“Wash your hands and pull up a chair,” Mary Samuelson said with a laugh, “’cause supper’s on the table, and it’s time to eat.”
Samuelson, the owner of Mama Josephine’s, was quoting Josephine Spallino – her late mother and the namesake of the restaurant celebrating its grand opening today at 4000 Shaw Blvd.
Mama Josephine’s, which will serve lunch and early dinner, will specialize in home-style comfort food. Samuelson laughed again and added, “We’re not a health-food restaurant, trust me – if you don’t want heavy cream and butter, you don’t want to come here.”
Samuelson will share cooking duties with kitchen manager Maria Baker. “She is a wonderful, wonderful cook – she’s got many, many years’ experience in the industry,” Samuelson said. “And actually, there are a couple of the recipes that are hers rather than my mother’s.”
The two of them will plate home-cookin’ classics like fried chicken, meatloaf and pork steak, as well as lasagna. “I call it eight-layer lasagna,” Samuelson noted, “but if you count all the layers, it’s probably closer to 12.”
Mama Josephine’s will seat 30 diners inside and 24 outside, Samuelson said. She also related that a local seamstress expressed surprise at the delicate brocade bought for its curtains: “You’re gonna put this in a restaurant?”
“I would put this in my mama’s dining room,” Samuelson replied, “and that’s what this is.”
This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2010.