Hungry? Try Huntsville

Southern Living, Feb 1997 by Ford, Gary D

Judging from its interstate exits, Huntsville, Texas, seems to offer little more in dining than a few chain eateries on I45. But look toward town, where smoke rises.

There's plenty here for a sweet tooth, an epicure, and anyone who's just gotta have barbecue. Too take advantage of all three, arrive for dinner, spend the night, and stay for lunch the next day.

Huntsville is rooted in Texas' log cabin past. Perhaps that's why an entree of crabmeat-andcorn fritters for dinner seems perfectly normal at The Homestead on 19th.

Chef John Eschenfelder, a former sous-chef at The Mansion on Turtle Creek and other Dallas restaurants, opened the business with his father and mother, Charles and Sally. He prepares the crab-and-corn fritters with applemango chutney, wild rice casserole, and fresh vegetables ($15). Diners also rave over his lemon-and-garlic marinated Atlantic salmon ($13.95). Start with a pork and veal appetizer and end with John's chocolate pate dessert creation.

Satisfy a sweet tooth at King's Candy, where Jimmy and Laura King supervise the production of chocolates and other treats. They also mix sodas from 1920s recipes.

While high school students slurp sodas, others buy candy: $6.95 per pound for peanut patties, $7.95 per pound for pecan crumble.

You'll want to stop at King's Candy after lunch. Save your noon appetite for the smoke in the trees on Montgomery Street, where people who worship barbecue gather.

The smoke rises above three pits outside a brick building and only 10 feet from a church. There, Annie M. Ward and her staff feed the multitudes at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbecue. It's known by other names too. My niece, Melissa Yeager of Huntsville, a New Zion devotee, always calls it "Church of the Immaculate Barbecue."

Outside, church members Howard Rivers and Robert Polk man the pits, cooking brisket, chicken, and ribs for meat plates and family style dinners ($5 to $7).

"Welcome, come on in," sings out church choir director Carrie Mae Haynes, 70, as diners enter. A cheerful and charming hostess, Carrie busties about and greets her friends and fans. Sometimes she has them singing.

"I sing When the Saints Go Marching In,' when we have a full house," Carrie says. "I taught a little girl to sing This Little Light of Mine,' and she stood up one day in a chair and started singing it, and had the whole house going. Another little girl held up her index finger and I said, `Do you want to learn this song too?' and she said, `Yes, ma'am.' Ever since, when people come in and hold up their index finger, I know what they mean."

Maybe they're also rating the taste of the barbecue and pointing in the direction of its inspiration.

The Homestead on 19th: 1215 19th Street, (409) 291-7366. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 5:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday (until 9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday). King's Candy:1112 11th Street, (409) 291-6988. Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday. New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbecue: 2601 Montgomery Road. Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (until 5 p.m. Thursday).