A new eatery was among the handful of full-service Martinsville restaurants that the Virginia Department of Health inspected in October and November.
Sue Sue Soulfood and Grill opened its doors just in time for an initial October inspection.
The restaurant occupies a space on the second floor of Jefferson Plaza, at 10 Church St., previously occupied by restaurants like La Plazita.
Despite being one of Martinsville’s newest restaurants, Sue Sue is no stranger to the county. Under a previous iteration in 2021, the restaurant operated in Axton, an unincorporated area in Henry County.
That was during the height of the pandemic when restaurants new and established were adjusting to a new normal of social distancing, outdoor dining and minimal foot traffic. Sue Sue’s owner, Lajunna Barbour, tried her best to take it all in stride.
“It was during COVID and all that so it eventually dwindled,” Barbour said.
The original Sue Sue closed in 2022.
Following her time in Axton, Barbour worked at Sovah Health as a certified nursing assistant, where she would sometimes cook for her co-workers during potlucks. Their encouragement spurred her into taking another stab at the restaurant business.
“The opportunity came when this space opened,” Barbour said.
“Sue Sue” was Barbour’s childhood nickname. It underscores the restaurant’s theme, a snapshot of Barbour’s childhood, from the name to the items on the menu.
“I was always interested [in cooking] as a child,” Barbour said. “My mom always cooked that type of food. We didn’t have much so much of the stuff was like beans, potatoes, meatloaf, and stuff like that.”
The menu features items including burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, mac and cheese, and potato salad. Barbour said it was important to appeal to people’s sense of nostalgia.
“It’s food that we had when we were younger,” Barbour said, adding that most restaurants don’t make an effort to appeal to traditional tastes as they do modern palates.
Barbour said she is as meticulous with her cleaning as she is with her cooking.
“We have a sanitizing area, where you have the compartments where you wash, clean and sanitize,” Barbour said. “Everything is put up in containers and labeled.”
Barbour said keeping a restaurant up to code requires a level of vigilance and is among the most important tasks.
Barbour said it’s easy to get things dirty as you work.
“It’s important to worry about sanitation. There are air-borne illnesses and viruses. We want to make sure everybody is healthy and not sick. It’s very important in serving the community because you don’t want to spread any illnesses from food-borne illnesses, it’s very important.”
The other full-service Martinsville restaurants inspected in October and November were Skip’s Restaurant, Wild Magnolia, Rania’s Italian Restaurant, Be Wiched Diner, Santana’s Restaurant, The Ground Floor, Yamato Steakhouse, D & A Cafe, Asador El Vergel.
All passed inspection, with only a handful of citations among them. Food storage and proper handwashing procedures were among some of the issues that Health Department inspectors noticed. Others included proper food labeling and dating.
October and November’s inspection lists are available online. The previous month’s inspections are usually made available online around the end of each month.
