THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608130136
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: On The Town
SOURCE: [Sam Martinette]
LENGTH: 81 lines
EVEN AS NICK BONIS plunks a plate of pork chops swimming in brown gravy down on the counter of his B & H Luncheonette, he knows his days on Church Street are numbered.
The luncheonette and grocery his father and uncle opened in 1950 (Bonis and Hadoulos - B & H), will soon be overrun by progress - the widening of Church Street.
The groceries are long gone. Bonis's parents are retired, and the old luncheonette even closed for a year before Nick reopened last winter, but many of the longtime customers have returned, along with some new ones who work in the factory district surrounding the old building.
The tiny diner still has a vintage Coca-Cola sign outside, while inside the original wooden booths stretch along one wall and the old Formica counter is used to feed regulars the meatloaf or veal cutlet specials. An old-fashioned wooden telephone booth stands in one corner, still operative. Behind a counter sit antique radios from the '40s and '50s, brought in by customers for display, as was a disconnected tabletop juke box selector with songs by Spike Jones, Elvis and the Everly Brothers listed.
Nick Bonis recalls the heyday of the luncheonette on the corner of 25th and Church. ``When I was a kid my mother, Genovia, was the waitress and my father, Dennis, was the cook,'' he says. Myers Field, where the Norfolk Tars - loaded with future New York Yankee stars - played, was nearby, and ``business was booming.''
But don't think Nick is living in the past. When the time comes the 46-year-old musician - he plays bass guitar for Big Fun and was formerly a member of the Jail Tones for 12 years - hopes to move the business to a location near ODU.
Nick's B & H Luncheonette (Bonis added his name when he reopened) is a no-frills place for ``blue collar workers, people from the block and the people my parents used to feed'' to come for a late breakfast sandwich, an inexpensive hot lunch, or a cold beer and a sandwich on midweek afternoons.
If it isn't fancy, it is homemade. ``We make everything from scratch.'' Bonis says. ``I make all the gravies and soups, and we use high quality meats. As a kid I used to help at the grill and do prep work, but I was more interested at 13 in playing folk music at the Folk Ghetto downtown, or at Folk Alley at the Beach.''
When he decided to reopen the family business, Nick got his father to come in and teach him the recipes. Now Bonis offers a limited sandwich menu, as well as the kind of blue plate specials he grew up on.
Lunch specials vary through the week, but favorites are Mom's Meatloaf with brown gravy and vegetables, chopped steak with grilled onions and gravy and ham with cabbage and potatoes (all $3.85). Pasta dishes (spaghetti with meat sauce - $3.85, or with veal and meat sauce - $4.25) and grilled pork chops in a rich brown gravy ($4.25), are offered midweek, as is baked chicken oregano over rice with gravy. Specials come with vegetables such as butter beans, collards, corn, mashed or fried potatoes, green beans, apple sauce, rolls and tea.
Friday is fish day, Bonis says. ``We'll have fried trout ($4.85) or shrimp ($5.65), or fried Louisiana oysters ($5.25), and I do a variation on the way my dad used to bread it.''
Other lunches include a veal cutlet ($3.50), or a tuna salad cold plate ($3.85), while sandwiches include hot dogs ($1.35), burgers ($1.85), and a club of turkey, ham, bacon and cheese with lettuce and tomato, chips and pickle ($3.75). Soups change daily, and include the likes of navy or lima bean ($1.75, chili, gumbo, chicken vegetable or sausage and chili bean with corn bread ($2.25).
Nick will continue serving regulars on weekdays, and he'll play with the band evenings, all the while keeping an eye on a changing Church Street. ``It's a working man's diner,'' Nick says. ``If you like home cooking this is it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Nick and Debbie Bonis reopened the family business, featuring
home-style cooking.
AT A GLANCE
Nick's B & H Luncheonette: 2500 Church St., 625-8017.
Food: breakfast sandwiches (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.), soups, sandwiches
and daily lunch specials, beer available.
Prices: specials in $3 to $5 range.
Summer Hours: 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Monday - Friday; 4:30 - 7 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday. by CNB