Traditionally, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last hoorah
before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the renunciations of
Lent. In New Orleans, this means party time with plenty of costumes
and masks, parades and beads, as well as heaps of great Cajun
food and even larger quantities of alcohol. The feast before
the famine, so to speak.
If you can’t go the whole length of the experience and just
want a little southern comfort food at a reasonable price, stop
in at Sweet Mama’s in Park Slope. It’s not Cajun, but it’s a
genuine slice of the American south right here in Brooklyn. Hushpuppies,
fried chicken, black-eyed peas, corn chowder – all done the way
mama, or at least, chef-owner Terrie Mangrum’s grand mama, used
to make them on the Tennessee tobacco farm.
Mangrum cherishes her Tennessee roots, though she knew from
an early age that tobacco farming was not her cup of tea. Instead,
she dreamed of starting her own restaurant in a big city. So
14 years ago, she left her hometown of Bethesda, Tenn. (population:
60) and headed for the Big Apple to follow her dream.
She first moved to SoHo, where she cooked for the Hog Pit
until "the craziness got to me," then, two years ago,
after ruling Manhattan out as too expensive for her own restaurant,
she came to Brooklyn and opened Sweet Mama’s.
You might call Sweet Mama’s a hole in the wall. Chances are,
if you’re not looking carefully, you might even miss the small
neon "Sweet Mama’s" sign on the restaurant’s Seventh
Avenue facade. Sweet Mama’s is narrow, especially in comparison
to its close neighbor, Starbucks, with its commanding breadth
and corporate status. It would be hard for two establishments
to be more divergent in feel and attitude.
Sweet Mama’s is deliciously cozy and engagingly home hewn.
"We gutted everything ourselves," Mangrum says in
her thick southern drawl, of the long, narrow space with a bar
and kitchen in the very back. "I got all my friends here
to help me and we finished the interior in three weeks. We exposed
the brick, put up the tin ceiling, wood-paneled that wall."
One entire wall is exposed brick with small areas of remaining
plaster stenciled in subtle pink floral designs, the opposite
wall has been elegantly wood paneled with pieces of parquet flooring,
and the ceiling is Victorian gray tin. Mangrum, in leopard-print
cowboy hat, T-shirt and jeans, cooks at the open grill in the
back while bluegrass music lulls you into laid-back Southern
mode.
The small tables are covered with checkered tablecloths in
blue-and-white and red-and-white with a little tin candleholder
on each. There are black-and-white photographs of southern farm
life, and from the center of the ceiling hang a huge watering
can, a handsaw and an old milking bucket. Mismatched wooden chairs
and old, iron garden furniture complete the scene.
"Everything that’s in here came from my apartment,"
Mangrum says proudly. The overall effect is warm and welcoming.
The food is as true as the decor. This is not subtle fare,
nor is it fused with any other cuisine – it’s straight-up southern
cooking.
Appetizers include fried dill pickles, fried green tomatoes
and shrimp and grit cakes. As one who had never indulged in fried
pickles, I was surprised at how good they were, delicately fried
with their own fresh crispness intact inside the batter.
The shrimp and grit cakes had a lovely flavor, as did the
okra beignets (fritters), though you may have to have southern
roots to appreciate the beignet’s gooey texture and the cakes’
mushiness. Hushpuppies, fried chicken and mac and cheese were
good, but offered no surprises, while the tender and juicy barbecued
ribs, delicately crisp catfish fried in cornmeal and the cabbage
with ham were outstanding.
The potatoes were hand-mashed to perfection with the skins.
Other vegetables were overcooked in good old-fashioned southern
style – green beans, creamed corn and black-eyed peas.
Desserts – including pecan pie and chocolate cake – were too
sweet and not very flavorful.
Overall, Sweet Mama’s is a great place to go for a relaxing
home-cooked southern meal. Make sure you talk to Mangrum, who
is a delightful combination of wide-eyed-and-bushy-tailed country
girl and savvy New Yorker. Indeed, she bridges the gap between
her two worlds with grace.
"When I go back to Tennessee, my family wants me to cook
them New York food," said Mangrum. "Last visit, I took
them lox and bagels. They went crazy – just loved it."
But here in Brooklyn, allow her to do what she does best,
simple southern fare she learned from her mama and her sweet
grand mama.
Sweet Mama’s is located at 68 Seventh Ave. at Garfield
Place. Closed Mondays. Cash only. For more information, call
(718) 768-8766.
Fat Tuesday events
Two Boots restaurant invites you to "travel to Bourbon
Street without leaving the Slope" – Park Slope that is.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Two Boots, 514 Second St. at Seventh Avenue,
promises a Mardi Gras menu of crawfish, gumbo, BBQ alligator,
jambalaya and King Cake. Wash your troubles, and your gumbo,
away with Cajun martinis and Abita beer!
Your pre-Lenten dinner will be followed by Zydeco swing and
Cajun two-step performed by the VoodooBillies, who take the stage
at 9 pm. There is no cover and no minimum. Wear a costume or
mask and Two Boots will treat you to a complimentary hurricane.
Reservations are recommended. Call (718) 499-3253.
Also on Fat Tuesday, the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims promises
no less than "Mardi Gras Madness" beginning at 7:30
pm.
British concert organist Carol Williams and Plymouth’s own
Minister of Music Peter Stoltzfus combine to offer a fun, family
oriented musical program.
The two organists – together on one bench – will perform Prelude,
Fugue and Variation for organ and piano by Cesar Franck, a duet
for four feet and no hands, toccatas, and more for this third
annual Mardi Gras performance.
The festive event takes place at Plymouth Church, 75 Hicks
St. at Orange Street in Brooklyn Heights. A reception follows
the performance. General admission tickets are $15, $10 seniors
and students with college ID and younger. Tickets go on sale
at 7 pm.
On Feb. 24th, Brooklyn youth ages 2-12 are invited to a Mardi
Gras magic show starring King Henry with a supporting cast of
face painters and balloon makers. The entertainment takes place
from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at the New Utrecht Reformed Church [18th
Avenue between 83rd and 84th streets, (718) 448-1544] in Bensonhurst.
$2 donation requested.
– Lisa J. Curtis
