Cheap Eats - Mama knows best

Busy Bee Cafe does down-home right

It’s easy to know whether you’ll like the Busy Bee Cafe. Just ask yourself whether you have a “mama” or a “mother.” Mama knows by heart how to cook. She doesn’t worry about how food looks on the plate. Mother prefers The Joy of Cooking, offering veal cutlets and congealed salads on good china. She won’t let you leave the house without wearing lipstick, either.
If you have a mama, you’ll love Busy Bee. You know mama would never pay $18 for a fried chicken dinner or $14 for a vegetable plate like they offer at some places. You’ll find nothing fancy here, just laminate-top tables, gently faded wallpaper and celebrity photos lining the walls. Entrees are under $10, with ingredients fresh off the truck.
After a friendly, hollered-out greeting from a waitress, squeeze into a booth, table or a counter seat. You’ll be elbow to elbow with police, students, politicians and all sorts of folks. Order any entree (except sandwiches, which come with chips) and you’ll get piping hot corn muffins — dense, moist and a bit sweet — to start. Be sure to ask for iced tea. Brewed fresh and served strong, it’s the ideal companion to this food.
Fried Chicken ($6.50) is hugely popular, with good reason. Soaked overnight and fried in peanut oil, it retains just a hint of peanut and is crisp with very little grease. Busy Bee has a masterful way with fish, too. Both catfish and whiting are often available as specials throughout the week, with whiting a regular special ($4.99) on Saturday, too. Crisply breaded with corn meal, both types of fish are tender, moist and not at all fishy. Barbeque ribs ($7.99) are tender with a thick, sweet sauce — make it easy on yourself and use your fingers. Pork chops ($7.50), chittlins ($8.95) and smothered chicken ($6.50) are also popular here.
All entrees come with a choice of two vegetables, or you can order a veggie plate with three ($4.50) or four ($5.50) items. Greens — turnip and collard, cooked with smoky ham hock — taste like they came out of the field that morning. Corn, described as “fried” on the menu, is hand cut from the cob and served up creamy. Okra, fried or boiled, tastes as if it has never seen a freezer. Blackeyed peas and green beans are salty and cooked to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. Mashed potatoes are velvety, with small chunks of potato adding texture. You won’t need mama’s convincing to eat these vegetables.
Whether or not you clean your plate, you can still get dessert at Busy Bee. An unofficial poll of Busy Bee’s wait staff pointed to banana pudding, a sweet satiny wallop of banana and vanilla wafers ($2.35/$3.50), as “tha bomb,” Coming in a close second is the Georgia peach cobbler ($2.35), a rich crust enfolding warm peaches with just a hint of cinnamon. According to the menu, the sweet potato pie ($2.35) is Busy Bee’s most popular dessert, and the cakes we’ve seen here — red velvet, Key lime — look promising, something to investigate next time.
If you miss mama’s cooking, the Busy Bee is a laudable substitute. In fact, you should bring mama with you. After all, she could use a break.