Hettie's Restaurant: Dream comes true for longtime cook

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