Stafford Beats PWC for New Home of “Globe & Laurel”

The Globe & Laurel restaurant located on U.S. 1 in Triangle, Va. just north of the maingate for the Quantico Marine Corps Base has found a new home. Due to the widening of U.S. 1 in PWC, the building it currently occupies is set for demolition. The owner, Maj. Richard Spooner (USMC Ret.) — commonly referred to by patrons as simply “The Major,” has been looking for a new location for about 2 years now.

My family and I have been going to the Globe & Laurel for close to 7 years now since we moved to the area. It is a great restaurant with fantastic food in perfect portions and reasonable prices. The Major and his wife are fantastic hosts and are fixtures there whenever you go. Originally from Berkley, Calif., they are staunch Republicans and during the 2004 election did away with Heinz ketchup (due to Sen. John Kerry’s wife Theresa Heinz Kerry) in favor of the “W.” brand of ketchup that was put out that year.

So, when my family and I went there for dinner a few weeks ago, we were very happy to learn they had found a new home and would reopen soon just a few miles down the road.

Walking away and retiring—defeat—looked like the only remaining option, until about two months ago when Stafford County economic development officials started courting Spooner.

They eventually showed him an available building—the old Keep restaurant and later Filly’s restaurant- in northern Stafford, only about two miles from Triangle and just outside the Quantico back gate.

The Globe and Laurel had found a new home.

“I’ve realized something that really has gotten to me—I found out that I’m the luckiest guy in the world, because how many 82-year-old men that you know of anywhere who have gotten a second shot at life?” Spooner said.

“I’ve got a new opportunity. I can leave here; I can start a new place; and I can pursue the same dream that we had before,” he said. “We can build it back up for the cops, the agents and the Marines so they can have their place.”

Now, I have to really give credit to the Stafford economic development team on this. They found a great location fairly quickly for The Major. In fact, a few days before I learned that this would be the new home for The Globe & Laurel, we had driven past the new site, saw it was being renovated and I remarked that it would be the perfect location for them.

As for PWC’s economic development team, I do have to say that I am disappointed in them that they were not able to find a suitable location in two years time to keep this landmark restaurant in the county. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen them blow a deal like this. There definitely needs to be some fine-tuning in whatever it is that they are doing.