Sweet Lula's owners look to take their show on the road
Many customers at Sweet Lula's - the unusual, urbane, and entertaining restaurant that has put Pitman on the fine-dining map - ask the same question of the owners.
Many customers at Sweet Lula's - the unusual, urbane, and entertaining restaurant that has put Pitman on the fine-dining map - ask the same question of the owners.
What are you doing here?
It's a long story, and it's likely to take another twist: After nearly eight years on the borough's South Broadway, owners Anthony and Louise "Lula" Asbury say they're looking to relocate to Philadelphia.
Such a move would mean renaming and downsizing (but not closing or selling, the couple hasten to add) Sweet Lula's, a spacious bi-level BYOB with a stylish menu. They're thinking of a place with a simpler menu and limited hours.
"We've hit a glass ceiling here," says Anthony Asbury, 55, a puppeteer with extensive theater, film, and TV credits.
He and his wife want a liquor license, but Pitman - known for its Bible-camp roots and a seasonal "Keep Christ in Christmas" banner over Broadway - is a resolutely dry town.
"We need to make more money," says Lula Asbury, 53, who - as "Lu" - enjoyed an early 1980s recording career in her native England. She performs classic pop tunes such as "Downtown" and "At Last" during dinner on weekends.
"I think we'd do very well in Philadelphia," Lula Asbury says, citing Center City's Gayborhood area as a possible location.
The couple has also looked at other parts of the city but no specific properties. "We have to find the right building," she says.
I'm having coffee with her and her husband of 21 years at an outdoor table. South Broadway is quiet, but nearly everyone who walks by says hello.
"It reminds you of France or Italy," longtime Pitman resident Eleanor Davis, 78, says, referring to the sidewalk dining as she pauses to chat.
Clearly, the Asburys, like their restaurant, have enlivened the quaint borough's "Uptown" ("I have no idea why they call it that," Anthony Asbury says) district.
"They bring a very unique style and culture to Pitman," Mayor Russ Johnson says. "They've been a catalyst for everything else that's happened around there."
"People love us," notes Lula Asbury. "They think I'm [the British singer] Lulu. I've even sung 'To Sir With Love' in the Fourth of July Parade."
The Asburys met while Anthony was living in London, where he worked on the West End production of Little Shop of Horrors and on the satirical TV series Spitting Image, which was famous for its Margaret Thatcher puppet.
He and his wife have the sort of vivid, witty personalities one associates with entertainers; they're name-droppers (Julie Taymor, Jim Henson, Steven Spielberg) as well as great storytellers.
They tell me that not long after they bought a house in Pitman in 2006, their daughter (now 21; the couple also has an 18-year-old son) noticed a For Rent sign in what is now Sweet Lula's.
"I was kind of waiting for the phone to ring," he says. "So I thought, 'I can cook. Let's open a restaurant.' "
Fortunately, the gloriously restored, 1,100-seat Broadway Theatre had reopened not long before. "We couldn't exist without them," he says.
When the Broadway is lit up on weekends, it can be tough to get a table at Sweet Lula's. At other times, it can be too easy.
"Even on a show night, by 9:30, usually we're done," Anthony Asbury says. "We really would do better in Philadelphia."
The couple "would do well no matter where they went," theater owner Peter Slack says.
"They have good food, they have personality, and they're adventurous people. I'm glad they're retaining a presence in Pitman. But they're doing the right thing by exploring Philly."
A borough native who owns a West Deptford publishing business and is Sweet Lula's landlord, Slack is a hometown hero for having restored the faded Broadway for $1 million.
But he says he understands why the Asburys would want to explore their options. Lisa Morgey, a Broadway print shop owner and the president of the Pitman Chamber of Commerce, understands as well.
"I guess they feel they can't take it any further here, and I don't blame them," she says.
A number of well-known downtown businesses have closed in recent years - including the beloved Pitman Bakery, which reopened under new ownership in 2014 and closed less than 12 months later.
Others have changed hands, and Thompson notes that a Mexican restaurant opened recently.
"You have to be a pragmatist," Morgey says, noting that owners have to do what's right for their businesses. If the Asburys end up taking their gourmet cabaret act across the Delaware, she says, "it's not going to sink Pitman's downtown."
And if it happens, Morgey adds, "we'll have one heck of a last supper at Sweet Lula's."
I ask Anthony Asbury what he would imagine serving at such an occasion, and he doesn't miss a beat.
"Humble pie!" he exclaims. "Because I would be humbled that friends have gathered to wish us well. And I would always remember where it all started."
856-779-3845 @inqkriordan