THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604160119
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
It's the kind of family run operation you don't often find on Colley Avenue.
Michael Lambakis is back in the kitchen cooking, his wife Renee is expediting - making sure waitress Rose Saunders gets what she needs to keep the customers happy - and her dad, Savvas Constantinou, known for many years to parishioners of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral as Father Sav, is ringing the register up front.
Michael and Renee met through the church. He is a native of Oklahoma City who worked at his grandfather's restaurant while growing up and came to Norfolk as a cook in the Navy. She was a teacher's aide. The two Wards Corner residents took over the former Phil's Cafe in February - on the other side of Colley Avenue, not far from the WVEC-TV studios - and serve a very economical weekday breakfast and lunch.
``A lot of people don't realize that Colley comes to this side of Brambleton,'' Michael said. ``We're kind of hidden away, I guess. But we see all kinds of customers, businessmen, sea merchants from the docks, blue-collar workers.''
Both said they'll never forget the day they opened and not just because it was the start of their new business.
``Feb. 5 was our first day, the day we got all of that snow,'' Michael explained. ``It was actually our busiest day so far.''
Colley Ave. Cafe (143 Colley, 624-3960) offers a lunch for less than $5, even if you splurge on the most expensive menu item, an Italian sausage or steak and cheese sub sandwich (OK, two dozen wings cost $7.95, but that's not lunch). Typical prices for sandwiches (served with fries or chips) are $2.65 for a cheeseburger ($2.95 with bacon), $3.25 for a barbecue, $2.50 for egg salad, $3.95 for sliced roast beef or turkey, and $3.50 for a grilled ham and cheese.
The Western Burger is an Oklahoma specialty, I'm told, consisting of a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg on top ($3.25).
``It's a cross between breakfast and lunch,'' Rose explained.
There's also another Sooner delicacy, a Frito Pie. That's a layer of Frito chips with chili on top, then grated cheese on top of that ($2.25).
Other appetizers and salads include a nice home-style Greek salad ($5.59, large; $3.95, small), which has Calamata olives and a great vinaigrette dressing, a Caesar ($3.50, $4.50 with grilled chicken), chili ($2), a daily soup ($1.50), and wings (also available at $4.95 a dozen).
There are daily lunch specials in the $4.25 range: lasagna, meat loaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, or breaded veal cutlet, to name a few.
For breakfast, served from 6 to 10:30 a.m., you can have a single egg for less than a buck, a three-egg omelet with cheese or green peppers and onions ($2.95); a fried egg sandwich with cheese ($1.15), bacon or sausage ($1.95) or with ham ($2.25). A stack of three pancakes ($1.95) with three strips of bacon will cost you $3.25, and French toast is $1.65 for a short order of two or $3.60 for an order of three with ham. There are daily breakfast specials as well.
Colley Ave. Cafe offers a small selection of beer on tap and in bottles, and according to Michael, he plans to experiment with some Greek specials at lunch in the future.
One wall of the cafe is filled with replica metal signs. On the opposite wall hangs sports memorabilia, including autographed photos of former Chicago Cubs star Ernie Banks, Heisman Trophy-winning football player Billy Simms, former Washington Redskins running back Joe Washington, as well as other Oklahoma football stars.
Oklahoma City is much on Michael Lambakis' mind this week. Friday is the one-year anniversary of the bomb blast that shocked the nation and killed a high school buddy. Friday, April 19, the cafe will stay open from 4 to 11 p.m., offering special prices on items like breaded chicken fingers with barbecue sauce ($4.25); Buffalo wings ($4.75 a dozen); chips and salsa ($1.50); baskets of fries, chips or pretzels ($1); and mugs and pitchers of beer.
``My father's business is only four blocks away from the Federal Building, and a friend of mine operates a restaurant right across the street from the front door,'' he explained. ``The businesses and buildings around that area are still devastated. We're donating 10 percent of our proceeds from the entire day to the OKC Bombing Recovery Fund.''
Colley Ave. Cafe is normally open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Wards Corner residents Renee and Michael Lambakis, a
husband-and-wife team, run the Colley Ave. Cafe.
by CNB