HAVING WORDS WITH Van Eure OWNER, THE ANGUS BARN, RALEIGH, N.C.HAVING WORDS WITH Van Eure OWNER, THE ANGUS BARN, RALEIGH, N.C.

Ron Ruggless

Van Eure is keeping alive the traditions of her father, Thad Eure, who founded the legendary 650-seat Angus Barn restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., with Charles Winston in 1960. This spring, Van Eure, who received the Gold Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association in 2004, opened “Thad’s Room,” a new dining area on the property to accompany an existing wine cellar dining room named for Van Eure’s mother, Alice.

Thad Eure died in 1988, and Alice Eure died in 1997.

Van Eure also is continuing the work of The Foundation of Hope for Research and Treatment of Mental Illness, a nonprofit organization established by her parents in 1984 to fund research projects. The foundation has given more than $2 million to research projects targeting bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, depression, autism, anorexia nervosa, post-traumatic stress disorder and social phobias. Additional money is raised through the Thad & Alice Eure Walk for Hope each October, which employees of the Angus Barn, Fat Daddy’s and 42nd Street Oyster Bar started in 1989.

What does Thad’s Room add to the Angus Barn?

This new wine cellar dining room complements the existing one, but this is another with a kitchen downstairs. I’ve named the first room after my mother, Alice’s Room, and the second room is named after my father, Thad’s Room. I’ve used a lot of things that he had originally purchased for the Darryl’s Restaurants. I’ve got stained glass and old pieces of furniture and some cobblestones from the old streets of Raleigh. We also have some works of art that were in their home. The rooms are very personalized now.

How did you personalize the rooms?

The original room, Alice’s Room, is filled with her things like china and silver, which really distinguishes the two rooms. It has 28 seats. Thad’s Room has a teaching kitchen. We’ll be teaching cooking classes once a month to six couples, or 12 people total, and it has a chef’s table that can seat six. Everybody seems to be very pleased with it. In Thad’s Room there are 34 seats. To get to Thad’s Room, you have to weave through the cellar. It’s a great experience.

FAST FACTS

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree in education from the University of North Carolina HOMETOWN: Raleigh, N.C. HOBBIES: roller skating, horseback riding and playing other sports with her children

When was your last expansion?

In 1978 we added the Wild Turkey Lounge. We expanded the lobby and we enclosed a porch that we now seat people in. This is the first major expansion since my mother and I did the wine cellar about 13 years ago. This is the first expansion on my own without them.

How have you maintained the Angus Barn’s popularity through the years?

It’s the way we treat our customers. The food is very good, but we [believe] in doing whatever it takes to make the customers happy. We don’t do fancy food. It’s very basic. The quality is very good. Everything is homemade. You can get good food anywhere, but it’s all in how you make people feel. We try to make every person there feel like the most important person in the world.

How do you convey that to your employees?

My employees get it. They realize that the customer is really the one making all of our jobs possible. Nothing that the customer asks is too much trouble. You are never too busy to speak and spend time with the customer. They are the boss, not me.

How do you instill that?

We hire very, very carefully. We may interview 50 to hire one. They have to be outstanding. We have 240 employees. Employees in the new rooms are promoted from within. They are servers who have really excelled. All of the servers wear tuxedos and white gloves. It’s what I call small, synchronized service. The customer should not ask for one thing.