DATE: Sunday, July 13, 1997                 TAG: 9707110250

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: ON THE TOWN 

TYPE: RESTAURANT REVIEW 

SOURCE: Sam Martinette 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

COPELAND'S DISHES LOT OF GOOD EATIN' WITHOUT A LOT OF FUSS

It's hard to miss Copeland's Drive-In on Portsmouth Boulevard. The curving glass windows of the dining room area - as seen from the highway - remind me of a sub sandwich roll, or perhaps a foot-long hot dog, which you can get at the independent fast food eatery.

Old-timers recall the location as the Suffolk outpost of Moseberth's Chicken, the family business that still thrives in mid-town Portsmouth. That much I learned from Manager Carolyn Green, who has been with Copeland's for six years. She and Gladys Stephens, who fries up a flock of chickens every day, run the place when owner Horton Copeland isn't on hand.

There's certainly nothing fancy about Copeland's. You order from the counter and the food is served in Styrofoam containers. There are eight booths with butcher block veneer for dining, with enough on the posted menu to keep you reading all through lunch or dinner. It's fast food, after all, but the ladies tell me the big difference is that the seafood at Copeland's is fresh and breaded on the spot, as is the fried chicken. The desserts, such as bread or rice pudding, chocolate or pineapple cake, are homemade as well, Stephens said.

Have you ever tried to eat fried chicken and take notes at the same time? Let me assure you it's a slippery proposition. Because there is no printed menu, I jotted down a few dozen prices, so listen up.

In addition to sandwiches, which I'll get to later, the fried chicken and barbecue come in snacks and dinners. A snack has two pieces of bird, with fries and a roll, while a dinner has your choice of two vegetables, three pieces of chicken and a roll. There are seafood snacks and dinner also. Southern-style vegetables include mashed potatoes, cole slaw, collard greens, black-eyed peas, navy or baked beans, potato salad, and fries.

A chicken snack is $2.49, while the dinner is $4.09. A chicken breast snack is $3.99, while the dinner is $4.99. A liver or gizzard snack is $3.75, and the 12-piece dinner costs ($4.95). The same prices hold for a barbecue snack and dinner, while a fried chicken and barbecue combination dinner is $5.50. If chitterlings sound good to you, the dinner is $5.50, and a small order costs $3.50. A pork chop dinner will cost $5.25. There is a daily fried chicken special, a two-piece dark meat snack for $2.49, with fries and a roll, or you can get a wing and a breast for $2.99, with the same side orders.

As for seafood, a fried shrimp snack is $5.75, and the dinner $6.95. Fried oysters are $5.75 for five, and $7.95 for the dinner of eight. A crab cake snack is $3.75, $4.95 for two. A flounder, whiting or trout dinner is $4.95, and the seafood platter with crab cake, oyster, shrimp, and fresh fish is $8.95. You can get an individual crab cake for $1.35, or have it on a sandwich for $2.25.

Speaking of sandwiches, they include hamburgers ($ .85/$1.70), cheeseburgers ($1.25/$2), and barbecue ($2/$2.75) in two sizes, a chuckwagon steak of breaded veal with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise ($2.20), a Philly cheese steak ($2.95), a ham sandwich ($2.95), and a chili dog ($1.10). I told you there was a foot-long hot dog, and it costs $2.20.

Copeland's also serves breakfast, ranging from a 55-cent biscuit to the breakfast special of two eggs with bacon or sausage, hash browns, biscuit or toast, for $2.49. You can get three pancakes with bacon or sausage ($2.49), or a bacon-and-egg sandwich ($1.70). Two eggs with three strips of bacon, hash browns and toast costs $2.75. A salt herring is $1.50 per fish. A flounder sandwich is $3.25.

The fried chicken was fine, and there was a steady stream of customers both taking food out and eating in the day I was there. It's no-frills, fast food dining, but it's not a chain, and that goes a long way in my book. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE

Gladys Stephens, left, does the cooking and Carolyn Green manages

Copeland's Drive-In.

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