The Daily News’ weekly Neighbors series features one person from LaGrange and the surrounding area. This week we sought some culinary inspiration with Joyce Sato from 505 Eats, a sandwich shop located next to the Marathon convenience store on Vernon Street at Boulevard.

LaGrange Daily News: What is the best part of your job?

Joyce Sato: I work with wonderful people. … I love to cook.

LDN: How long have you lived in LaGrange?

Sato: I’ve lived here for almost 10 and a half years. … My uncle lived in Newnan. He owned a business down here, and he decided it might be a good opportunity for us to come down. There was a convenience store that was open, and he thought that maybe we might be interested. Plus, my parents were living with us at the time, and family is closer around. He said, why don’t you come down and check it out? So, I did.

LDN: And you must have liked it because you are still here.

Sato: Right! I had no intention ever to live down in the South ever, but I came to look, and people seemed very friendly. And I don’t know. It’s like, ‘OK, I’ll give it a try.’

LDN: What are your hobbies?

Sato: So, before this I’d help run the convenience store, and then I’d go home, obviously, and cook and bake and things like that. I was a fashion designer, so I would do a lot of crafting, make costumes or clothing or things like that. So crafty things. My girlfriends got me into running, so I do running.

LDN: Have you been in any races recently?

Sato: Not recently … but we’ve done several races before. My friend makes me run.

LDN: What is the most beautiful place in LaGrange?

Sato: It’s so nice to have the lake nearby. To be able to have the resource like that to go out to kayak or to boat, it’s really nice, and it’s gotten cleaner, and it’s gotten better.

LDN: Do you like to go boating?

Sato: I do. I don’t have a boat, but my friends have a boat, and they’ve been very, very kind, and we enjoy the lake quite a bit. LaGrange has just has been such a great place for my kids growing up. I’ve grown up in a small town, and that’s what I wanted my children to be exposed to.

… We come from the north, so it’s very hectic up there, and to come here (to) Southern hospitality and all, it’s been great. I mean the friends that I’ve met, the people that I’ve met from all walks of life working at the convenience store, it’s been fantastic. And then from that, they helped me to create what I have now at the 505 Eats. They’ve helped me to created the menu basically because I would ask them what do you want to eat? What do you want?

So, it’s been great, and the friends, like I said, I just love them to death. My kids love it here. They would say we can move out of the house, but we can’t leave LaGrange, so that says a lot. I like it. … It’s been great.