It didn’t take but 10 minutes to realize that Sussy Palma is many things. She’s a 26-year resident of Hilton Head Island. She’s a serial entrepreneur who owns and operates several successful businesses, and – she will tell you – she is an absolutely unapologetic dog and pet lover. She is a mama to many.
She is also now a restaurateur. The new venture is called Nala’s Beach Grill and it sits at the corner of Folly Beach Road and Highway 278 in the space formerly occupied by Lucky Beach, and Carrabba’s Italian before that.
A large crowd celebrates with Sussy Palma, her family, and team at the grand opening and ribbon-cutting at Nala’s Beach Bar & Grill.
The space looks a lot like it did when it was Lucky Beach. Cosmetic tweaks may come, but she had only four weeks to open from the time she was handed the keys to the building. The focus went into the menu, the vibe they want to create, and staffing to handle a possible 270 seats.
Palma has a vision for something different, but certainly comfortable, for locals and visitors alike.
Ceviche – Corvina marinated in leche de tigre with mango coulis, peppers, onions, cilantro and sweet potato chips for crunch.
When I first heard some time ago that the new restaurant coming into this space was from Costa Rica, I naturally wondered if the cuisine would lean that way. Costa Rican, Central American … Latin. It wasn’t the first thing I asked Palma during a visit, but it wasn’t far behind.
“I want American food because that’s what all of us want,” she said. “We like it and it’s a very good cuisine. But also, I want to add the hint of the Caribbean side, like a little bit of South America because my chef is from South America.”
It is fair to say that she has done that. The menu features staples you would come to expect at a “casual beach eats” spot. That includes chicken wings, sandwiches, burgers, and other handhelds, but there is more.
I saw chicharrones (fried pork rinds) on the menu as well as a few sandwiches that certainly pushed the proverbial envelope, but it is more than fair to say Palma and her team have attempted to create something that would appeal to Hilton Head islanders first. If you want to add some of the flavor of Central and South America – including their signature ceviche – to your table, you can certainly do that.
I also heard that Nala’s was offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Day One, which I frankly thought was ambitious for a new restaurant. Nala expects to max out at roughly 50 employees, give or take. Palma believes they can handle that kind of volume, so they decided to go for it.
“Why not?” she said. “It is a lot, that’s why. When you have the right people and a good team and all of that, it’s like nothing is impossible for me.”
The confidence comes from a life growing up in restaurants. Her father was a life-long restaurateur in Costa Rica. She showed me some photos from her childhood in the restaurant. There was a time, really, that it was all she knew.
That has changed in the two decades-plus that she has lived on Hilton Head Island. She owns a successful staffing agency and is involved in other ventures, but she told me the timing was just right for this.
“I was interested in this building before Lucky Beach came in,” she said. “I came and looked at it, but it was very dark in here. Carrabba’s was lots of dark wood and few windows.”
The renovation she’d have to take on kept her interest in the building in check. But she always kept tabs on its progress. She lives nearby and is always walking her puppies. As such, she was a regular customer when Lucky Beach opened, and became friends with its owners. Once it closed, she inquired.
“I knew it was for rent,” Palma said. “But I didn’t want to rent anything. So I asked if the building might be for sale.”
It was indeed available, and the gears began to move. By the time they closed on the property, she estimated she had about four weeks to get everything in order before Memorial Day and the busy summer.
Thankfully, she had a chef in mind already and knew how she could rally a staff together. Still, there was a menu to build out, there were cosmetic tweaks, and there was a bar program to build. I got the impression that there wasn’t a whole lot of sleep during May.
The biggest cosmetic tweak is the mural honoring the restaurant’s namesake. Nala was one of Palma’s half dozen dogs. She lost her after 12 years, so the restaurant went up in her honor.
“Nala’s name comes from the Lion King movies,” Palma said. “She’s unique and she’s the queen here. And that is how this place is going to be. It’s going to be very unique.”
It’s also why Palma plans to be heavily involved in any animal related activities, festivities, or fundraisers. It’s a topic that sits front and center in her heart. “I don’t want to be part of only one foundation. I want to work with all of them,” she said. “Even if a dog is on the street, I would love to help them. And I want to make this place very pet friendly because I only have three more (dogs) and two cats. They are very important in my life because the joy and the happiness that my dogs bring to me, like everybody knows, is unconditional love. They just love you for who you are, but also I want all those animals, the rescue animals, to find a home and a lot of love – like Nala did.”
Nala’s Whole Fried Red Snapper Served with rice, crispy tostones, and their fresh beach salad with cabbage, carrot, tomato, onion and lime.
The sentiment she shared was certainly genuine. And the joy Nala brought her is what she hopes to bring her guests at the restaurant. There is pet friendly outdoor space to connect those dots, but it’s her unique spin on some of her native cuisine, paired with some local staples, that she hopes will keep islanders coming back for more.
