photo by Katie Cole

Batter Dipped: “Mama” Ella Gray prepares chicken in her restaurant Friday. Hundreds of people will eat Thanksgiving lunch in her restaurant next week.

THE BIG FEAST

Local customers thankful for Mama Ella’s Thanksgiving meal

By Katie Cole (Contact) | Alex City Outlook

Published Friday, November 20, 2009

Ella Gray will spend her Thanksgiving with about 500 people, who are no doubt grateful that the cook keeps her kitchen open for the holiday.

Gray and her staff of 12 start Thanksgiving Day at 4 a.m. to prepare a feast for the hundreds of people who will pack into her restaurant, Mama Ella’s. That’s not including the numerous catering orders they prepare or the meals made for the firefighters and policemen working on the holiday.

“The reason I started is because a lot of people don’t cook and they don’t have anywhere to eat on Thanksgiving,” Gray said. “I don’t charge more. I stay at the same price because that wouldn’t be fair to my customers.”

Customers are guaranteed far more options than a typical family would serve on Thanksgiving Day: turkey and dressing, roast beef and gravy, baked ham with pineapple sauce, chicken, potato salad, collard greens, candied yams, green beans, black eyed peas, creamed corn, fried okra, banana pudding, chocolate pudding, custard and cakes.

The staff may be making enough food to feed a small army, but there are no cooking shortcuts.

“I just cook more,” Gray said. “I just make more for Thanksgiving because I know that’s going to be a busy day.”

The hard work put in by Mama Ella’s employees is appreciated by the restaurant’s loyal customers, many of whom return for the holiday meal year after year.

Marye Frances Taunton plans to celebrate Thanksgiving at Mama Ella’s this year since her husband has to work. She’s looking forward to the dressing and the chance to show her thanks to a woman who’s become “like family.”

Perhaps that feeling is shared with other customers, who often make an extra effort to voice their thankfulness on the holiday, according to Anita Drake, who began working for Mama Ella’s four years ago.

“That’s the busiest day of the whole year, Thanksgiving,” Drake said. “The customers are nice. They always say thank you for working this day.”

Another plus, although they cook tons of food, there is usually some left over at the end of the day.

“That makes it worth it because sometimes there’s enough to feed the whole family almost,” Drake said.

The day certainly is tiring for the workers, but Gray has no plans of stopping the Thanksgiving tradition she began 15 years ago.

“I’ll be tired, but that’s OK,” Gray said. “I do enjoy it. I get my blessing, I really do.”

That blessing is serving a community that she says has been supportive of her since Mama Ella’s first opened 21 years ago.

Community members and even out-of-town visitors have become regulars and made the restaurant famous locally. And when Gray was hospitalized in Birmingham last year, the support continued.

“I’ll tell you how God was good to me,” Gray said. “In February I was sick. I had an aneurysm. I had it in my heart. I still do and all of the prayers and flowers I got from my customers, that was my blessing. I can’t really explain it.”

Perhaps Gray can’t explain the community support, but Taunton thinks it starts with “Mama Ella,” who gives her customers plenty to be thankful for during the holidays.

“Every time you’re in this place it’s home,” Taunton said. “She’s like a mother…she’s very giving, very generous.”

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