By Michael Pineda
mpineda@cherryroad.com

Leola McGee has been synonymous with the success of Café Alley for over three decades.

McGee has been a mainstay in the kitchen, developing favorites that have helped put the restaurant on the map and a destination for those visiting Ardmore.

“She put Ardmore on the map is what I always say,” Café Alley owner Samantha Norton said. “She did.”

McGee loves what she does, but she did not set out to become a cook, although she gained experience in the kitchen at an early age through her mother Clara Reed.

“I stumbled into it because of my mom,” McGee said. “It was one summer. We lived in Gene Autry, I was just like 16. She was working in a restaurant, and they needed some help. So, she got me and I did whatever she told me to do.”

At home that meant making the pie crusts as her mother made the filling.

“I had the hard part, but it always came out good,” she said. “That was the reason she always had me do it.”

McGee said she didn’t realize she would come to love cooking.

“Everybody says you are doing what you love but I never thought I would love cooking,” McGee said. “I never planned on it. I wanted to be a schoolteacher or something.”

The road to becoming a cook for Café Alley involved a job with an aircraft parts manufacturer. McGee was laid off and was hired by Gary Jackson, who owned Fireside Dining and Café Alley. With a young family, McGee said she needed work that offered benefits.

“I went to Weber Aircraft in Gainesville, I worked there for about three years and then got laid off,” McGee said. “I went back to Café Alley because he always worked me.”

McGee got called back to Weber and spent a year there before being laid off once again. At that point, in 1990, she decided on employment that offered more stability.

“I said, I am not coming back and have been here ever since then,” she said.

The rest, as they say, is history. During her time at Café Alley, she has worked for Gary and Jeannine Jackson and Jasyn and Samantha Norton, who bought the restaurant from the Jacksons. When asked if she thought McGee was the backbone of Café Alley, Samantha Norton replied without hesitation.

“Yes, absolutely,” Norton said. “We jumped in, started in with her, building it with her. And she has never turned her back. She has been faithful, loyal, dedicated from the day Jasyn and I walked in 18 years ago.

“We built a connection. We connected. We built a friendship. There were things that came along with it that just weren’t just about Café Alley.”

Norton said there are hundreds and thousands of people that know McGee through her food. She is routinely complimented for her food, and she thinks of the restaurant as her baby.

“Gary used to say, you made me famous,” McGee said.

McGee is old school in the fact that she does not use recipes. Due to the growth of Café Alley, Norton said it was a struggle at first to train people.

“I put in what I think it needs and then I taste it,” McGee said. “And if it don’t taste the way I think it should, then I add some more. If I have a recipe, I follow the recipe the first time or the second time. And then, make it my own.”

Norton said what strikes her as so amazing about that is McGee’s consistency.

“If you taste it, you know Leola’s made it,” Norton said. “I have had so many customers say that. She did retire for a while and there were so many of them that would say, ‘This isn’t Leola.’”

It can be something such as chicken and rice, which tastes the same every time although there is no recipe, or the crowd favorite chocolate roll.

“They know when she is not making it,” Norton said.

It is also not uncommon for McGee to emulate a dish and knock it out of the park. When the Norton’s took over Café Alley, Jasyn was the foodie. Samantha Norton had her husband and McGee worked together recreating many dishes. He would put a lot of faith in McGee to create dishes which were out of her comfort zone.

“She would always tell me, ‘Give me recipes, Sam,” Norton said.

As an example, last week, Café Alley offered stir-fried chicken. It was a result of Jasyn Norton having it somewhere and McGee taking the dish and running with it. She said it was the same thing with the Jackson’s. Jeannine would tell her about a dish that she tried and ask McGee to make it.

“They just told me what was in it, and I would make it,” McGee said.

McGee said it all comes down to pride in doing a good job. She wants her food to be good. She also approaches life with the same focus.

“My Bible says if you don’t do the best, you can, what you are doing, you are doing for God,” she said. “You are supposed to be and so you should do the best you can. I take that seriously, whatever I do.”

As a restaurant cook, McGee said she does not often cook for herself. But she does have a favorite when it comes to cooking. She loves the old favorites from home such as beans and cornbread along with biscuits and gravy.

“I like that home cooking, I like meatloaf,” she said. “Comfort food I guess you would say.”

Needless to say, when McGee makes chicken and dumplings or stew, it sells out quickly. There are also the cobblers and apple dumplings that are big favorites as well.

While McGee has retired before, she struggles to stay still and enjoys being active. She loves her church and family with grandchildren and great grandchildren. McGee also loves traveling, taking cruises and riding the train. Her favorite places to visit have been Spain and Alaska. She also has an upcoming trip planned for Hawaii.

She feels blessed that she can cook and stay active, refusing to take it for granted.

“I say God gave me a gift,” she said. “It is my gift, that He gave to me and He wanted me to use it. So, I use it.”