Magnolia Café

Mike Lee walks into the Magnolia Café everyday with a smile on his face.

The décor and aromas of the restaurant take him straight back to a childhood spent in the shade of large oaks in his grandparents’ hometown, Natchez, Miss.

Magnolia’s smell mimics that of his grandmother’s soul food cooking.

“She just cooked the best veggies,” Lee said. “She had a huge garden and a huge chest-freezer. Back then they would bag all the peas and do everything separately, and no one was doing anything like it around here.”

What started as a deli and catering service has, 17 years later, blossomed into today’s Magnolia Café. Recipes from Lee’s grandmother and mother fill the chafing dishes of the café’s cafeteria-style restaurant.

“We wanted to make it feel like you’re at grandma’s house,” Lee said.

And Magnolia’s Mississippi Old-River motif does just that. Three large walls have hand-painted murals of Oak Alley, Magnolia Park and a steamboat named Robert E. Lee and the Dunleith plantation house in Natchez.

This cozy environment draws hundreds to Magnolia daily and makes it a regular stop for after-church crowds.

“Everybody’s looking for some good veggies on Sundays,” Lee said.

Soul food is a fairly new venture for Magnolia Café. It always catered the fare, but its in-house eatery was a deli. When the recession hit and delis began “popping up everywhere,” Lee said they knew the restaurant’s direction needed to change.

Today their vegetable line up features favorites including sweet potato soufflé, fried green tomatoes, smashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried okra and fried peas.

Weekdays, the cafe offers daily specials to provide “something where [customers] can save a little money, but get something good to eat,” Lee said.

These are Chicken Tenders on Monday; Beef Tips on Tuesday; Grilled Pork Chops on Wednesday; Creole Chicken Thighs on Thursday and Smoked Chicken on Friday.

Another popular dish, Magnolia’s Pecan Chicken, can be breaded or baked served with a cream sauce and roasted pecans.

“The pecan chicken is real famous,” Lee said.

Magnolia’s Pot Roast cooks for 10 hours beginning the night before. They get their Fried Catfish from Mississippi, which gives a “nice sweet flavor to it,” Lee said.

It’s also not unheard-of for Lee to run to the grocery store to get ingredients for his banana pudding or to pick up vegetables when running low.

During Thanksgiving and Christmas, Lee even smokes and roasts turkeys.

No matter the day Lee arrives to the café at approximately 7:15 a.m., a routine that’s stuck since they opened in December 1996. After him come the five workers who man the kitchen, some of the same people that opened with Lee 17 years ago: Amanda, Brenda, Ryan and Lee’s father, Steven.

“I watched [Brenda’s] kids grow up,” Lee said. “It’s special.”

After Lee’s father retired from Bellsouth, Lee brought him in on Magnolia.

“Dad and I joke sometimes, ‘Whose idea was this?’” Lee said. “Then we’ll joke, ‘Who’s driving the boat?’ Now, we’ve been here so long, and we keep doing the same thing. We keep growing with more guests. It runs itself a little bit.”

The family feel and laughter create an atmosphere at Magnolia that keeps regulars coming week after week.

“We’ve watched people start families, and their kids have kids now,” Lee said. “That’s pretty neat.”