It didn’t take but 10 minutes to come 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 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 278 in the space formerly occupied by Lucky Beach and Carraba’s Italian before that.

The space looks a lot like it did when it was Lucky Beach. Cosmetic tweaks may come, but she only had 4 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. Here now is my chat with Sussy in her new space. It has been edited for clarity.

JB: Have you had a restaurant before?

SP: I grew up in a restaurant. My parents used to own restaurants in Costa Rica. And that happened a long time ago.

I have a lot of memories when I was younger. I lost my dad when I was 16 years old. I always want to have a restaurant. I own different businesses, but I need to find the right people, the right time, right location. So when I found that this place was available…

Then I lost Nala, my dog, two months ago. And so it’s like, OK, I think I’m ready. And I can do something nice for my community from my neighborhood. And also I have my chef, Ronnie, we’ve always been trying to find a way to work together. that we

Nala, (her dog) inspired me to open this place so I can work with a lot of rescued animals on the island so I can give back to my community.

JB: Are you associating with any of the animal rescues now or?

SP: I will, I will. I don’t want to be part of just only one foundation. I want to work with all of them. 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 is, like everybody knows, is unconditional love. You know, and they just love you for who you are, but also I want all those animals, the rescue animals, can find a home and a lot of love, like Nala did.

JB: How long did you have Nala?

SP: 12 years. Nala’s name comes as the Lion King movies. Yes, 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.

JB: How long did it take you to put the menu together?

SP: Three days with the chef. I want American food because that’s what all of us, we like it and it’s a very good cuisine. But also I want to get with the hint of the Caribbean side, like a little bit of South America because my chef is from South America.

But I want to have the good ceviche and also like the fried fish, like I can show you some of the pictures, it’s very good. And the rice and beans and plantains, and that is like Costa Rica’s food that it calls Pura Vida. The rice and beans with our seasoning, it calls it a Gallo Pinto. So a lot of people know about it because there’s a lot of tourists that all people around the world goes to Costa Rica and they love our food.

I like maduro con queso as well, is, you know, it’s plantain with the cheese melted on top and you just put in the oven. And chicharrones. So it is kind of a little bit different so people can try as well.

JB: But you would not call this a Costa Rican restaurant?

SP: No, no, no, no. It is, it is American with the hint of Costa Rican. We make our own pastas. We make our own bread. We are doing everything homemade.

Our own French toast is so delicious as well. So in the way that we cook and season our food, it is totally different.

JB: Are you doing breakfast, lunch, and dinner beginning day one?

SP: Correct.

JB: Why so much though? A lot of places would open something this big and take it slow. Why are you doing it all at once?

SP: Why not?

JB: Okay. That’s a fair answer. I like it.

SP: It’s 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.

JB: That’s very fair. Cocktails, tell me about them. Did you draw from some of your Costa Rican classics on the cocktails?

(She pulls out Nala’s list of cocktails)

SP: That’s Nala’s family. So for example, Chloe is my cat. So you have to go with her personality. For example, Sol is my German Shepherd. So it is like the espresso martini. So it is dark, brown, and sweet because she’s sweet. So Ryder, is our Mount Bernice dog. So it’s a little bit hyper, but he has a lot of love.

Homemade Adam, Rocco and Rudy.

JB: And so these are all of your, you have that many pets?

SP: Yes, through my life I always grew up with dogs and animals and I really love animals. My house is built for my dogs. My truck is for my dogs. My boat is for the dogs. My life is for my animals and I work for them.

Odin used to be Nala’s best friend on my networks that she loved him so much. He was always so happy when she was able to see him fence to fence, you know. So Kira is.. she’s big, she’s white. So the cocktail has to be like very, very light. Yeah.

So this is her home, this is Nala’s beach house.

JB: Do you have a favorite food item on the menu? They’re all your babies, but.

SP: One of my favorites it is the fried fish and the ceviche.

JB: How big is your staff?

SP: Me and another 50 or 60 people during days.

JB: Tell me about your outdoor seating?

Yeah, the outside patio, it is for walk ups. So we have a QR code. So people can sit down with your pet and they can order, you know, through the app. And then the runner will bring you the food. If they want some drinks, so they can come in here and enjoy it.

JB: Is ordering inside from QR code?

SP: No, no, no. We have servers. But for outside patio, yes. And we will have music. On Saturdays we’ll have a DJ beginning at 11am and then live music almost every night from 4pm until 7pm.

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