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•c(■m/**'» p**-... y. ' :,■■ . . f*3fe‘ •. .,-':' •*S'-5■H.Master At WorkI“The best there is,” is the trademark ofRoom chef Louie BellLyons Dining Woods, whohas been satisfyingDecaturites with his culinary art 40 years(DAILY Photo).The hundreds of folks who have eaten the cooking of Louie Bell Woods — dean of Decatur’s professional culinary corps — during the past 40 years, as of October, might give a puzzled look if you asked them whether they know the gentleman.But ask them if they know Romeo, chef extraordinaire of the Lyons Dining Room and Decaturites (old and new) willA relocation of the Lyons Dining Room at Decatur Inn was his choice.Woods and members of his staff havenothing against the modern trends in cooking. He likes the new equipment at the Decatur Inn.probably flash smiles of recognition.Forty years of planning menus and serving thousands of meals to the public is a long time. Woods’s eyes glistened, sitting in his domain, as he remembered the day he arrived in Decatur.“July 6, it was, in 1931. I hoboed up from Ashville, in St. Clair County. Two days later, I started working at the Why-Not Cafe as a dishwasher.’’ Four monthsInsideByPhyllissSidebothamT......-■ t'later, for $7 a week, he began his cookingcareer.“I was just a 19-year-old kid, with no cooking experience. But I was willing to work. And Mr. Tom Andrew and Mr.Johnny Kiehl had faith in me.“You’re too good a dishwasher to stay in that business, Mr. Johnny said,” Woods remembered. “I’m going to make a cook out of you, he told me. And he did, but we started out slow, fixing just one thing at a time.“But I prefer my own way of cooking. No dehydrated potatoes or instant mix waffles or pancakes, he affirmed. “Old fashioned and homemade, that’s for me.”I’d get to the Why-Not early in themorning and get whatever I was fixingthat day started and then go upstairs and wake Mr. Johnny up and he’d come down and do the rest of the cooking.“Gradually. Mr. Johnny and Mr. Tomdid less and less cooking and I did rtiore and more and after a year’s time. I was inIf Woods has a pronounced aversion in to quick-cook techniques, it’s deep fat frying for chicken. “Skillet frying is the only way,” he said with a positive shake of his head and a flip of his high-peakedchef’s hat. “When you cook in a skillet,you can season and the flavoring stays in. With deep fat frying, the electric coil and the temperature pull the flavor right out of the chicken. And you can’t tell how much seasoning to add,” he said,charge of the entire kitchen, the cooking and the management.That was the first and last time thatseasoningconfessing that he depends on his nose to tell how much seasoning to add. “I smell as I cook.Woods had supervision in his kitchen world. When he left the Whv-Not in 1941,he had the same flexible arrangementwith his new employer. Mrs. J. C. Greene, at the L\Jons Hotel.Woods has not only “cooked up a storm” during his long career, he has become a local legend in his own time for the encouragement and advice he hasgiven to the young men and women withwhom he has shared his world of pots andpans.» i T *Disregarding other offers of employment, including a job in Mobile. Woods began a career at the Lyons Dining Room that lasted nearly 27 years in the Bank St. locale.“Rommie was more than just a,cook, to us. Mrs. Greene recalled. “ Without aVI’ve trained a ldt of folks,” he said with quiet pride. “And they still remember me. Archie Elliott, who’s Up in Louisville now managing a country club dining room, wrote me the other day thanking me for what I’d taught him. When he started out with me, he wasdoubt, he is one of the best judges of meat I've ever known. The people who supplied us with our meat knew that and wouldmaking $10 a week as a kitchen helper. In his last letter, he said he was makingaround $150 a week. ”There have been others . ., the Priestnever try to change Rommie's order. Thev knew if thev substituted on thebrothers: David, now in Chicago, who is both a schoolteacher and a bus driver.the meat he’d know it P^us an accomplished cook, and Russell,quality of immediately, and thev would have itV*returned ’ she said.“Six months after I came to Decatur. I asked Rommie to come and work with. . Woodsis now a dietician with Pineview Hospitalin Hartselle. James Bowling,, in charge of the kitchen at Bentley’s Restaurant, isus and I promised him he would have a job with us as long as we operated the dining room. He did. Mv association with him.Woodsstill a member of Woods’s staff. .*An interruption by a Birmingham fishwhich Was most pleasant, ended for both salesman prompted the question. ‘ Do youof us on the sad dav. Sept. 1. 1966. when JV aU °f the food for the restaurant?;:“ The answer was affirmative.the dining room closed.atLong before that date, the telephone the Lvons. rang with offers from■potential employers.. Woods’s affablepersonality, coupled with his mastery ofcooking. guaranteed him futweThinking of the weekly trauma the average housewife goes through . . in preparing her list and finding, hopefully, all of the items in one store .. resulted ina second question, “How? How do you doand cookemployment.*. The answer was simple. The store• *. i- r-n-’Employment ConfertSpeakers from Decatur businesses mettalkwith students in distributive educationcourses on methods for making jobBanker OnEducationCommissionMONTGOMERY—The appointmentof a Decatur banker, Hugh C. Parker Jr., to the Alabama Commission of HigherEducation was announced this week byGov. George C. Wallace.Parker, executive vice president and a director of State National Bank, will beone of nine members serving for an eight-year period on the commission, created by1969^ The commission advises the governor and Legislature in all matters pertaining to the allocation of funds for the operation and expansion of state-supported colleges and universities.A former educator at West Point Ala.and the University of Alabama extension center in Gadsen, Parker is a member of-1■ —*.HUGH PARKERcomes to him. “I know about how much Iam going to need and I buy meat or fish or chicken or eggs from the man who can give me both the best price and the bestproduct.Quantities? Large. He estimated he averages about five or six cases of eggs weekly, with 30 or so dozen in a ease.■.If there’s a strain of temperament inWoods, it’s not visibleBarely three weeks hospital, after minorout of thehesurgery,answered questions with quiet ease, and gave needed directions to his kitchen staff. Always, he kept a vigilant eye on how preparations for the coming mealwere progressing.Who cooks at Woodswife, Sara Mae, of course. “No, I didn’t train her.” Rommie said. “She knew howto cook when we were married. She’s avery good cook, too.” he said.“The only probjem we have, about cooking, is who is going to get the recipes out of the paper and what ami going to do with all of the boxes and boxes of recipes Ihave piled out on the porch. Sara Maethreatens to go down to a furniture storeand buy me a secretary to put all of them in. I just seem to keep adding more, all of the time, because I like to try out newideas. Some of my best recipes, like my corn dumplings and my raisin sauce.came out of the paper.”He smiled, again with an enthusiastic nod of his head, “Mrs. Greene told me Iwas born to cook. It’s a special kind ofwork and takes a special kind of person.”B£ll WoodsIt’ /*«*' ‘jfi */ V V A ‘Meet11- i« .s* *’ •#*■1 •*Meeting at Calhoun Junior Colleiindustrialprogram are college officials and industrialists, from left, frontW alter*r.*■ tCannizzo, chairman ofcollege’s department ofArt
Newspaper Details
Decatur Daily
Decatur, Alabama, US
Fri, Sep 03, 1971
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Peggy T.
NA, 21 Sep 2021
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