BLOG POSTS:

Monday, June 23, 2008

 

Hettie's

Hettie's Restaurant: Dream comes true for longtime cook

BY JAIME INGLE
News-Democrat

Hettie Moore started cooking when she was 7 and hasn't stopped.

"My mother said I was too young to cook so I talked to my father and he said 'Well, let's go talk to her,'" said Hettie, 65, who grew up in Alton and recently opened Hettie's Restaurant in downtown Belleville.

"My mother said I was too short to reach the pots so my father said. 'Why don't you just put a chair there for her to stand on?'"

Hettie started stirring pots, then graduated to making cookies and later full meals.

She continued cooking for her own family, husband Nathaniel and their three children. Nathaniel had tours in Germany, and the family moved with him. (He died in 1998.) Hettie liked trying new food and tried to emulate it.

"I can make barbecue, Chinese-style, German food, anything," said Hettie, who opened her homestyle cooking restaurant in mid-May at the corner of East Main and Church streets. It's the site of the the former Marilyn's Pie Pantry.

She co-owns the business with partners Richard and Linda Ducksworth, Helen Harden, Leon McMath and Tyrone Speight.

Tuesday afternoon, she was boiling potatoes for homemade potato salad.

"Pulled pork is our No. 1 seller and people like our wings," said Hettie, who is retired from AT&T.

The quarter-pound Hettie Burger, slabs of ribs and bowls of gumbo also are popular.

Granddaughter Terrynn Moore, 16, is helping her this summer.

"Her barbecue sauce is the best, but she won't tell me what's in it," said the teen.

Sauces include sweet barbecue, sweet and spicy, and spicy, which can top wings, burgers or ribs.

"Each sauce has a base of its own, and doesn't have a lot of fat in it. People can request the sauce to be as spicy as they want," said Hettie. "I've only had one person ask for it to be spicier."

Hettie's restaurant started as an idea in the 1970s when the family was stationed in Virginia. The family moved back to the metro-east after Nathaniel retired in 1983. After retiring from AT&T three years ago, she started catering.

From August 2007 to January 2008, Hettie had a food court business at St. Clair Square where she sold pulled pork and chicken wings. High rent there and encouragement from friends prompted her to look downtown. The former Pie Pantry building with an enclosed brick courtyard appealed to her.

A work crew painted the walls a warm butterscotch with burgundy accents. Tables and chairs once used at the old Busch Stadium fill the dining room. Most tables are decorated with an artificial potted orange flower.

While the restaurant is still a work in progress, Hettie is proud of how far she has come.

"It's been an adventure. If it hadn't been for God and my family and friends, I wouldn't be here."

Hettie said Nathaniel would be proud.

"He knew the dream. He'd say 'You did it.'"

On the menu:

Chicken wings ($6.79 for 8, grilled or fried)

Pulled pork sandwich with fries ($6.58)

Half slab of ribs ($12.59)

Cajun rib tips ($6.49)

Hettie burger ($3.99)

Seafood gumbo ($4.59)

Side dishes ($1.59 for small and $2.89 for large)

Red beans and rice

Potato salad

Cole slaw

If you go:

Where: 301 E. Main St., Belleville

Hours: 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. -7 p.m. Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.- 9 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 825-0414



Thursday, June 12, 2008

 

Wine Tap

Posted on Thu, Jun. 12, 2008

Wine Tap bar will be turned on in downtown Belleville this weekend

After a long wait, the Wine Tap in downtown Belleville will be turned on this weekend.

Allison Babcock and Dave Nagle hoped to have the wine bar at 223. E. Main St. in Belleville ready more than a year ago but more ambitious plans and construction work got in the way.

Back in October 2006 they said they were hoping for a Christmas time opening in a story in the News-Democrat. But they didn't say which Christmas.

"We started going in one direction and then some ideas changed," Nagle said. "What you see is hundreds and hundreds of hours of work."

They ended up renovating the entire building, even tearing down part in the back to expand the patio area.

"It just kept getting bigger and bigger," Babcock said. "But I'm glad we didn't cut any corners."

The Wine Tap will be open only on Saturdays and Sundays for a few weeks to introduce the new place to the area. During the week they will continue to do some finish work and get everything just as they want it.

The bar will serve a wide variety of wines and beers, some mixed drinks and some specialty Rt. 66 sodas along with cheese and some breads.

"We'll have a wall of wines on tap, hence the name," Babcock said. "There should be 20 or so."

When the chimney is complete on the outdoor brick oven on the patio, they will be able to offer other baked items, Babcock said.

Nagle did almost all the woodworking himself, putting in new ceilings, fashioning wooden moldings, building the bars and creating a new staircase down to the cellar of the building.

The building features some bits and pieces from other buildings in Belleville and other towns. There is a tin ceiling in one room that came from the Seven Restaurant and Lounge, formerly Good Times and other tin pieces salvaged from the remodel of Keil's Antiques. The leather work on the bars comes from the Leather Shop in downtown Belleville.

Part of the decor is two pairs of bank vault doors that originally were in a bank in Carlyle.

The Wine Tap held an open house during the Wine, Dine and Jazz Weekend last week and drew nice crowds, Babcock said.

"All our friends have been waiting impatiently for us to open," she said. "We wanted to do something different that would fit in with everything going on downtown now."

Babcock and Nagle are experienced entrepreneurs who also own and run Allison's Common Scents Shoppe and Dave's Homebrewing Supplies at 122 E. Main St.

They have proved doubters wrong before and plan to do it again.

"People thought we were crazy but I think it is going to do fine," Babcock said.

The Wine Tap will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. for a few weeks and then will add regular weekday hours.

Wally Spiers' column runs five days a week. Have a column idea? Call Wally at 239-2506 or (800) 642-3878; or e-mail: wspiers@bnd.com

© 2007 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.belleville.com



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?