1 week Ago By SHAYLA ESCUDERO [email protected]
Inside The Royal — possibly Albany's first-ever New Orleans-style restaurant — Nick Turner sat at a table sporting a yellow beanie and black t-shirt, his inked arms crossed. Behind him, autumn trees in all their glory were visible from the restaurant’s large windows. A tall liquor shelf sits square in the middle of two television screens and a pinball machine.
Nick Turner, of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. He set down a feast: fried soft shell crab on a bed of collard greens, red beans and rice, a fried catfish po'boy and a bowl of gumbo. Turner grew up in the southside of Birmingham, Alabama.
When he was 13, he got a job at a place called Uncle Sam’s Barbeque where he learned everything: how to make barbeque sauce, work as a line cook, run the cash register and serve tables. “No matter what else I've done, I've always been involved in a restaurant,” he said. A catfish po'boy is among the menu items at The Royal, which includes a variety of Louisiana and Cajun-based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair.
Even before all of that, Turner's first memories of making food for his family every Thursday night in fifth grade from a kids' cookbook. “It was real simple stuff, but it made me feel like an adult,” he said with a laugh. Growing up, his father took him to the Gulf Coast where they would eat soft shell crabs, fried and sauteed crab claws.
A few years back Turner owned a construction company in Alabama, but something inside him kept telling him that he should do something else, be somewhere else. So he got in a van and set out across the country. One day he drove up the coast to meet a friend in Oregon.
“It felt like an alien world. ..
. I kind of just fell in love with it,” he said. Turner started out working at China Delight before opening his popular food truck called “Nick’s Soul Food” that was stationed at 2 Towns Ciderhouse and various winery and festival events in the area.
While his menu at the food truck was soul food, Turner’s restaurant is New Orleans-style Southern food. Nick Turner, center, stands behind The Royal, a new Albany restaurant. From left, building owners Sam and Abhey Verma, restaurateur Turner, bartender Jeff Rohrbogh and employee Andrew Eastwick.
On the menu is jerk chicken, a vegan gumbo, oyster shooters, po'boys, Cajun shrimp, fried okra and an array of other seafood. Even alligator is on the menu, imported from Louisiana. Turner plans to do a bloody Mary bar on Sundays and offer an ever-changing menu of drinks inspired by New Orleans.
“It’s a family-friendly neighborhood bar,” he said. Turner holds a lot of gratitude for the owners of China Delight, the wineries and breweries he connected with through his “food truck ventures” and his team. He credits all of them for playing a part in him opening his own restaurant.
Nick Turner, center, stands behind The Royal, a new Albany restaurant. From left, building owners Sam and Abhey Verma, restaurateur Turner, bartender Jeff Rohrbogh and employee Andrew Eastwick. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun-based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair.
Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley.
Nick Turner, of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring soul food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair.
A catfish po'boy is among the menu items at The Royal, which includes a variety of Louisiana and Cajun-based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair.
Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Nick Turner, center, stands behind The Royal, a new Albany restaurant. From left, building owners Sam and Abhey Verma, restaurateur Turner, bartender Jeff Rohrbogh and employee Andrew Eastwick.
Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun-based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley.
Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner, of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring southern food to the mid-Willamette Valley. Nick Turner of the local food truck Nick's Soul Food, sits at at table in his new brick and mortar restaurant in Albany while discussing a name change and his plans for continuing to bring soul food to the mid-Willamette Valley.
Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. A catfish po'boy is among the menu items at The Royal, which includes a variety of Louisiana and Cajun-based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair.
Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Menu items at The Royal include a variety of Louisiana and Cajun based cooking with the occasional bit of Pacific Northwest flair. Turner still isn’t sure what he will do with his food truck — if he will use it for special events or retire it.
His restaurant at 859 Belmont Ave. SW bears the same name as the last restaurant that was housed there, an Indian restaurant that was open less than a year. When asked why he kept the name instead of using his own, one reason was the sign, an old style script with neon lights that hangs above the building.
“It doesn't really matter to me, whatever iteration existed before, and that's because, I'll make it my own.” More Albany news Shayla Escudero graduated University of Southern California with a Master of Science in Journalism. She covers Albany city hall and Linn County.
She is passionate about telling people forward stories and shining a light on injustices. She can be reached at Shayla.Escudero@lee.
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