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rantley and Sylvia Norman say they want to just spend the summer relaxing. They took a step toward that on June 1st when they sold “Ms. Sil’s Kitchen” restaurant.

Sylvia (Ms. Sil) and Brantley Norman. It’s tough to get a picture of them both standing still. The Normans celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary on June 1st. 47 years to the day after getting married in Arapahoe, they were selling the third incarnation of their restaurant in Oriental.

But more than a few people in Oriental are wondering just how long the Normans will stay away. Since starting the restaurant at that site at Mildred and Broad Streets in 1978, the Normans have sold it three times…and come back three times.

The new owner is Shirley Ireland of Lowland who has been running Lyle and Shirley’s Restaurant for the past 15 years.

Ms. Sil working with new owner Shirley Ireland

Shirley has renamed “Ms. Sil’s” to “The Village Restaurant”.

There’s a good tradition with that name.

The familiar Ms. Sil’s sign came down June 1

A familiar sign from years past was revealed when the Sil’s sign was removed. This Brantley’s sign greeted visitors for years. A new sign will come soon that simply says “The Village Restaurant.”

“Village Restaurant” is the name that Brantley and Sylvia Norman first gave to their brand new restaurant when it opened on October 16th, 1978, with “Ms. Sil” in the kitchen and Brantley greeting folks as they came in. A few years later, Brantley says, he had a new sign made to add “Brantley” to the title because he says it’s what people were calling it anyway. (Ms Sil, he says, had a question about why Brantley’s name would be on the sign. Her time was to come as the story evolved….)

Ms. Sil and Brantley ran Brantley’s Village Restaurant for 11 years that first time. They sold it in 1989, but after 18 months “we came back.” That second run lasted until the mid-late 1990’s when they sold the business and the building.

The sign that announces the specials had an extra message June 1.

The next owner lasted half a decade. During that time, Ms Sil opened a restaurant just up and across the street (where Gary’s Fish Market is now) and got her name up on the sign this time.

It was only a matter of time before the Normans and “Ms Sil’s Kitchen” back at the old place. Henry Frazer had purchased the building and needed the right tenant. Brantley says they returned to the building at Mildred and Broad on June 16th 2002 and put that black-and-white checkered sign out front.

Through the years, it’s been an ongoing part of life in Oriental. Brantley greeting you at the door and Ms. Sil over the grill. The family restaurant with the home-style food. The $7.50 luncheon buffet – including tax. The waitresses who instantly knew who drank the sweet tea and who wanted it unsweetened. The Saturday night seafood buffet. Ms Sil’s homemade coconut, lemon and chocolate pies. The Thursday chicken and collards special. The most popular place in town for the eggs and grits and biscuits and gravy breakfasts for old and new, born-heres and came-heres.

And now, the Normans are leaving… again.

This time in the hands of Shirley Ireland who has been running “Lyle and Shirley’s” restaurant within sight of the end of the road in Lowland. Her parents started the restaurant and she’s been running it for the past 15 years.

Shirley says she has staff running the restaurant in Lowland while she focuses on “The Village Restaurant” in Oriental. She says she’s not planning any big changes. Perhaps, she says, she’ll add her cucumber and tomato salad to the menu.

There has been talk of the new Village Restaurant offering beer and wine with the meals. One of the owners-in-between-the-Normans had served alcohol. Some observers say business fell off among those who didn’t drink.

We asked Shirley Ireland about it. She said that she’s “tossing around” the idea of offering beer and wine. But she , added, “I’m not in the bar business… if I did sell it, it would not be in the front,” referring to the large dining area that looks out on the parking lot.

Pearl Mason starts her day

It appears that regulars going to “The Village Restaurant” can continue to count on some of the features of “Ms. Sil’s Kitchen”.

Back in the kitchen on the day of the transition:

Ms Sil makes sure we talk with her friend Pearl Mason, who is 83, has been working for the Normans for years, preparing the desserts for Saturday.. and the 55 pounds of collards every week.

After punching in on the clock on Wednesdays, Pearl cleans the collard greens. On Thursdays she cooks them for that day’s special.

“There’s no secret to it.” Miss Pearl says. “Salt meat and extra seasoning. Grease…. and some sugar. But not too much.” Just enough, she says because “sometimes the collards can be kind of bitter.”

Pearl gets the greens ready

Those greens go out with the chicken special on Thursdays. “Most of the time,” she says, “there’s not much left” by the end of the day.

There’s reason to believe that even under the new ownership, the collards will remain part of the experience at “The Village Restaurant”. Ms. Sil says that Pearl Mason is “part of the contract” and her tenure was “grandfathered in” when the restaurant was sold.

You can still get Ms. Sil’s famous pies

“She goes home,” Ms. Sil says, “when it’s – her – choice to go.”

As for Ms. Sil and her choice to get out of the 6-day a week restaurant business, she says she plans to spend the summer relaxing with her grandchildren and “in my yard with the flowers.”

So, will she ever return for a fourth turn at operating a restaurant? Ms. Sil is emphatic in her reply. “I will never have another restaurant.”

Which isn’t to say she’ll stay out of the kitchen. She will continue to make the her lemon, coconut and chocolate pies for The Village Restaurant… and for anyone who wants to order that sweet taste of Ms. Sil’s Kitchen. (They’ll be going for $8. Call 249-1308).

Posted Monday June 6, 2005 by Keith N. Smith