All right, Tim and Teresa's Dinner Adventure Part Two has begun lol. Unlike the Deadwood restaurant adventure, it wasn't a spontaneous thing, we planned it. Now, as I often do, I left it up to Teresa to see if there was a restaurant that caught her eye that she wanted to go to, and lo and behold, she picked Harper's Table in Suffolk, Virginia. All right, I said, get in the car, let's go, and away we went to downtown Suffolk. Now, what's weird is, I'm a good driver, I can get from A to Z like a champ, but I'm Mr. Oblivious to whatever I happen to, well, what happens to be around me on the road. I mean, heck, there could be a whole bunch of naked elephants standing on the side of hitchhiking and waving I love Aerosmith signs, and I probably wouldn't have noticed. So, as we pull onto downtown Main Street, we park, the parking spot was across the street, catty corner from the restaurant.

 

We knew where we were, we saw the sign, it was on the window. So, we get out of the car, we cross to the other side, we're on the sidewalk, and I turn to Teresa and I'm like, hey, I think we've been here before, and then a few more steps and we come upon a beautiful courtyard, and we are like, yeah, this is where the Taste of Suffolk was held. We were here before! If you don't know what the Taste of Suffolk is, it's an amazing festival for your taste buds. Restaurants, eateries, food trucks and all kinds of delicacies line the block from one side to the other. But the courtyard is what sticks out, because it's beautiful! The courtyard has a beautiful full-size town hall mural painted across the long building whose wall creates a majestic backdrop for the courtyard. There are little brick pathways winding through with little patches of grass, which serve as a natural stage where artists can play. I've seen a band set up there, solo artists hangout there to just enjoy playing music, artists sit there and draw or paint. It's a little retreat. It's like a conclave of relaxation.

 

So, after we got over that giddy excitement, we focused back on our destination straight ahead, and then I was drawn to their sign, the Harper's Table sign, much like when you are trying to line up a good rifle shot, because sticking out dead center of the sidewalk on a black wrought iron pipe, was a wrought iron sign that had HT for Harper's Table, but the way that it was designed, if you pay attention to the picture featured in this column, it was done to look like a person sitting at a table. Quite ingenious! So, I'm focused on the sign, getting closer and closer. Heck, I probably would have bumped into somebody I was so focused on the sign. So, we make our way in looking around as we all do.  I see tables, chairs, people and well, the usual. Looks like a nice, comfortable and casual place, and then I look to the left, and there was a gorgeous century old Coca-Cola soda fountain mural, something you would expect at an old-fashioned Woolworths when you went in for a root beer float. It was beautiful! The thing must have been fifty feet long and 20 feet in height. Still gawking at that, our server came up and asked if we could be seated, and we were. We were seated at these beautiful oak tables. I didn't realize until a bit later, the history that I was now sitting on.

 

Megan, our server, outside of having to deal with our craziness, we do tend to entertain just about everywhere we go, I had a slew of questions for her in regard to the mural. She let us know that the mural was found accidentally during construction of the place when the owner started renovation. I'm like, huh? Then I asked about the history of the place. Huh? So, little by little, we get more information from talking Megan and researching on my phone, and she finally says to us, you know what, let me see if the boss is available. Like, all right, cool. So, we're just relaxing. We ordered our food. I got my little glass of bourbon. Teresa's sipping on an iced tea, and this very nice, big smile gentleman pops out of the back and introduces himself. His name is Harper Bradshaw. He is the chef and the owner of Harper's Table, which originated in 2012. A very nice guy. Let me get that right out of the way. So, we hit him up with some questions. It turns out that nobody really knows for sure the history of how the mural got there.

 

So, the story of the mural kind of goes like this, The courtyard that I mentioned and described to you, turns out, that way back in the day, it was like a little alleyway for people to park their horse and buggies. Then there was the big fire of downtown Suffolk. What people believe is, when everything was rebuilt, a building was rebuilt with that mural on its outer wall, and then right away another building was built next to it. So, when Harper started pulling down some of the old plaster, he peeked through, and he saw a number five. He's like, what the heck is this? And he kept going a little to the right, but he realized that he hit an end. So, whatever he's seeing must go to the left towards the street. So, he kept working and kept working, and a long story short, he uncovered this amazing mural. I asked him, did you have to touch it up? No was the answer. It was as if it was painted that morning.

 

How lucky can you get to uncover a one hundred year old historic painted mural in pristine condition? I mentioned sitting at and on history! The tables and chairs we sat on were built from reclaimed materials such as Surry County maple and warehouse beams, and the restaurant itself  features a vintage pine canopy, salvaged from the old Suffolk Peanut Company warehouse. Harpers Table restaurant is simply warm and inviting, with a surreal blend of historic meets contemporary charm, and did I mention the food was delicious? I got the baby back ribs smothered in mushrooms, and Teresa got the salmon. We enjoyed our dinner adventure immensely. Even dessert rocked my world, because I don't usually eat dessert, it goes right to my hips. So, I want to give kudos to Harper Bradshaw and Megan over there at Harper's Table. Thank you for a wonderful experience, and we will definitely be back, except next time, we're going to bring friends along.