VIRGINIA BEACH — When you name your restaurant Blackeyed Peas, the mission is clear — bringing soul food made with love for Virginia Beach for nearly two years now.
It’s the same love restaurateur and chef Cynthia Terry cooked with to feed four hungry older brothers.
Terry is a natural cook, and her soul food menu has been elevated to make Blackeyed Peas, which is nestled at a courtyard between Dillard’s and AMC Theaters at Lynnhaven Mall, a culinary experience.
I’d heard mention of Blackeyed Peas, but it took an invitation from my friends and frequent patrons, Margaret and John Coleman, to try the spot.
An al fresco dining area was a prelude to a spacious dining room inside, where we were greeted like we’d come to eat in someone’s dining room. Words on a wall come together not as a slogan but a promise.
“The flavor runs deep,” it reads.
It took me a minute to study the menu because an unannounced appetizer placed on our table started an immediate discussion. Was it cornbread or a corncake? Albeit sweet, smooth, and drizzled with melted butter, the answer was cornbread with love put in it.
“It’s like the cornbread my Momma used to make,” one of my dining companions said.
The chef and owner arrived soon after, wanting to make sure her guests were comfortable, and then she was off to greet patrons at another table.
Cooking and food, as Stevie Wonder might say, is the “Song in the Key of Life” for Terry.
What led to her life in business and restaurants?
Terry said she always dreamed of being an entrepreneur.
“I wanted to have my own (business) one day, the nice home, the white picket fence, live it up — and cooking was my match,” Terry said. “It’s something I wanted to do and enjoyed doing. Cooking came easy to me. It was a lot of fun.”
She started cooking professionally as a cake decorator about 12 years ago.
“I started out as a cake decorator, making wedding cakes, and it was amazing,” she said. “I loved the joy it would put on people’s faces when they picked up their cakes. That was just fantastic. It just brought joy to me. Cooking is something I love doing.”
Previously, she had worked as a fresh foods manager with grocery chains.
Her experience, plus feeding four older brothers, is the same culinary love Terry says she puts on her menu at Blackeyed Peas, after running other restaurants and kitchens locally.
During our visit, one of my companions enjoyed oxtail and another had pig’s feet prepared in the great, deep Southern tradition with meat practically falling off the bone.
I enjoyed two expertly plated, smothered pork chops which were huge, but what really impressed me was the gravy, a science in itself, silky and balanced.
Many of the menu items are locally sourced, according to chef Carlos Musgrove, one of Terry’s brothers and among the loved ones here at a true family restaurant.
“What we have on the menu is what we’ve done to find out what people liked in the year and nine months that we’ve been here,” he told me.
“My establishment is all about creating an upscale dining experience that celebrates the flavors of soul food,” Terry added.
Learn more about Blackeyed Peas, 1005 Lynnhaven Mall Loop, online via blackeyepeasvb.com.
The author is a writer and documentary filmmaker who grew up in Norfolk and lived in Virginia Beach for much of his life. He ran a production company, worked in college athletics and was curator at an art gallery in Virginia Beach for years.
