Another ribbon was cut, while down the avenue, the after-church crowd filled the restaurant booths. It sure didn’t feel like a recession on Whalley.
Sunday marked at least the fifth formal opening of a new business along the central Whalley Avenue corridor (from Howe Street to Pendleton) since right before the start of the recession. Only one business there has closed in that time, according to Whalley Special Services District chief Sheila Masterson.
She was on hand, along with city Deputy Economic Development Administrator Chrissy Bonanno, Sunday afternoon for the ribbon-cutting at Elaine’s Healthy Choice, a Jamaican-accented vegan spot next to St. Luke’s Church. Owners Richard and Elaine Bernard handed the scissors to son, Lemuel, 6, and daughter, Bithia, 4, (all shown in the photo at the top of this story), to do the honors. The family, Seventh Day Aventists, close the shop before sundown Friday and all day Saturday.
Following the ceremony, as customers proceeded to line up for out-of-this-world (soy) “chicken” bites and other meat- and dairy-free spicy treats, Masterson marveled at the scrappy district’s perseverance amid hard times.
Since last fall’s Wall Street meltdown, only Drummer Boy Auto Sales has shut its doors, she said. Meanwhile, along with Elaine’s, Village Cafe, Mother Mary’s Soul Food Kitchen (second photo above), Elm City Customs, Nitros, and Mark E Salomone and Morelli lawyers all had opened. They and their established neighbors are holding on.
“The recession hit for most of [the older businesses] two years ago, when gasoline first spiked. They had to tighten their belts back then,” observed Masterson (at right in photo with Richard Bernard and Bonanno). By the time of last fall’s recession, “they had already figured out how to lower the electric bill and lower the inventory,” she said.
She attributed the district’s fortunes to the nature of its businesses, too: “This is where you get stuff done day to day: get your groceries, get your car fixed, get your hair cut.”
Or load up on vegetarian pepper steak, curried lentils, or stew beans with TVP to go, in the case of Elaine’s. Click here to watch a visit to the spotless kitchen, in what used to be an auto-repair garage, when the restaurant unofficially began serving earlier this spring.
While the vegan fare cooked at Elaine’s, decidedly meatier dishes were flying to the tables and out the door all afternoon at Mama Mary’s Soul Food Restaurant between Winthrop and Norton.
It was, after all, Sunday. And people get hungry in church.
Sundays have been pretty much nonstop all year at the cozy brick-and-wood family-style spot, reported Tanya Harris (at left in photo). Harris opened the restaurant with her husband, Robert Harris, unofficially last July, officially some weeks later. They recouped their initial investment by February and have been turning a profit ever since, Tanya said. She said part of the secret has been keeping the prices modest for her home cooking.
Tod Holmes has helped. A lieutenant at the jail up the street, he comes in every day, he said. Sunday, he picked up a $10.60 baked ham order, a Sunday staple at Mama Mary’s. “I’m trying to cut back on the fried foods, brother,” Holmes explained. “I’m trying to get those six-pack abs.”
The Rev. James Newman was headed back to his new Freedom Baptist Church on Starr Street and Shelton Avenue, armed with an order for eight people of chicken wings, potato salad, stuffing, black-eyed peas and collard greens, all for under $50. Newman was celebrating his 52nd birthday with the gang at church.
Local politicians were chowing down, too. At one table sat Marcus Paca, who’s waging a Democratic primary challenge for an aldermanic seat in Edgewood. At another could be found Newhallville Alderwoman Katrina Jones. Jones came with her daughter, Kirvanna, and her mom Gwen Newton an alderwoman herself a generation ago, a member of the fiery “Magnificent 7” rebels of 1969. The three plan to hit the campaign trail soon to help Katrina get re-elected. On Sunday, meanwhile, mother, daughter and grandma went home after services at AME Bethel, changed clothes, then headed right to the spot to be on Sunday after the Lord’s name has been praised.