Fat Tuna a real catch for couple
By Casey Gillis on Apr. 20, 2007
When The Fat Tuna went up for sale last February, Appomattox native Darlene Hill was living in Maryland, working a data entry job while occasionally dabbling in catering.
After her mother called and told her the Wyndhurst eatery was on the market, Hill and husband Paul drove down to Lynchburg for the weekend to check it out.
“We had said for years (that) if we ever found the right place, we’d do this,“ said Hill, who has been in the restaurant business off and on for more than 30 years.
“We walked (into The Fat Tuna) on that Saturday, and as soon as we walked in the front door, we just had that gut feeling.“
That was in February 2006, and by March 1, the Hills were running the place.
From the beginning, it was important to Hill that she not change anything original owners Teri and Mike Okuley had put into place when they opened the joint four years ago.
“Teri did all the research,“ Hill says. “I don’t take credit for any recipes. I take credit for carrying the ball. … In 30 years in the restaurant business, I could never have come up with the things she came up with.“
The menu offers a variety of hot and cold specialty sandwiches, all served with veggie crisps and a garlic pickle spear. Other side choices include Route 11 Potato Chips, which come in flavors like Chesapeake crab, sweet potato, salt &vinegar and dill pickle; homemade coleslaw; redskin potato salad; loaded potato salad, which is made of red skin potatoes, celery, bacon and cheddar cheese; fruit salad or pasta salad.
Hill says the pasta salad changes every day because she’ll mix in whatever ingredients are around that day, with the one constant being balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Manager and longtime employee Kelly Kwiecien creates most of the soups from scratch, including Italian sausage, broccoli and cheese, and on Tuesdays, Fattie’s Seafood Stew, a cream-based soup with tilapia fish, Backfin crab and big chunks of shrimp in it.
There’s also a section called “My Way or the Highway,“ where customers can build their own sandwich, with two meats, one cheese, endless veggies and trimmings like mayo, mustard, oregano or salt and pepper.
The Fat Tuna’s most popular items are three homemade melts: the Fat Tuna Melt (diced Yellow-fin tuna steaks blended with mayo, spices, cheddar cheese and celery, topped with pepper jack, lettuce, tomato and red onion on a Kaiser roll); Fattie’s Chicken Salad Melt (diced chicken breast blended with mayo, spices and celery; topped with bacon, tomato and provolone cheese on a Kaiser roll); and the Crab & Shrimp Melt (real crab meat, shrimp and spices, topped with Swiss cheese and red seedless grapes on a poppy seed Kaiser roll).
As for the spices noted in each dish, Hill’s not talking.
“I’m not telling what goes into what,“ she says with a laugh.
They recently added two new sandwiches to the menu, the Blue Shoe (a grilled chicken, blue cheese crumbles, walnuts, apples, spinach and raisins concoction named after a group of Consolidated Shoe employees who love it) and the Hawaiian (homemade chicken salad served in a flour tortilla wrap with a fruit salad, walnuts, craisins, spinach and honey mustard dressing).
“Both were specials, and people would come in and say, ‘Can I have that thing I had that time?’“ Hill says. “It’s kind of how Teri got a lot of the menu to begin with - running specials and serving what people like.“
They use all Board’s Head Brand meats and cheeses in their sandwiches and have new specials every day. A lot of times, Hill will bring in an ingredient, like asparagus, and ask Kwiecien to make something out of it.
“I give her a subject, and she creates,“ Hill says.
They serve homemade meat loaf on Thursdays and pot roast on Fridays, and Hill says the sandwiches they make the next day using the leftover meat are even more popular than the dishes themselves.
The Fat Tuna also offers boxed lunches for area businesses, as well as platters of sandwiches and sides for parties and other events.
Everything is prepared in the eatery’s large, open kitchen, where customers can see everything that’s going on.
“It’s fun that way,“ Hill says. “I’m not real shy. I love to feed people. I have always loved being in the restaurant industry because I have so much fun. … It’s not an easy job, but I guess the challenge of it makes it so much fun.“
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COMMENTS
I ate here for the first tiime Friday, and the food was excellent.
I’ve been going to the Fat Tuna practically since they opened, although it’s now been a little while. They use quality ingredients, and they don’t try to cut the quantities on portions. You get just what you need to fill you up, with nothing more, and nothing less.
But the real story is this. When Terri was running the joint she told my brother he needed to come in on a Saturday to meet her friend that was going to be running the register for her. Well, to make a long story short, when my brother ordered his typical Ham, Cheese, and butter on a Kaiser Roll, the cashier knew that was the guy Terri wanted to set her up with. My brother and sister-in-law were engaged roughly six months after that.
Good food, good times, and great people. If you haven’t been there yet, you should really check it out.