Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Italian eatery finds home in Conway

Luigi LoSanto is a small man with a big following.

Correction: LoSanto is a small man with a dedicated and determined fan base willing to browse the Web and call up yours truly, and bold enough to ask the competition where he is.

The answer is in Conway, and Luigi's Restaurant has been there since July 10, but some of his fans didn't know where he was.

John and Adele Mancini of Little River found him after taking to the Web. They were elated.

"We went to his former location on 61st Avenue in Myrtle Beach and found out he had skipped out on us again," said John Mancini.

Before coming to Conway and making 621 Church St. (U.S. 501) his new restaurant home, LoSanto spent seven years on 52nd Avenue North in Myrtle Beach and then three years on 61st Avenue North.

"I left Myrtle Beach because it's too expensive," LoSanto said. "I like Conway because of its local people. They are good people, and they are happy that I am here."

LoSanto said he is making the identical cuisine in Conway that his customers in Myrtle Beach came to love.

"It's the same food," he said. "The restaurant is just smaller."

With paintings of Sorrento, Rome and other parts of Italy on the wall, LoSanto and his wife, Anna LoSanto, have created a quaint nook decorated with oversized burgundy booths with eclectic art backs that accentuate pale red brick walls on one side and painted pale red walls on the other.

Luigi LoSanto, 58, was born in Sorrento, where he learned how to cook under the watchful eyes of his mother, grandmother and other relatives.

He lived in New Jersey for 20 years before moving to the Grand Strand.

With more than 35 years of experience in cooking fine Italian cuisine, he is armed with family recipes passed down for generations.

His specialties include grouper Florentine and Luigi's Ravioli, which is portobello-stuffed pasta with prosciutto cream sauce, asiago cheese and portobello mushrooms on top.

Jackie and Larry Shrum, residents of Lincolnton, N.C., stopped to eat there on their way back home after a Christian retreat in Myrtle Beach.

Jackie Shrum had the chicken Marsala, while her husband had the chicken Parmigiana.

"It was delicious, delicious, delicious," Jackie Shrum said. "It was very tasty, and the sauce was very flavorful but light. The chicken was very tender. It was scrumptious. This is better than anything I ever had."

Her husband nodded in agreement as he picked up pasta drenched in marinara and a piece of chicken draped in the same and wrapped in a web of mozzarella cheese.

LoSanto does the cooking; Anna manages the front of the house; their daughter, Monica, is a waitress; their son, Alex, works in the kitchen; and Frankie, the youngest, works a busboy.

And customers are glad this is one family they can be a part of.

"He's our favorite," Adele Mancini said.

Lunch prices start at $5.50 for cold sandwiches and $6.95 for pasta dishes. Dinner entrees are $10.50 to $22.95.

Larry Tanelli, a musician and singer, performs weekly from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Fridays.

Call 488-1190.

Restaurants close

On Sunday, Georgetown residents had two fewer restaurants to enjoy.

Land's End Restaurant, at 444 Marina Drive, closed because of the broken economy.

Hundreds of customers flocked to the eatery during its last days of operation to eat their share of seafood fare and country vittles.

Danielle Lynn, a former waitress, said employees cried when they learned of the closing.

She said the staff of 25 was like family.

Customers came in crying to the eatery that was owned and operated by Mike Bryant for 18 years.

Lynn said some of their long-time employees included Matthew Sumpter, a cook with nearly 29 years of service, and Gale Walker, a waitress there for 23 years.

"I will be out there looking for a job like the rest of them," Lynn said.

PK's Soul Food and Catering, at 1175 N. Fraser St., closed Sunday, too, after opening April 10.

The eatery was owned by Tranis Parker and his wife, Nicola Parker, but various members of their family and friends helped them operate the business, including his brother, Shelton Parker.

It was Shelton Parker who told me the business was closing because the family did not have the time they needed to dedicate to it.

"Tranis is still holding down a full-time job, and I am an income tax guy who is about to move," he said.

Nicola Parker runs a day care center, while her husband, an Army veteran, works as a lab supervisor in Charleston.

However, Shelton Parker said his brother will eventually return to the restaurant business.

"Tranis will regroup and come up stronger," he said. "It won't be long, either."

Carolina Cook-Off

One of the blessings of being a food writer is being asked to judge contests, and I do enjoy most of them.

On Oct. 24, I had the honor of judging the Carolina Cook-Off at the first Holiday Harvest at Broadway at the Beach.

The food was prepared by restaurant chefs working at Broadway at the Beach, and all of it was awesome.

I was one of six judges, and I had a difficult time choosing my top three.

Later, I discovered that most of us had chosen the same three, although in different order.

Diane McCain, a Myrtle Beach native who works for Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery, won first place for her lamb chops, sweet potato souffle, sauteed squash, smoky turnip greens and sweet collard greens. I didn't know collard greens could taste good sweet, but they were fabulous.

Uno Chicago Grill placed second, with one of its dishes being a collard green wrap stuffed with beef and rice. It was divine.

Key West Grill came in third, with a dish that featured barbecue pork, which was a wee bit on the salty side.

Joe's Crab Shack and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville also had exemplary dishes.

Joe's Crab Shack had a rice pilaf with turnips, sweet potatoes, shrimp, crab and collard greens.

Kevin Muldoon, sous chef at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, made an excellent turnip dish using the bulbs and whipping them up like mashed potatoes and garnishing it with fried onion rings.

His was one of my favorites.

Each restaurant chef had to incorporate S.C.-grown produce in his or her meals, using at least three of the following vegetables: squash, sweet potatoes, turnip greens and collard greens.

My stomach gives a hearty thank-you to all of the talented chefs.