Business is booming at Mama Mary’s Soul Food Restaurant, which opened two weeks ago on Whalley Avenue. No one was enjoying the collard greens and corn bread more than loyal customer Miss Daisy Jones.
Owner Tanya Harris (on the right in the photo), along with her husband Robert, relocated Mama Mary’s from its longtime location on Congress Avenue to a well-placed spot across from Edge of the Woods. She said she and her husband made the move to expand the clientele. It’s already happening.
Tanya Harris said more than half of their old customers are coming by for the pig feet and chitlins (that’s stomach, according to chef Robert Harris, well-boiled) and the particularly popular chopped barbecue. Many others are discovering the cuisine, whose origins, in this family, go back to Robert Harris’s mother Mary. She came to New Haven from Alabama after World War Two.
“We have about 35 percent of our clientele who are relatively new, and many of them are not African-American.” She described a white couple who lives around the corner on Norton Street. “They were so delighted,” she said, “to find a restaurant that offered fine dining that they could walk to.”
The law firms in the area, the employees of the correctional facility on Whalley, the people who work at the pizza parlors all come to Mama Mary’s as well. Was Tanya Harris surprised? “Absolutely not. There are lots of people who want to delight their palates by eating, so to speak, out of the box.”
Tanya and Robert Harris — whose sister Sandra operated Sandra’s on Whitney Avenue until it closed about six months ago — have done an upscale renovation of the space that was formerly Stella’s kosher bakery and restaurant. It’s wood-lined, with an inviting oval refrigerator case that shows off desserts even before you order your main course. There’s a long cool granite counter where another longtime customer, who identified herself as Sharon and remembered previous Harris restaurants on Chapel Street, was ordering fried chicken.
“We’ve changed the location and the decor,” said Tanya Harris, “but absolutely nothing about the menu. The customers wouldn’t allow it.”
Another dish that Daisy Jones was looking forward to ordering on another day was liver and onions.
How is that dish done in soul food style? What makes it Southern?
“Well,” explained Jones, “it’s smothered in gravy and served over rice.”
Other food that’s a big hit so far, and usually in the summer, is the fish — porgies, whiting and catfish. The porgies too are fresh, caught by Robert Harris himself. He goes fishing for them up in Stonington or New Bedford. “He comes back,” said his wife, with evident pride, “with maybe a hundred of them and we freeze them, and then serve them. It’s a moist flaky fish, and Robert deep fries them in a fine light cornmeal, along with cornbread. We take the head off, but the fish is there, bones and all, of course.”
“I especially like it with cabbage,” added Daisy Jones.
Business, said Harris, was good for lunch and dinner both, even on the weekend, when churchgoers come in after services. They slide into booths which are comfortable wooden pews. “So they eat and pray at the same time.” (The restaurant closes on Mondays.)
What was Daisy Jones praying for? Tanya answered for her, “We’re praying for health and perseverance, and prosperity.”
Speaking of prosperity, how was the adjacent Jamaican restaurant, The Caribbean Connection, faring, now that Mama Mary had opened up? Chefs and owners Grygory Martin and Norma Potts, mother and son, were pleased. “We actually considered expanding into the space,” he said, “when it became available. But we couldn’t afford the rent. But it’s fine, we’re good for each other. Their customers come to us and ours go to them. And they’re really nice people.”
If people are tired of porgy, Martin suggested at his place they try a delicious Jamaican-style fish he calls brown stewed snapper. It’s a red snapper cooked in oil and vegetables and served with rice, cabbage, and plantains.
A Rastafarian whose goal is to become a complete vegetarian, he succumbs occasionally to chicken and still enjoys the fish he describes.He especially loves fishing. “I’ve asked Robert Harris to take me fishing, and he said he would, after he gets a little less busy.”
Which does not appear to be happening any time soon. Mama Mary’s Soul Food Restaurant can be reached by (562‑4535) or through its website. The Caribbean Connection is reachable at 777‑9080.
I'm going! This place is just what I've been looking for. Any reviews so far?
Jack