Emily Hays Photos
Robert Harris: I can’t make just a little collard greens.
It was 30 years ago when Robert Harris finally got his mother’s collard greens recipe exactly right.
Now he doesn’t even have to taste the cooked greens to know that they are ready for the customers of his Whalley Avenue restaurant, Mama Mary’s Soul Food.
“If you want the same taste every time, use measurements,” Harris said.
Harris’ tools of choice are a plate to measure sugar and a small bowl to measure salt. Both go into an enormous vat filled to the brim with collard greens. The greens come from a nearby farm and are all chopped to exactly the same cut and size.
If Harris is using meat, he places smoked turkey at the bottom of the pot. Other ingredients are some oil and a few red pepper flakes.
Then the greens cook down over the course of two hours.
“I don’t know how to cook a little collard greens,” he laughed.
Take-out and delivery orders are helping local restaurants like Mama Mary’s weather the Covid-19 pandemic. Visit Mama Mary’s at 372 Whalley Ave. or call in at (203) 562‑4535 to order collard greens for pickup or delivery. The hours are noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Alabama Farm To New Haven Kitchen
The matriarch: Mary Harris, in her eponymous Whalley Avenue restaurant.
Harris is part of a legendary family that runs New Haven’s Southern food scene. His sister, Sandra Pittman, and her husband run Sandra’s Next Generation in the Hill. The rest of the family pitches in at Harris’ restaurant on Whalley Avenue.
The matriarch, “Mama” Mary Harris herself, still cooks for the restaurant from time to time. She makes meatloaf on Wednesdays and bakes pies on Thanksgiving. Last year, she baked 80 pies for the holiday. (She is already taking orders for this year.)
Mary Harris is 81. She grew up in rural Alabama.
“We raised everything but sugar and flour,” Mary said, with the air of someone telling a well-worn story. “Everything was fresh.”
She moved north in 1958 for a better life. Organizers like Rosa Parks had kicked civil rights protests in the South into high gear. Meanwhile, white supremacist violence went unchecked.
“You can imagine what it was like,” Robert said.
Mary Harris became a beloved cook while living in an apartment in the 99 Edgewood Ave. co-ops in the Dwight neighborhood. Neighbors would continually drop by the apartment to eat Mary’s food.
A vat of uncooked collard greens.
Robert set up his first restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, roughly 30 years ago. He had to learn the specifics of his mother’s recipes by phone. When she traveled down to Virginia, he had perfected the greens enough that she was unable to distinguish them from her own.
Now, in the Whalley Avenue restaurant named after her, Mary Harris still insists on sourcing ingredients directly from farmers when possible. A farm on Paradise Avenue in Hamden supplies the restaurant with fresh collard greens.
Left to right: Sherena, Mary and Sabrina Harris.
The family has circled up around Robert Harris in recent years. His oldest sister, Sabrina Harris, is the lead baker at the restaurant. His youngest sister, Sherena Harris, manages the restaurant around her job leading the new mammography van at the Yale New Haven Hospital.
Sabrina Harris’ daughter, Sarina Richardson, fills server, cashier and baking roles.
The Food
Mother-daughter baking duo, Sabrina Harris and Sarina Richardson.
Sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting.
I got breathless ordering all of my favorite dishes — fried fish for me, fried chicken for my partner, macaroni and cheese, the collard greens, two types of cake.
While I waited for the Harrises to pack up all of the dishes, I looked around at the empty restaurant. Mama Mary’s has kept its indoor seating closed off since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Sarina Richardson took customer orders from behind a plexiglass shield near the front door. She had to remind some customers to wait near the door as they eyed the booths they knew so well. Mary Harris offered chairs to customers who looked weary.
“It hurts to see it empty like this. We used to sit with customers. They would kick off their shoes. It was like a family,” Sherena Harris said.
The federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) helped the restaurant through the first wave of Covid-19, when practically no one stirred out of their homes to visit Whalley Avenue. Because Sherena works at the hospital, she helped her siblings decide to keep Mama Mary’s closed to indoor seating until risk from the pandemic has abated. They do plan to open up outdoor seating when the weather gets warmer.
I biked home with my order, glaring at the cracks on Whalley Avenue that threatened to catapult containers out of my overflowing plastic bag. Luckily, the frosting Sarina had swirled so carefully onto the cake was only slightly smushed by the time I got home.
Eating my meal was heavenly. The collard greens were savory, satisfying and not remotely bitter. The cabbage tasted like the stews I loved before becoming [mostly] vegetarian. The potato salad had a lemon or vinegar taste that formed the perfect complement to my other dishes.
My only mistake was placing the fish and cornbread on the same plate as everything else. The liquid from the vegetables turned the breading soggy, so I focused on how tender and flaky the fish was without its breading.
I knew I ordered too much, so I was surprised to find that we had eaten everything by the end of the day. I’ll just have to order again soon.
Previous coverage of recommended take-out orders to help local businesses survive the pandemic:
• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan “Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
• Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
• Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
• Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
• Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
• Today’s Special: Francesco’s Tortelli
• Today’s Special: Seikichi’s Sushi
• Today’s Special: Ketkeo’s Khao Poon
• Today’s Special: Mike Fox’s French Toast
• Today’s Special: Zhang’s Squirrel Fish Dish
• Today’s Special: Jessica’s Gumbo
• Today’s Special: Kenny Kim’s Vegan Ramen
• Today’s Special: Ernesto’s Venezuelan Arepa
• Today’s Special: Corey’s “Prison Reformer” Frank
• Today’s Special: Bryan’s Butter Chicken Pie
• Today’s Special: Jared’s Super Supreme Baked Potato
• Today’s Special: Craig’s Breakfast Reuben
• Today’s Special: Sunny’s Mackerel Sashimi
• Today’s Special: Jamshed’s Lemon Chicken
• Today’s Special: Dave’s Navratan Curry
• Today’s Special: Nicole’s Oxtail
• Today’s Special: Brisket Kansa-Lina Fries
• Today’s Special: Sandra’s Bourbon-Glazed Salmon
• Today’s Special: Alba’s Beet Salad With Goat Cheese Panna Cotta
• Today’s Special: Alex’s Chicken Pad Thai
• Today’s Special: Kenia’s Steak & Cheese Sub