisen said. “We find at [Hot Tomato] a lot of people really enjoy the specials that the chef creates, so we figured let’s have specials all the time in a restaurant where he can be creative and do whatever he wants to do. ... So we want to give [locals] an opportunity to try different things and go to their favorite place and have something different every time they come.”
Everything is fresh, Baxter said, and Heirloom is farm-to-table with products from within 300 miles as much as possible as well as local purveyors, when possible. Much of the produce is coming from Lee’s Farmers Market.
Baxter said he intends to have complimentary amuse-bouche hors d’oeuvres of his choosing on occasion.
Baking is done on site.
The owners expect the restaurant to require reservations, though tables have been available the first couple weeks.
“We don’t want to serve 200 people a night,” Baxter said. “We’d rather you stay here, truly enjoy it and hope you make it back in as fast as you want to.”
The name Heirloom was chosen because “it’s the nicest and most beautiful of tomatoes, and they come in many colors,” Treffeisen said.
The owners plan to give back to the community, particularly with autism fundraisers. It’s a cause that hits home for both of them.
If Heirloom Bistro is successful, Treffeisen and Baxter hope to open a similar restaurant in the North Myrtle Beach area.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 6:55 AM.
