THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240407
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
An eatery that was as well known for its gossip as it was for bacon and eggs, has closed its doors.
Known for nearly 50 years as the Duchess of Dare before a couple of recent name changes, Gabby's Family Steak House ceased operation at noon Saturday.
Owner Carol Ann Angelos said a shrinking clientele was the reason for the shutdown. The Budleigh Street eatery is for sale or lease.
``It breaks my heart,'' Angelos said Tuesday. ``I just couldn't afford to put any more money into it. We tried everything we knew to do. We started out with a bang. But we went from 100 to 30 for breakfast and 30 for lunch. Last weekend, we had eight for dinner. We just couldn't afford it anymore.''
Angelos bought the restaurant from the family of Doris Walker in late 1994.
Walker, who opened Walker's Diner in 1947, later renamed it The Duchess of Dare. For decades, politicians and plumbers, crabbers and cops gathered to talk politics and swap community news: who was sick, who had died, who had a new baby in the house.
Walker, who ran the restaurant with the help of her four children, became known as ``The Duchess.'' Illness forced her retirement, and a daughter, Earlene, ran it for a short time.
When Angelos took over the restaurant, renaming it The Courthouse Cafe, the menu in many ways reflected the style of one of her other restaurants, The Jolly Roger. But the steady stream of loyal coffee drinkers didn't change.
``We served sticky buns and coffee, and people would come in and drink six, seven, eight cups of coffee,'' Angelos said. ``It's a shame we had to close.''
The closing of the downtown landmark leaves its many regulars longing for a morning gathering place.
``I drove around and around the block for an hour and a half thinking about what I was going to do with my early mornings,'' Dare County School Superintendent Leon Holleman said. ``Institutions like the diner are dying in this country, and that's sad.''
Holleman, who has lived in Dare County for three years, said it took awhile for him to build up the courage to join the early morning coffee crew, a bunch with a reputation for unflinching candor.
``For about a year, I was scared to go in there,'' Holleman said. ``Those guys can be pretty rough. But it was the only place where you could have politicians and teachers and reporters and watermen and retired folks and everybody's opinion had the same value. You could have good old-fashioned give and take, and have a little fun, too. That's the backbone of our society.''
One of the regulars at the diner was the president pro tem of the state Senate, Marc Basnight, who lives across Shallowbag Bay from the cafe.
``As far as politics goes, you got more rumor than substance,'' Basnight said in a 1995 story about the diner. ``It was a place where you could find out who needed help in the community.
``If anybody had a need in the human arena, you could find out at the duchess,'' said Basnight, who often used the coffee drinkers as a sounding board for his legislative plans.
Angelos is looking for someone who wants to take over the business, which includes a 3-bedroom apartment upstairs.
``It would be perfect for a Mom and Pop family operation,'' Angelos said. ``If I were 20 years closer to retirement, I would move into the apartment and run the restaurant. But I can't.''
Until that time comes, Holleman and the other diner regulars will try to find a new place for a hot coffee and equally hot conversation.
``I don't know where we'll go,'' he said. ``But we'll find somewhere to go until the situation at the diner is resolved and it opens again. I hope it will be back.'' by CNB