You never know which local luminaries you might run into at Nara Khakurel’s Coffee Talk Cafe in Towson. But whoever it is, chances are good that Khakurel will know their order.

Baltimore County Councilman Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat, orders one coffee, black, to take to his wife. Councilman Julian Jones, a West Side Democrat, favors a turkey club and a chai tea. Councilman Izzy Patoka, a Pikesville Democrat, likes a turkey reuben. Nancy Hafford, who runs the local Chamber of Commerce, is partial to the Italian sub. Lauren Buckler, who directs the public works and transportation department, likes a morning iced chai.

They all enjoy coming into the shop on Pennsylvania Avenue for the proprietor as much as for the food.

Nara, as everyone calls him, is never without a smile, a kind greeting, and, if you’re lucky, a sweet message in the foam of your cappuccino. He tells firefighters, police officers and those in military uniforms “thank you for your service,” and gives them a warm handshake or hug.

“I love Nara. He’s the show,” said Barbara Waters, a Towson retiree who comes in frequently for coffee and leaves an extra $10 in the tip jar for Khakurel’s loyal employees. “He sees me, he greets me, and over the years we’ve developed a relationship where there are days when I feel like the only customer.”

Of course, she isn’t — so much so that at times it’s hard to find a seat. Between the jurors scarfing down a sandwich during their lunch break and the college students enjoying a Taharka Brothers waffle cone before their next lab, some customers find the to-go box is the better option. Khakurel’s menu features sandwiches, wraps and salads. Occasionally, he introduces a Nepali twist, such as mango lassi drinks or momo, a Nepali dumpling.

Most of the entree items are under $10. He said he’s been able to keep prices low because he does a lot of work himself, from spending hours behind the counter to sourcing ingredients.

Customers like investment banker Ryan Stellmann have learned they needn’t be consistent for too long to score a spot in Khakurel’s memory bank, or on his board. Stellmann had only been ordering the chicken Caesar wrap with spicy pesto for a month when Khakurel began listing it as the “Ryan Special.”

Stellmann was on vacation when the sandwich debuted; by the time he returned, the special was gone.

“When I came back, he was like ‘Where were you?’” said Stellmann, adding that Khakurel promised to bring the sandwich back soon.

Many regulars refer to Nara as “the mayor of Towson” and call the cafe “Cheers,” after the fictional neighborhood bar from TV. And though the Coffee Talk Cafe feels like a Towson institution, it’s only been around nine years.

Khakurel immigrated to the U.S. with his wife, Kristine Khakurel, after a devastating earthquake in Nepal destroyed the couple’s three coffee shops. Rebuilding was difficult, so friends in the United States suggested he come here. Nara Khakurel was aware that Maryland had a thriving Nepalese community — a decade earlier, he had helped his brother, who is deaf, move to Montgomery County to attend college. Khakurel was sponsored to come here and has a green card.

Friends in the Nepalese community helped him find a location, rent the property, secure insurance and otherwise navigate the labyrinth of paperwork to get started.

But the personality is all him.

“I always tell people, ‘I was born in a landlocked country, but I never locked my mind,’” said Khakurel, referring to his South Asian homeland. “I don’t think anybody is a stranger anymore. It is just a matter of, if we have met before or not.”

Born in a poor farming village where he sometimes walked to school without shoes and broke a pencil into thirds so it would last longer, Khakurel was always, as he says, a “people person.” He earned a hospitality degree in Nepal and then trained in Singapore as a manager for Kentucky Fried Chicken. There, he met Kristine, who is from the Philippines. One daughter, Kara, now 13, was born in Nepal. Zara, 7, was born at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The family lives in Essex, and Khakurel said they are proud to send both daughters to public school.

The coronavirus pandemic challenged the Khakurels. Kristine Khakurel is a medical assistant and had to continue working; both children needed homeschooling; and Nara Khakurel struggled to keep his cafe going while everything was closed.

But when he reopened, his customers returned. And Nara Khakurel was grateful to the local politicians who worked hard to help businesses like his to reopen. He more than repays them for any support the council has provided, Ertel said. Khakurel is one of the few business owners who joins him on trash pickups around the district.

“A lot of business owners, it’s not that they don’t care about the community, but often they’re just running a business. They’re not necessarily connecting outside of the business,” Ertel said. “He has not only come here and run a business, but he’s built a community.”

When Khakurel hosted a party for the cafe’s ninth anniversary one morning earlier this month, many regulars showed: Ertel, Jones and Patoka; Hafford; Buckler; and police chief Robert McCullough. They and several other prominent attendees posted photos on their personal and official county Facebook feeds, as did Khakurel.

Some, such as Patoka legislative aide Kylie Taylor, came back three hours later for their regular lunch order. Before she could even say what it was, Khakurel was on the move, getting it ready in a to-go box: a chicken Caesar wrap with crab chips.