Ms. Alice's Kitchen - NC Folk Life

Shopping Cart: 0 Product $0.00

Ms. Alice's Kitchen
Tuesday 9/27/2011

by David Cecelski

This morning I stopped at Pierce & Company in Hallsboro when I was passing through Columbus County. Pierce & Co. has been in Hallsboro since 1898. Started by a gentleman who had previously managed one of the old Farmers Alliance cooperatives, it’s an old-fashioned country store with a little bit of everything: hardware, building supplies, household goods, children’s toys, a few groceries, and a very fine butcher shop.

I bought a round of their homemade country sausage and several smoked ham hocks to use for seasoning my vegetable soup this winter. Then I went to Ms. Alice’s Kitchen for breakfast. The little diner is just down the road, in between Hallsboro’s Methodist church and the turn to Red Bug.

At Ms. Alice’s, the ladies are friendly and they serve a nice country breakfast, including grits, eggs, biscuits, and fresh sausage from Pierce & Co. The restaurant is named after Ms. Alice Pope, the first owner, but another lady owns it now. Originally, Ms. Alice’s aunt had a store on the other side of the road, but Ms. Alice eventually took it over and turned it into a restaurant probably 30 years ago.

I sat at the counter, next to a wall covered every inch with photographs of the restaurant’s regulars going back years.

For lunch, the ladies serve mostly hamburgers and sandwiches, but they also prepare a daily special with two vegetables, bread, and dessert. Today the special was fried catfish with fresh peaches for dessert. Tomorrow, Ms. Shelba Williamson, one of the cooks, told me, she might fix chicken and rice. They open at 6 AM and close at 2 PM, Monday to Saturday, and they always make you feel at home.

The North Carolina Folklife Institute is pleased to present this blog, an exploration of the state's traditional cooking and foodways by David Cecelski, one of the state's most accomplished historians.

David's passion for the state's history takes him all over North Carolina. But David is also a closet chowhound--a connoisseur of little country cafes, old recipes, and backyard barbecues. His every trip is a chance to learn more history, and also a chance to find a new local delicacy or a great new restaurant.