DATE: Sunday, June 1, 1997                  TAG: 9705300253

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   97 lines

PARTNERS HAVE PRESCRIPTION FOR OLD NANSEMOND DRUG STORETHEY'RE REVIVING A FAVORITE DOWNTOWN GATHERING SPOT FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND HOT GOSSIP.

Early one morning last week, Mike Turner and Carolyn Garland were bustling around the bright, spacious restaurant they will open Monday as the Nansemond Grill.

Turner was going over instructions to employees; Garland was overseeing the kitchen, getting ready to stock the salad bar, making sure supplies were in.

The restaurant wasn't open yet, but the partners were anticipating a noon rush.

``This is a dry run,'' Turner said, smiling nervously as he tapped a pencil on the blue-topped counter. ``One of our co-workers is retiring. We offered to do something here just to see how things go. We're throwing him a party. It gives us an opportunity to test things.''

The entrepreneurs, both substance abuse counselors at Western Tidewater Community Services Board, have done plenty of planning.

Last August, after spending months of noondays trying to decide where to go for lunch that was convenient to their downtown offices, the co-workers were walking on Main Street and noticed that there was a ``for rent'' sign on what was once the old Nansemond Drug Store.

For decades, Turner and Garland knew, the drug store had been a popular place for downtown workers to meet for lunch. The tuna and egg salad sandwiches there had become a tradition, the chitchat and local gossip a necessary accompaniment.

``We work downtown,'' Turner said. ``There just isn't any place to go for lunch. If you do go out, there's no place to park when you come back.''

When the idea to re-open the Nansemond struck Turner, he immediately cut his eyes toward Garland, a woman he'd already learned was an excellent cook. By that time, Garland was famous at her church for her culinary talents, and she was official caterer at office parties and celebrations.

``I was already bringing lunch in for my co-workers on Fridays,'' Garland said. ``I'm one of those Southern, homestyle cooks. That's me! I make a lot of things from scratch. I will not do boxed mashed potatoes.''

With that vow, the two joined forces. Garland continued catering and practicing her skills. Turner moved in to do much of the renovations on the nearly 100-year-old building himself.

``We didn't want to rush it; we wanted to do it right,'' Turner said. ``We want to have good food and a good atmosphere.''

``We want to bring the meeting place of downtown Suffolk back,'' Garland said.

For that reason, the partners have sprinkled their menu selections with nostalgia. The tuna and egg salad sandwiches will be back, but they will be better, Garland said. The ``Nansemond Burger'' will take its place as a staple. The ``Dagwood Sandwich'' has been added, a stack of turkey, ham and cheese. And the grill will offer a soup and salad bar for just $3.50.

``We want to have a lunch special every day,'' Garland said. ``Something like homemade barbecue, baked beans and coleslaw, pot roast, fried or baked chicken. We want to offer a good lunch, something people can fill up on.''

The grill also will offer breakfast, Turner added - a choice of three items like eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, hash browns, grits.

``We're going to call it `have breakfast your way','' he said, smiling. ``And we'll also have things like sausage biscuits, things people can pick up and go with.''

The plan that was worked out over so many months also is to be open a half day on Saturdays, for breakfast and lunch. Both Turner and Garland have cut back somewhat on their hours at Western Tidewater to make their flexible schedule even more so.

Garland, a Suffolk native and single mother with a 13-year-old daughter, plans to devote her cooking talent to the new venture. She also likes to make homemade desserts, another restaurant feature she said she feels will be welcomed in downtown.

``I got started catering when my daughter was in a pageant,'' she said. ``I decided to do a dinner to raise money for the pageant. Then, I began to cater dinners. And everybody said, `Wow! You should do more of this.'''

Turner, who lives in Chesapeake, is married and has a has 7-year-old son and 5-month old twins, a boy and a girl. He's worked in restaurants in the past, bussing and waiting tables when he was still in school.

But he has a special talent to add to the partnership as well.

``I love to eat - anything Carolyn cooks,'' he said, grinning.

The Nansemond Grill, the partners says, will feature good food, an affordable breakfast and lunch.

Ice cream, shakes and sodas also have been added to the menu, reminiscent of the Nansemond Drug Store.

``The support we've had has been wonderful,'' Garland said. ``My church, our co-workers, our families. Everybody has been great. I feel like Mike's family has become my family.''

That feeling of family is exactly what Turner hopes to see spread through the business.

``It's part of our occupation as counselors,'' he said. ``We enjoy talking to people, being with them. We really want this place to be somewhere folks can relax and enjoy themselves.''

And he wants it to be a place where they won't have to worry about losing their parking places downtown. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

Mike Turner, who co-owns the Nansemond Grill with Carolyn Garland

checks his pre-opening instructions to workers. The gill opens

Monday.

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