Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sad news


Last time I put my legs under a table at the Loveless Cafe was about two years ago. I went there for dinner and I left very underwhelmed. The fried chicken was hard as a rock -- if you've ever had fried chicken that was over-cooked, you know what I mean -- and the green beans had gone from a can to my plate, literally.

My last Loveless experience would've been a total wash-out if not for the place's signature biscuits. Man, those bicuits. (I could live offa Loveless biscuits and red-eye gravy, indeed.)

Fresh, flaky, and full o' buttermilk flavor ... the biscuits served at the Loveless is the only reason folks should vistit the Loveless, indeed.

That said, this really bums me out ...

Carol Fay Ellison, better known as Loveless Cafe's Biscuit Lady, died on Monday after a 3½-week hospitalization. She was 48.

Ellison began her career at Loveless Cafe as a dishwasher when she was a teenager. Owner Tom Morales said she went on to become the face of the restaurant with her made-from-scratch biscuits and preserves. ...

After several years working as a dishwasher, buser and line cook, Ellison started baking biscuits at Loveless in 1987. Ellison — who learned how to make biscuits by watching her mother — fiercely guarded her recipe.

She would say only that the recipe came from previous owners of the Loveless Cafe and that she tweaked it a bit by adding a secret ingredient.

Morales said that secret ingredient was love.

"She put pride in it. She put love in it," Morales said. "That's what made them so good."

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