Manteo Mayor Jamie Daniels began his political career 12 years ago when he started serving on the town planning board. “I was nosy,” he says. He explains that people came into Garden Deli and Pizzeria, which he and his wife Nadine have owned for 19 years, talking about local goings-on. As part of the planning board, he got to know the news as it was happening. Seven years later, then-mayor John Wilson decided to retire, and he asked Daniels to run.
He met his wife Nadine while enrolled in Baltimore International Culinary College, and the couple worked together at a restaurant in Corolla. “We worked nonstop all summer for somebody else, [and we] thought, ‘we could do this ourselves,’” Daniels says. Purchasing Garden Deli was quick. The couple closed on the restaurant in about a week. “It was meant to be,” he notes.
A year later, they were married. Daniels says he guesses he considered marriage a bigger commitment than opening a restaurant together. They have a son, 16, and a daughter, 11, and celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary in October 2015.
Their friendly neighborhood restaurant is a Roanoke Island favorite and often busy, but service is fast and meals are quick so the wait is never long. The delicious New York-style, hand-tossed pizzas are loaded with toppings and are available to eat in or take out, and Garden Deli delivers on Roanoke Island and in Pirate’s Cove in the evening. People are becoming addicted to Garden Deli’s fresh-baked sub rolls, which smell heavenly as they’re baking and taste delicious filled with cheese steak, house-made chicken or tuna salad, or deli meats and cheeses. Garden Deli also makes paninnis, burgers, salads and delicious desserts like Hershey Bar cake and cheesecake. Garden Deli also offers catering for your special event. It’s open for lunch and dinner every day except Sunday. You can sit inside or out on the porch.
So when you are visiting Manteo NC, come enjoy some fresh, local family owned, cooked with love subs , salads, and pizza! We look forward to seeing you!
Jamie and Nadine Daniels
