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rf '-t j.VV*•V«**«»=fcS3■wvMaster At Work1“The best there is,” is the trademark of Lyons Dining Room chef Louie Bell Woods, who has been satisfyingDecaturites with his culinary art 40 years.(DAILY Photo)...WoodsThe hundreds of folks who have eaten cooking of Louie Bell Woods — dean ofDecatur’s professional culinary corpsA relocation of the Lyons Dining Room at Decatur Inn was his choice.during the past 40 years, as of OctoberWoods and members of his staff havemight 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) willnothing against the modern trends in cooking. He likes the new equipment atthe 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 eves 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“V..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.ownNo dehydrated potatoes or instant mixJohnny 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.waffles or pancakes, he affirmed. “Old fashioned and homemade, that’s for me.”Woods hasto quick-cook techniques, it’s deep fatfrying for chicken. “Skillet frying is theonly way,’’ he said with a positive shakeof his head and a flip of his high-peaked“I’d get to the Why-Not early in the morning and get whatever I was fixingthat day started and then go upstairs and wake Mr. Johnny up and he’d come downand do the rest of the cooking.“Gradually. Mr. Johnny and Mr. Tom did less and less cooking and I did more and more and after a year’s time. I was inchef’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 cookingand 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.”cookedstorm”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 Lvlons Hotel.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 and\ «*.« I,***pans.*Disregarding other offers ofemployment, including a job in Mobile, Woods began a career at the Lyons Dining Room that lasted nearly 27 vears in theBank St. locale.“Rommie was more than just a,cook, to us.” Mrs. Greene recalled. “Without a“I’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 making around$150a 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,qualityimmediately.of the meat he’d know it pics an accomplished cook, and Russell,and thev would have itV*returned, she said“Six months after I came to Decatur,•*I asked Rommie to come and work withwho shared kitchep space with Woods and is now a dietician with Pineview Hospitalus 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.in Hartselle. James Bowling, in charge of the kitchen at Bentley's Restaurant, isWoodsstill a member of Woods’s staff.An interruption by a Birmingham fish•«*«»A 1salpsrrmn nrnmntoH tho mmcfinn “H A 1FA1I.% . tag;-ATIMP I-Mv-:: • '■ -ifinV . .. .JpfmWEmployment ConferenSpeakers from Decatur businesses mettalkwith students in distributive education*courses on methods for making jobBanker OnEducationCommissionMONTGOMERY—The appointmentDecatur _______________to the Alabama Commission of Higher Education 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 by■ . . . _1969The commission advises the governorand 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 ofHUGH 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 cangive me both the best price and the bestproduct.Quantities? Large. He estimated heaverages about five or six cases of eggsweekly, with 30 or so dozen in a ease.• - «*•If there’s a strain of temperament inWoods ________Barely three weeks hospital, after minor surgery, answered questions with quiet ease, andgave needed directions to his kitchenout of thehestaff. Always, he kept a vigilant eye on■ . a _how preparations for the coming mealAwere progressing.it 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 problem we have, about cooking, is who is going to get the recipes out of the paper and what am I going to do with all of the boxes and boxes of recipes Ihave piled out on the porch. Sara Mae threatens 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 new■ideas. Some of my best recipes, like mycorn 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.” _Bell WoodsafA,tPJcACA1lrlrnO!dnlt;LAHPlrTw17a(wFwDS*arbiClofCiEAF5,FHaiStClt;TlPFINACFiCP*eiteeiAA
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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