Story and photo

by Becky Billingsley

MAIN COURSE

Who's cooking

Ernest Brunson bought Thomas Cafe four years ago from Eddie Fesperman, but this isn't his first dance around the diner.

The 1993 graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Charleston had a non-cooking managerial job with Harris Teeter right out of college, but then he heated up a few kitchens.

"I cooked at a couple places in Hilton Head, then St. Simon Island, then The Cloister for the Sea Island Company," the chef said on June 23. "I ran another place like Thomas Cafe on St. Simon Island for a year and a half. Then I started looking for restaurants, and I happened to find this one. It was still reasonably priced here compared to St. Simon Island. Everyone there wanted a million dollars for their restaurant even though it's not so busy there, because the real estate is high."

In Georgetown Chef Brunson can be close to family. He was born and raised in Florence, and his parents still live there.

Place setting

Thomas Cafe was founded in 1929, and the building it's in is more than 100 years old. Outside the facade has had a butter and bisque facelift, and it has a signature green awning. Inside the soft buttery yellow continues on the walls, and the forest green of the awning is carried through with the checkered tile floor, tablecloths, booths and other painted wood surfaces. Walls are decorated with posters from previous year's Wooden Boat Shows and Harborwalk Celebrations.

Each table has a cut glass bowl that holds butter, but on hot days it's routinely filled only at breakfast to prevent melting. Diners also have at their fingertips ketchup, salt, pepper, jelly, artificial sugar packets and old-fashion glass sugar shakers with screw-on metal tops.

Visitors have a choice of high-back wood booths, tables and the counter. A couple of tables can accommodate 6-8 people, and the table by the front window is where many singles sit together and enjoy each other's company or read newspapers and magazines while they eat. It's definitely the type of place with lots of regulars, where you know you can dependably find so-and-so at such-and-such time every day.

No one minds that the old walls are slightly out of kilter, like over the front doors. The overall ambiance is as comfortable as a loose cotton tank top on a sweltering sauna of a day.

What's to eat

Breakfasts are what you'd expect in a Southern diner: egg plates, omelets, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, grits and sliced tomatoes. A stand-out is the Lowcountry Creole Omelet with shrimp, crab, Cheddar and Creole sauce served with white or stone-ground yellow grits or potatoes, and a choice of biscuit or toast. That meal costs $7.

For lunch the star is the daily meat-and-two special for $7.25. The day I visited the meat choices were Lemon Peppered Baked Chicken or Roast Pork Loin, and sides were Au Gratin Potatoes, Rice and Gravy, Fried Squash, Field Peas, 5-Bean Salad, Cole Slaw, Mixed Fruit and Lemon Creme Cake.

I had the chicken, and it was moist, tender and well flavored. The exterior texture was pleasantly firm, which is no small feat with baked chicken. Fried Squash was excellent with its crispy/sweet cornmeal coating, and the dressing on the Five Bean Salad struck a savory balance of sweet and sass. Lemon Crème Cake lived up to its name with a creamy consistency.

If you see Pileau on the specials board, stop right on in and get you some.

The traditional regional chicken/sausage/rice dish is done right here.

But there is much more to lunch here than just the daily specials.

Brunson is known for his Shrimp and Grits, where the shrimp are served in a creamy red-eye gravy with sautéed peppers, onions and country ham.

You also get a couple of Fried Green Tomatoes with the Shrimp and Grits, or you can get a basket of the tomatoes with a side of Ranch dressing for dipping. They are served piping hot, and Brunson strikes a delicious balance of pleasantly softened cooked tomato with crunchy seasoned batter.

Chef Brunson and his team can also whip up Hamburger Steak smothered in peppers, onions, mushrooms and gravy; Fried Shrimp or Flounder; Philly Cheesesteak; Reuben; Blackened Chicken Sandwich; Burger; Club Sandwich; and a handful of salads including the Chicken Salad Platter with potato salad, sliced tomatoes, cottage cheese and fresh fruit.

All the meals are appropriately portioned: You get plenty of food without receiving so much that you edge into bellyache or needing-a-nap territory.

Thomas Cafe

Where: 703 Front St., Georgetown

Phone: 546-7776

Noise Level: There's a radio playing in the kitchen, but so softly diners can't tell what type of music it is. Folks are talking of course, but the chatter isn't loud because they're mostly busy eating.

Vegetarian Options: Omelets, grits, pancakes, home fries, fried eggs, French toast, breakfast breads, sliced tomatoes, fruit bowl, cereal, fried green tomatoes, onion rings, fries, house salad, Caesar salad, and for children, grilled cheese and peanut butter with jelly.

Smoking: Not allowed

Hours: 7 a.m. -2 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays

Prices: Breakfast averages about $5 and lunch about $7, although you can get a breakfast biscuit for as little as $1.25.

Check for Two: Including tips, breakfast would be about $12 and lunch about $18.

SIDE DISHES

Former Pawleys Island chef now in Tennessee

Chef Louis Osteen is on his fourth job since closing Louis's at Pawleys in September 2008. The Tennessean newspaper reported on June 23 that Osteen, a 2004 James Beard award winner, is now an executive chef for Hospitality Development Group and will work at three restaurants: Watermark Restaurant, Miro District Food & Drink and Blind Pig No. 55. After closing the Pawleys Island restaurant he closed his Las Vegas restaurant called Louis’s Las Vegas in November 2008. His next gig was in Florida as executive chef at South Seas Island Resort in Captiva, Fla., and then he moved to Lake Rabun Hotel Restaurant in Lakemont, Ga., in June 2009.

Restaurant has new name

The new name has been decided for the old 811 Steak and Pasta at 9674 Ocean Highway in Pawleys Island: JD's Steakhouse & Pasta. It opens at 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and soon they'll also serve lunch. The number is 235-9400.

New wines available at local restaurant

The River Room in Georgetown has several new wines, including Kung Fu Girl, a Washington state Riesling that isn't too sweet.

It has some acidity to it and is extremely refreshing. Other new summer wines include Vinho Verde (clean, clear, crisp, quaffable, spritzy, 9 % alcohol) and the rose version of the Spanish Txakolina (indigenous grapes, spritzy).

The River Room is at 801 Front St. in Georgetown, and the number is 527-4110.

It's open from Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m.