DAMASCUS, Va. – After seven years gone, a downtown pizza parlor and hangout is coming back to life.
Quincey’s Pizza, which closed in 2001 with its owner’s retirement, is being resurrected by his nephew, Steven Sweet, and Sweet’s business partner, Joel Jerkins. It’s scheduled to open Feb. 4.
“Quincey’s used to be the hometown place for everyone to go,” Sweet said. “I’ll just be glad when it’s back to life.”
The restaurant will be in its most-recent old location, at 132 West Laurel Avenue, where Sicily’s Pizza operated until recently. The owner of Sicily’s had been renting the restaurant from Ronnie Reed, the original owner of Quincey’s.
During its 13 years of operation, the original Quincey’s drew a crowd to its five locations in Damascus, Meadowview, Saltville, Glade Spring and Mountain City.
“We could’ve probably had 25” locations, Reed said of the booming business that became a destination for hikers as well as local residents. “You’d see a sign on the Appalachian Trail: 20 more miles to Quincey’s.”
Reed said Quincey’s was an unlikely success: “I was drunk and went to get a deer head mounted, and the guy said, ‘Do you want to go into the pizza business?’ ... So I said I’d try in the pizza business.”
As for its new life? Sweet and Jerkins said things just fell into place for the restaurant that will now be called Quincey’s Pizza and Backyard Grill. The new restaurant will serve up what Jerkins calls “some new flair” in addition to the old tried-and-true recipes. They say they plan to cater to a local crowd, providing a family-friendly place to eat and hang out that’s not focused on tourists.
“It’s good comfort food, everybody likes it and we’re hoping to get the sports bar feel … so that people don’t have to drive all the way to Exit 7 just to go out and watch a game and get some wings and drink a beer,” Jerkins said. “We think we can actually draw some people from Abingdon back over here.”
Jerkins said in addition to making their own dough and sauce, he and Sweet will roast their own meat and smoke their own barbecue; almost everything will be made from scratch.
The pair met when they worked together at the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon, they said, and they plan to expand the menu to include steak and seafood dishes.
Sweet said the restaurant will be open until 9 p.m. weekdays and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and is not looking to attract a bar crowd.
“There’s other places to go if you want that,” he said. “We’re just looking for the crowd that wants to get off work, have a pizza and a beer.”
The other establishment that serves alcohol in Damascus is Dot’s Inn, on the other end of town.
Sweet and Jerkins said they’re still renovating the space. The restaurant will expand from 60 seats when it opens to 120 seats or more. It will include a bar and smoking section separated by a wall from the nonsmoking section and might eventually have arcade games or other entertainment.
“Damascus needs it, they really do. They just don’t have any places to go and eat,” Reed said. “These boys will do good here. They’re good boys.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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