Kirby's Cafe on Folly offers homemade, affordable food

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Kirby's Cafe invites all comers and all appetites to modest but accommodating quarters on Folly Beach.

Kirby's rests in the old storefront occupied by Lil' Mama's pizzeria. The restaurant has freshened up the digs, dressing the walls in light yellow paint, and the window casings in a turquoise tint. Impressive black-and-white photographs of Folly Beach help deck out the place, and the stained concrete floors and lacquered wood tables give it style.

Jeff Haetel, the previous owner of the well-received Buffalo South bar and restaurant, and partner Steve Gramling opened Kirby's in July, seeking to offer homemade items like pimiento cheese and potato salad and a variety of sandwiches and salads.

For top consideration: the beef on weck ($8), roast beef on a kimmelweck roll; the French dip ($9); an oversized, gooey grilled cheese offering ($7) with cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, American, pepper jack and pimiento cheeses; and the Folly chicken salad ($8) sweetened with apples, craisins and almonds.

A couple of cool tuna salad creations also mark the menu, including the yummy Mediterranean sandwich ($8) with feta cheese, tarragon garlic aioli, lettuce and tomato, and the Santa Fe ($8) with oil and balsamic vinegar, fresh dill, peppers, red onions, lettuce and tomato. All can be had on white or wheat bread or kaiser and hoagie rolls.

The burgers are apt to be good and messy on sesame seed buns. Like, say, the Kirby pimiento cheese and egg ($9); the sharp, melted cheese spills down the sides. It's a good pick, and even better with a side of blue cheese coleslaw.