Their Suffolk location has a long history of feeding folks. Years ago, it was the Nansemond Drug Co., renowned for its lunch counter. In 1996, Rite Aid Pharmacy bought the 91-year- old family drug store, moved it and closed the grill. Since then, several cafes have opened and shut at the old site. Last year, the Gellases bought and began restoring the building. They settled onexposed brick walls, glass block and mirrored bar and light wood furnishings. Although the restaurant has a children’s menu, it is adult-oriented and offers no high chairs or boosters for the young. “Pisces brings a flavor and atmosphere that we have not experienced before in the heart of downtown Suffolk,” Mayor Bobby L. Ralph, said after visiting the eatery. A few doors away, Jeff Jones, 24, his wife, Heather, and his brother Brian are putting the finishing touches on Java 149, a Manhattan-style coffee house. The brothers have 20 years of restaurant experience combined. “Brian spent the last three years working in restaurants in New York, and we think Suffolk is ready for this,” Jones said. Java 149’s sleek, modern decor is accented by a wall sculpture and a 125-gallon aquarium. The menu choices – written in chalk on a blackboard over the counter – include exotic coffees, sandwiches, cannoli and cheesecakes. “We’ll also have a variety of teas – we’ve discovered there are a lot of tea drinkers in Suffolk,” Jones said. |
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Aug. 30 2005 BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT SUFFOLK — Over a mosaic tile floor, past walls filled with local artwork and beyond a sputtering espresso machine, a teenage barrista takes orders for Karamel Sutras, a sweet caffeine concoction. At one of the nearly dozen glasstop tables, a young woman sips a latte with one hand and polishes a poem with the other. And outside the window, one that overlooks Suffolk’ s bustling Main Street, people of all ages file into Java 149. Jeff Jones smiles broadly at each one. Sure, on this Friday evening he’s happy to see paying customers arrive at the coffeehouse he owns with his wife, Heather, and brother, Brian. But to see them toting plastic notebooks filled with poetry to read at the monthly open-mike night, he says, is “simply awesome.” “Our dream was to open a coffee shop that, aside from serving the best coffee, would become a place in downtown Suffolk where culture could grow.” While Java 149 has yet to be open a full year, few can deny that the coffeehouse, and the events it hosts, has brought an urban flair to this traditionally rural city. Belly dancers gyrate through Java’s doors almost monthly; young singles in search of love pop in for speed dating; aspiring musicians plug in every Saturday; and writing and reading clubs use the space to meet, critique and feed off the spot’s creative energy. “I’m from an urban area and am used to coffee shops like this,” says Michael Bollinger, the recently hired director for Suffolk’s Center for Cultural Arts. “But for Suffolk, a place like this is new. It makes you feel at home, while making you feel like you’re in a bigger city.” Growing up in Virginia Beach, Jeff, 25, and Brian, 32, wanted to open their own restaurant. Far too often, though, “life gets in the way of those dreams,” Jeff said. After graduating from Kempsville High School, Jeff headed off to college in search of a |
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| degree that would help him get into law school. Brian headed to New York City, where he worked in other people’s restaurants learning the trade. When Brian returned to Virginia and Jeff began working on a graduate degree in creative writing, the brothers decided to stop “wasting time” and finally do what they’d been talking about for so long. First, they helped open a restaurant on Granby Street in Norfolk. The hands-on experience was great, Jeff said, but the brothers soon left because “we realized that no one would run or open a restaurant the way we wanted.” In the meantime, 24-yearold Heather, Jeff’s high school sweetheart, was trying to figure out how she could open her own business – any business. At age 5, she was running the cash register at one of her father’s antique shops. At 16, she was managing the store.Before Java opened, Heather and Jeff were spending nearly every day sipping coffee at a Starbucks in Chesapeake. “We loved those trips,” Heather said. “We loved the atmosphere, the coffee, the relaxation. So we figured, why not open a place like that here that everybody could enjoy?” The trio saw Suffolk as an ideal location. Heather and Jeff had recently moved to the peanut city bustling with revitalization and growth. Property investors were selling Suffolk as the new Hampton Roads frontier. And, as if fate wasn’t being clear enough, Jeff and Heather already co-owned Java’s space at 149 Main St. Instead of leasing it out as planned, they decided to move forward on their conviction that “there was more to Suffolk than antiques and peanuts and Civil War history,” Jeff said. “There are real people here who want to express themselves through the arts. Why not provide them a venue?” It was a long, hard road to opening. Knowing Java wouldn’t make them millionaires overnight, the three scrutinized every detail, right down to the style of to-go boxes and color of votive holders adorning each table. They brainstormed sevents to host, wanting to push the envelope some, hoping to draw people out of their shells. |
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| Poetry nights were a given. But, Jeff said, they also wondered: “Should we start our own improv acting group? Should we begin planning our own film festival?” Last fall, ready or not, Java 149 opened its doors. Attorneys from the courthouse across the street started walking over, ordering specialty sandwiches and salads during court recess. Teenagers found the shop a hip place to bring a first date. Suffolk police officers began making a Java stop part of their daily patrols. And people started showing up in swarms for the poetry readings, belly dancing and open-mike nights. Navy-pilot-turned-poet Pete Freas walks confidently to a microphone set up beside Java’s oversized exotic fish tank.His throaty voice flows through the coffee shop, inviting poets to step forward on this Friday night. Be brave, he says. Read your work. “Every one of us is a closet poet,” says Freas. “Confess it. Tell us you are. Show us you are.” The young woman polishing her piece earlier approaches the mike – her voice weak at first, but growing stronger with each word. A middle-age man steps forward to read a children’s poem. And a college student, in search of extra credit for class, finally musters the courage to read a short story he says is “a work in progress.” “People told me having poetry down here was as crazy as opening a coffee shop in Suffolk,” Jeff says as he makes his way to the coffee bar, where a line of customers waits. “There was a fear of change. “I guess you could say,” he adds, waving his arm across the standing- room-only scene, “change is good.” |
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| Javapress 149 |
| est. 2004 - 149 n. main st. downtown suffolk va - 757.923.9928 |
BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Oct 2004 Downtown Suffolk gets a double helping of urban flavor this week with the opening of two restaurants in the 100 block of N. Main St . Pisces, specializing in seafood, steaks and a raw bar, opened Monday. Java 149, a coffee house serving sandwiches and desserts, is expected to open today . Besides offering new dining options, Pisces and Java 149 are bringing 24 jobs to Suffolk. The owners of the new eateries are Suffolk residents who are betting that locals will welcome a metropolitan flair in cuisine and decor. “We care so much about the downtown, and we’ve seen the city cares about us,” said Pisces owner Stephen Gellas. Gellas, 53, managed eateries in New Jersey before coming to Hampton Roads to head several local chain restaurants and then Nick’s Seafood Pavillion in Yorktown. Two years ago, he and his wife, Margaret, opened the Rose Bay Cafe in Chesapeake. |
| New Suffolk eateries dish up urban flavor |
| Java 149 coffeehouse – and the events it hosts – is bringing a culture buzz to Suffolk |