TURNER – Family traditions go a long way when it comes to Terry & Maxine’s.

Located in the old Chick-A-Dee building on Route 4, Terry & Maxine’s opened its doors on May 9 and its owners say it is here to stay.

The restaurant serves homemade breakfast and lunch, and has recently added an ice cream takeout window where you can get, among other things, Maine-made Shaker Pond Graham Central ice cream between two home-made molasses cookies, a recipe from one of the restaurant’s namesakes.

When thinking of a name for the restaurant, owner Aaron Lord said it just made sense to name it after his grandmother who he used to cook with.

“Her name’s Theresa but everyone called her Terry,” said Lord.

Maxine is the grandmother of Lord’s good friend, a cook at the restaurant and a humble guy, according to Lord, who wished to remain anonymous for this story. (The ice cream cookie recipe was Maxine’s.)

Terry had six children, so Lord has a large extended family and fills the restaurant with memories and traditions of his childhood.

Customers are greeted with black-and-white portraits of Terry and Maxine above the hosting booth.

Lord’s mom made all the curtains hanging from the windows.

With help from his sister, Lord filled the restaurant with small antiques from their mom’s Red Barn Market in North Anson.

“Antiquing goes back to my grandfather and has always been a part of my family,” said Lord.

These family traditions can also be found in the food, including the Dynamite, an open-faced sandwich similar to a sloppy joe but served over a hot dog bun.

Mixed in with the ground beef are tomatoes, celery, green peppers and onions. The Dynamite comes from Lord’s grandfather’s friend who came to the United States from Italy.

As John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” plays in the background, Lord’s smile straightens as he opens up about his family coming to the soft opening on April 30.

“We haven’t all been together for years, so it was like a family reunion and it was really surreal. I don’t even want to talk about it too much,” said Lord choking up. “That meant a lot. That’s all I’ll say.”

Growing up in Skowhegan, Lord went to Las Vegas during high school summers to work on his dad’s catering truck, where he was first introduced to the culinary world.

“I hated it. I said I’d never be a cook,” said Lord.

Lord graduated from Central Maine Community College in 1996 with an associate’s degree in architecture and civil engineering.

Realizing he didn’t want an office job, Lord found creativity in cooking.

The upbeat pace of cooking began to appeal to him and he went to work as a cook for Bates College for 13 years.

He moved on to become a kitchen manager at T.G.I. Friday’s before giving up the corporate world to create Terry & Maxine’s.

By the end of March, Lord drained his retirement fund. April was spent getting the building ready and by May, Terry & Maxine’s was open.

With only 12 staff members, including Lord, the family vibe transcends to the servers and staff.

“I feel like some of us pick up where the other one leaves off,” said server Pam McLaughlin from Minot. “We know what to do with each other.”

On Mother’s Day the restaurant served over 400 people in seven hours and has surpassed 1,000 likes on Facebook.

Lord is not slowing down and has future ideas for the restaurant.

He hopes to expand the takeout window, open for dinner after summer ends and even dreams of opening a disc golf course.

“I used to play right down the road. If I had time I would play more,” said Lord. “But I think that would go well with the ice cream and the takeout.”

The restaurant’s menu itself offers a host of traditional breakfast items and an array of lunch sandwiches, but diners can also suggest additions to the menu.

The restaurant currently offers four customer-created items on its “regulars menu.” Blueberry crepes, “lobstah” roll baskets and Irish eggs benedict made the list, as well as “the moize” – country sausage and gravy over a biscuit topped with homemade maple corned beef hash.

Weekly specials are offered, including banana and salted caramel French toast and “The Godfather,” which the restaurant classifies as “the daddy of all steak and cheese sandwiches”: Packed inside the restaurant’s freshly baked Cuban bread lies steak, Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and provolone cheese.

For 77 years Chick-A-Dee reigned over family-style restaurants in Turner.

Lord has large shoes to fill, and the building’s more recent history of restaurants coming and going can be daunting. But Lord is more confident than ever.

“I know what I’m doing,” said Lord. “You can’t change who you are, even if you do get burned out. Ultimately it’s going to work out, and I think it finally did.”

Terry & Maxine’s crepes with wild Maine blueberry sauce

Crepes

6 large eggs

2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups water

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

Mix first three ingredients with whisk. Add flour to wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Fold in butter.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour batter onto the griddle, using about 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the griddle or pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot. Top with sauce.

Blueberry sauce

4 cups frozen wild Maine blueberries

1 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 cup water (add more if thinner consistency is desired)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup cold water

Combine first 5 ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until all sugar is dissolved.

In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water to make a slurry.

Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberry mixture until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. If sauce is too thick, thin with water.