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Pointer Salutes: Nina’s
Cafe: Serving up smiles with sandwiches
By Kelli Caplan
Jennifer
Walrath knows all too well how fast food restaurants operate. She
worked in management for them for years, constantly making mental
notes of what not to do.
Now, she is in the position to put what she learned into action.
In September, Walrath fulfilled a lifelong ambition of striking
out on her own by opening Nina’s Café on 704 Thimble
Shoals Boulevard. And, finally, she is able to do exactly what she
wants with a restaurant, shaping it into the exact type of eatery
she has always imagined owning.
“This is my baby,” she says. “This is my dream.”
Walrath makes sure that Nina’s does everything that the fast
food restaurants she worked for failed to deliver. She simply wants
her restaurant to center around the customers. She focuses on service
and quality. There should never be an unhappy patron, she says.
In the short time that Nina’s has been open, Walrath has quickly
developed a rapport with her customers, many of whom come back regularly.
She knows the names of most everyone who comes through the door.
 Jennifer
Walrath with granddaughter Nina |
“I
know how I’ve had to be with customers in the fast food industry.
I’m not going to be like that,” she says. “I get
so excited when the customers are happy. It’s the best feeling
in the world. When my customers walk out the door, I want them to
be smiling and happy. I’m very adamant about that.”
Walrath’s philosophy must be working. The restaurant, she says,
is busy mostly because of lots of positive comments among business
people in Oyster Point. People are happy with their meals and in
turn are talking, she says with a smile.
Nina’s, named after Walrath’s two-year-old granddaughter,
specializes in gourmet sandwiches. Walrath says she loves to play
with different ideas, and has been able to concoct some tasty creations.
One of the most popular sandwiches is called “The Nina,”
a New Orleans-type delicacy sandwich loaded with meats, cheeses,
and topped off with a special sauce. The restaurant’s homemade
chicken salad and chicken Philly sandwich are close seconds in the
popularity contest, she says.
In addition to lunch, Nina’s also serves breakfast all day.
The menu offers some old time favorites, like eggs over easy and
biscuits and gravy. Walrath is also very particular about the coffee
she serves. She will not use coffee beans more than two weeks after
they have been roasted. Among coffee lovers, Walrath is becoming
very well known for her “Café Nina,” made with
a half-shot of French vanilla cream and a half shot of espresso.
“Everything is made from scratch,” she says. “Everything
has a little kick to it. It’s different. You are not going
to find my food anywhere else.”
Nina’s also caters and prepares platters, Walrath says.
When Walrath was looking for a location for Nina’s, she was
enamored with Oyster Point. She thought the park, with its amazing
growth, was the perfect spot for a café. She jumped right
in and started molding the space into her own. Without any loans,
Walrath did all the work on the restaurant herself. She laid the
black and white checkered floor, she built a wall and did the electrical
and plumbing.
“I couldn’t afford to have someone do it,” she says.
“I saved up my money and did it all myself. I am very, very
proud of this place. My mother always taught me if there’s
a will, there’s a way. That’s how I made this work.”
Nina’s is located across the street from the booming City Center.
The only downfall, she says, is all the construction happening right
in front of the restaurant. While all the construction workers have
been great for business, Walrath has had to deal with the usual
bugs of construction, like cut phone lines. But once all the work
is finished, she says, the payoff should be wonderful, as Nina’s
will be very easy to spot and access.
Eventually, Walrath wants to open a pub in an adjoining space. But
for now, she is happy just being able to call Nina’s her own.
“There’s no way it can get any better than this,”
she says. |
