After months without a restaurant, Vernon Park Mall now features Tropical Flavas serving Caribbean cuisine.
The restaurant opened June 7 where the Andy’s used to be, next to Footlocker.
Mall Manager Mike Ingalls said he wishes the business success and hopes people support it.
“Everybody that I have talked to,” he said, “loved their food, and it’s a great asset to building the food court back.”
Owner Michael Clifton said the food offers a variety of tastes from several islands in the Caribbean. Clifton is a native of Trinidad and lived in New York until moving to Greenville in 2006.
“I learned to cook from my family growing up,” he said. “… I have a lot of experience with different island dishes.”
The menu features oxtails, stewed and jerk chicken, and curry chicken and goat. It also includes shrimp, beef and fried or steamed fish, when available.
A dish called roti is made with dough folded over and stuffed with yellow split peas, potatoes and peas, Clifton said.
“Most of the dishes are well-seasoned,” he said. “The only one that’s spicy is the jerk chicken.”
Patrons can request their order spicier, if desired.
Meals come with sides, including fried plantain, yams, collards and fried dumpling, known as Jonny cake.
Tropical juices, sodas and ice cream are also available. Ice cream flavors include mango, coconut and passion fruit.
American fare, such as chicken tenders and nuggets, burgers, hot dogs and wings are also available.
Clifton said there are 50 seats in front of the restaurant. Customers can eat in the mall or take out.
Tropical Flavas, 834 Hardy Road, is open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information, call 252-361-5001.
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Danny Smith started his lawn care business with one tractor.
But before that, he began doing drainage work — a trade the Kinston native learned from his father, the late Dee Smith, who was a general contractor for 30 years and Lenoir county commissioner.
“I dug all the foundations around here,” Smith said. “I was a one-man crew to start with.”
He did the drainage work on the side while he was working for his father at Dee’s Restaurant, now called Smith Cafe and owned by Smith’s cousin George,
In the mid-1980s, he began mowing big jobs with a tractor and now has five tractors and several smaller ones.
He named his business Danny Smith Landscaping & Drainage, with an office behind the restaurant. His specialty is in commercial, industrial and municipality lawns. He said his son, Danny Smith Jr., known as “Mr. Danny,” works with him.
“He’s been driving our tractors since he was 7 or 8 years old,” Smith said about his son.
Smith was also a firefighter and fire chief for the North Lenoir Volunteer Fire Department and retired after 27 years. When the West Pharmaceutical plant exploded, he was the person in charge for 18 hours, he said.
His drainage work experience led him to become a developer. In 1994, he developed the Hunter Creek subdivision, which he still owns.
A year or so later, he began building self-storage complexes. Hullwood Mini Storage is near his office, while three others are located elsewhere in Lenoir County.
In 2003, he started Dee’s Rental, a property rental business.
“I named that in honor of my father,” Smith said.
His father, the “backbone” of Smith’s business ventures, died in 2005, the year Smith opened Danny Smith Auto Sales, he said. The used car lot is run by his wife, Kinston native Myra Smith, and their daughter, Kristen Alphin, one of the couple’s five children.
The car lot is located in the same area as his office. Smith’s businesses and Smith Cafe are located on what was his father’s farm, he said.
Smith said he never imagined his sideline drainage work and one tractor would lead to the large operation he has today.
Danny Smith Landscaping & Drainage and Danny Smith Auto Sales are at 2500 N.C. 258 N. For information, call 252-527-4644.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
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Do you have a new retail business or one that’s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.