Southern food served in a roadside relic

• Mammy’s Cupboard in Natchez serves daily specials Tuesday through Saturday.

In the 1940s and ‘50s when highways were being built throughout the United States, car culture was all the rage as Americans took to their automobiles to see other parts of the country. In an effort to attract those tourists, interesting roadside architecture began popping up.

Natchez businessman Harry Gaude built the iconic Mammy’s Cupboard in 1939, opening for business in 1940. The roadside restaurant was built in the shape of a mammy archetype. As a former tour guide of some of Natchez’s stately antebellum mansions, Gaude’s wife believed tourists would find the building interesting.

The mammy character in Gone With the Wind was played by Hattie McDaniel and became a stereotypical portrayal of an enslaved African American woman who cared for the children on a plantation.

The structure is unique not only in its appearance, but in how it was constructed. The red hoop skirt is made of bricks, and horseshoes serve as earrings for the 28’ high building. The mammy, wearing a white shirt with a red scarf, is smiling at motorists driving by, holding a serving tray to indicate that hospitality is found in that place.  

At one time there were gas pumps in front of the iconic restaurant, but those have long since disappeared. 

It may surprise some to learn that the restaurant is still open. The building has been through many renovations, renovations and renovations inside and out. During the 1960s, the skin on Mammy’s face and hands was repainted in a lighter shade. Frommer’s USA, a travel guide series started by Arthur Frommer in the late 1950s, advised diners at Mammy’s Cupboard to “check your political correctness at the door.”

The restaurant serves daily specials Tuesday through Saturday. And word has it that the food is very good: meatloaf on Tuesday, rosemary chicken with fresh herbs and mushrooms on Wednesday, roast pork loin with a muscadine glaze on Thursday, chicken pot pie on Friday, and red beans and rice on Saturday.

The menu also includes specialty sandwiches, including a Rueben, Mammy’s chicken salad, sesame chicken salad, and peanut butter and homemade jelly served on house-baked sourdough bread.

The biggest draw, hands down, is the pie. The pies at Mammy’s Cupboard have been written about in books, including American Pie, and in magazines and newspapers for National Pie Day. Pies served in the restaurant include chocolate meringue, lemon meringue, coconut meringue, lemon icebox, chocolate icebox, banana caramel, and peanut butter pie. All are made daily in-house. They also serve cake – hummingbird and Italian crème.