Dine out

Their efforts paid off. Today, Norfolk diners can pick from an impressive selection of topnotch restaurants—from Luna Maya and Bardo in Ghent, to Empire and Vintage Kitchen downtown and Meers’ new charmer, Stove, in nearby Port Norfolk. What’s more, a new-and-improved culinary institute just opened in the city (taking the place of the relocated Johnson and Wales), and it could presage an even rosier future for area diners when this recession ends. Lean economic times have forced the closing of several young-and-trendy eateries; I couldn’t help noticing, for instance, that a handful of places I enjoyed on my last dining-driven visit to Norfolk in 2006 had vanished as quickly as a pomegranate martini or a plate of pork and ginger potstickers. All the more reason to pause and pay tribute to pioneers like Jurich—restaurateurs who have not only led the trends, but also survived them.

An intuitive, primarily self-trained chef, this now 53-year-old veteran was no stranger to the restaurant world when Bistro 210 hit the scene in the early ’90s. A decade before beginning his now 17-year stint as one of Norfolk’s favorite chefs, he had already built a fan base at “The Beach” with restaurants like the elegant Iron Gate House and, of course, Crawdaddy’s—a small and seasonal Cajun-Creole joint, popular with surfers and gourmets alike. Soft-spoken and formal when you first meet him, as I had the chance to do this fall, Jurich gets a boyish twinkle in his eye whenever he reminisces about the early days. “Crawdad’s had one counter and four tables and a line out the door!” he recalls. “At Bistro 210, space was so limited that we stored wine under the benches where diners sat!”