By Johanna Wilson Jones

Inside the oldest golf course on the Grand Strand, a chef dwells in a kitchen cooking familiar food gently accented by his personality.

Martin Graham is the chef in question. He is a native of Horry County, born in Conway, and firmly grounded in traditions from his roots.

He is a humble man, a quiet man. He is somewhat shy, but he will converse easily and breezily when the talk is of family, food, and facets of a life lived professionally in a kitchen.

Currently, he is not in the kitchen. Instead, he sits in a dining area at Pine Lakes Country Club. Here, at Pine Lakes, Myrtle Beach’s first golf course, debuting in 1927, the son of Jimmy and Betty Graham puts his proven skills to daily culinary tests he passes with ease.

“He is a great, caring guy,’’ said DeShon Grate, who has worked with Graham for three years. “He’s friendly, real nice. I love working with him.”

Grate, a dishwasher, busser, and employee who will take on any task asked of him, said Graham is laid-back and trusts his staff to do what is necessary.

“He lets everybody do their thing, and he is always stepping in when needed, helping,’’ Grate said. “He lets everybody float their way.”

Yet, he will humbly and graciously let his colleagues know when he believes certain tasks should be done differently. Folks on the job like him and appreciate his meek character.

However, the admiration doesn’t stop there.

They like the way this chef cooks.

“His macaroni and cheese is my favorite thing he cooks,’’ Grate said. “Everybody cooks it differently, but it’s just something about his that is delicious.”

The Cooking Gene

Tradition is tantamount in the Graham family. For at least 25 years, the close-knit clan gathers every Sunday for dinner after the patriarch and matriarch return from services at Pauley Swamp Baptist Church.

Jimmy and Betty Graham begin preparing for the Sunday feast on Saturday and complete as much of the meal as possible before leaving for church on Sunday morning. If there is something left undone, Martin comes over and finishes up the supper.

His mama said he has ‘’the cooking gene,’’ a natural gift to finesse food that everybody doesn’t have. She has it. Her husband of nearly 60 years has it. Their daughter, Gretchen Dudley, doesn’t have it. Yet, Betty Graham declared her son is blessed with “the cooking gene.”

“Martin has always wanted to cook things from scratch,’’ Betty Graham cheerfully said. “Since he was in middle school, he cooked. He always wanted to get in the kitchen and do his thing.”

As a kid, he impressed his mama with his knowledge about food. She was amazed by his innate talent to fix fixings that made stomachs fiend for more.

“Some people are gifted to know what kinds of seasonings go with what kind of food,’’ she said. “Everybody doesn’t know how to do that, but Martin does.

It’s a genetic thing.

Their son wanted to be a music teacher. He even pursued music education at Lander College and earned his degree.

“I started in first grade on piano, and then in fourth grade, I started on guitar,’’ Martin Graham said. “Then in sixth grade, I started on trombone. It just grew from there.”

Then, reality played him a sour note. He discovered he couldn’t and wouldn’t pursue a career as a music teacher.

“I found out that I had to teach a bunch of kids that didn’t want to be in school,’’ Martin Graham said. “I had no use to teach music at all, and those kids were bad.”

The fire started roaring in his heart to become a chef after gaining restaurant experience during the summer.

In 1994, he enrolled in the culinary arts program at Horry Georgetown Technical College. In 1996, he graduated.

In 2024, this man enjoying life as a chef and still grooving to his music has found a way to exist vibrantly in the two professional worlds he loves best.

“Martin is great at being a chef and a musician,’’ his dad said. “Martin is unique. He is intelligent, but he is not outgoing, although he is in a band, plays bass guitar, and sings back with the band he plays with. With us, he is talkative – but he is quiet with other people.”

Rocking In The Kitchen

Martin Graham described his world as he sat in a dining room with sage green walls and maroon carpet at Pine Lakes. It is an existence filled with a love for family, food, and music.

He has a salt-and-pepper beard that is long and neatly groomed. His face is stoic, while his eyes are inviting and peaceful. For 12 years now, he has been executive chef at Pine Lakes, located at 5603 Granddaddy Dr. in Myrtle Beach.

The distant chatter of people enjoying cocktails and ritzy sandwiches provides background noise to his steady, crescendo voice.

“I like cooking here because it’s always different,’’ he said. “Sometimes, that gets a little too much, but it keeps it fun.’’

For holidays, he will lead the way in preparing lavish meals. The day-to-day menus, however, feature favorites guided by his distinctive talent to make food taste homey and heavenly.

Chicken Lombardy, prime rib, and chicken marsala are the proteins he prepares that knock out palates. Yet, his aptitude also shines in Southern classics.

“Martin makes the best shrimp and grits – on my goodness, that is good,’’ his mom said. “He makes the best food, including fashionable dishes. His chicken marsala is wonderful.”

Members and guests at Pine Lakes can find pieces of his personality in every menu item, dominated by sandwiches for lunch. The Granddaddy Grilled Cheese comes with American, provolone, or Swiss cheese. Smoked cherry wood bacon, juicy tomatoes, and grilled onions complete the sandwich served on the bread of one’s choice. Other sandwiches highlight prime rib, salmon, chicken, and other meat celebrated on sandwiches.

No matter what he serves, he humbly delivers.

“As a chef, he always gets things done,’’ said Marie Graham, his wife of 26 years. They have one daughter, Emily, who is a pet groomer. “He never worries or frets when the kitchen’s low on food. He figures it out and gets the job done. That’s always amazed me.”

His wife said she loves how he flawlessly duplicates restaurant tastes at home.

“It’s his superpower,’’ Marie Graham said. “One of my favorite things is his spaghetti sauce – that has become my comfort food. It’s even better the next day when I eat it cold on Ritz crackers.”

Her husband has been in the restaurant business for about 32 years, spending nearly 12 at Litchfield Country Club before coming to Pine Lakes. He knows his stuff, but he doesn’t think he stands out from other chefs on the Grand Strand.

“I just go with what needs to be done and whatever is needed of me,’’ Martin Graham said. “Here, at Pine Lakes, we are different because we are doing so many different things constantly.”

No matter the occasion he and his staff prepare food for, the reality of food’s power is ever-present.

“Eating is something everybody has to do,’’ he said. “If you have good food out there, it will bring people together.”

When he isn’t making music in the kitchen, be it at Pine Lakes or home, he is somewhere playing his bass guitar. He has played an assortment of music and instruments.

Folks can find videos on social media of Graham playing bass guitar and singing backup for an Elvis Presley impersonator named Rick Alviti, who resides in New York.

When Alviti has gigs in the Carolinas, Graham works with him. When Alviti is gyrating and swooning through “Burning Love” and “Jailhouse Rock,’’ Jimmy and Betty’s son and most cherished chef grooves quietly in the cut. The posture is perfect, and his face is still stoic.

“I love playing music because it’s fun and relaxing,’’ he said. “When I am performing, everything else goes away. All the other stuff in life takes a back seat for a little while.”