THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406100223
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CAROLE O'KEEFFE, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: BOYKINS
But Julie Chen Rutter added a new twist to the local cuisine in April when she took over the aging dinette on Main Street - most recently a sandwich shop - and began selling egg rolls.
{REST} And pork fried rice. And sweet and sour chicken.
American farm fare it ain't.
But you can get a hot dog or a hamburger at Chen's Place, if that's what you're after.
Rutter serves American and Chinese cuisine at her new eatery because, she said, ``a town like this is not used to Chinese.''
``I have both, and they all have what they want. No need for the fighting.''
Rutter, 52, is an old hand at running restaurants. She's worked in, managed or owned one for some 30 years.
Her last venture was the Formosa on High Street in Portsmouth, which she owned and operated from 1987 to 1989.
She had no plans to open another.
But Rutter and her husband, heretofore city folks, thought Boykins charming and decided to retire there.
After settling into a house, redecorating inside and out, and planting a garden, her husband returned to work part-time.
That left Rutter with time on her hands.
``A friend asked me why not open a restaurant,'' she said.
As it turned out, the town's only restaurant operator was more than willing to turn over the lease to his sandwich shop, called A.J.'s.
So Rutter went back to work.
She was born in Taiwan and came to the United States in 1964, when she was in her early 20s, to study classical piano at the famed Julliard School of Music in New York.
``It was too much for me,'' she said. ``I was too young. I had to learn the English, and the music was Italian. I just gave up and went home.''
But Rutter didn't forget the United States after her three-month stay.
``I liked the country,'' she said.
She married in 1965, and the couple moved to New Jersey in 1968. Her first husband died 18 years later.
Another seven years past, and Rutter found herself working in the officer's dining room of a ship. There she met Edwin W. Rutter, now 66, a captain in the merchant marine.
They married about three years ago. Now Boykins is home.
Dinner prices run from $5.95 to $9.95, Rutter said.
The highest priced lunch special on the Chinese menu, a shrimp and chicken combination, is $4.95.
American lunches include hot dogs, hamburgers and sugar-cured ham sandwiches - local favorites out this way.
by CNB