Having their world compressed along less than 300 feet of a city street is "exciting, rewarding, crazy, and on a bad day, suffocating," Safran said.
"We're addicted to opening businesses," she continued, grinning. "When you do something and you do it well, you just keep going."
The couple has been the engine driving much of the turnaround of this once-seedy neighborhood. But, as their leases come up for renewal in the now-thriving block, will they become a victim of their own success?
A conversation with Turney and Safran is like watching a doubles team on a tennis court. Serve up a question and one starts lobbing details, while the other jumps in to win the point.
Like most restaurateurs, they were career-changers.
"I was unhappy teaching and waitressing," Safran said. "Marcie was the one who said, 'If you're not happy . . .' "
"Then do something else," her partner finished.
The Lancaster County-raised Safran, 35, says her family stressed personal responsibility. "You go to college, you get a degree, you get a job. . . . "
"But you don't have to teach for the next 30 years," Turney allows.
Turney, 40, a Wisconsin native who started at Temple University's Tyler School of Art on a field-hockey scholarship, says she always thought she would be a graphic designer. "I came back sophomore year and there were computers everywhere and I was 'no.' I don't want to sit in front of a computer all day."
Turney segued to a series of kitchen jobs, from Judy's Cafe to Rock Lobster to Michels. Meanwhile, she enrolled at the Restaurant School.
