Finally, an Italian Restaurant in Dubois County; Mama T’s opens up on 4th Street in Huntingburg

“Anyone can boil noodles, the secrets in the sauce man.” Brandon Acles, owner and chef of Mama T’s, explained. “There’s one thing you gotta know about sauce man, one rule. If you walk by a pot of sauce that’s cooking, you gotta stir it man. I was taught that from the time I could see over the edge of a pot.”

Stirring pots is one lesson but great food runs in his family as these recipes were handed down from his Great Grandmother Mae who came from Termini, Sicily.

“Well her name was Anna Marie or Marie Anna, she didn’t know cause she never saw her birth certificate and her mom and dad died before she knew them.” Teresa Jerger, the namesake of the restaurant and Brandon’s mom, said. “Anyway we just called her Mae.”

Great Grandmother’s story is an epic all itself. She lived in Chicago and was orphaned at an early age. The oldest brother, 12 at the time, took charge of her and the six other siblings. The group did what they could to survive.

“They would trip the bread-man and grab the bread when it fell. They would fake fights in the stores and steal pickles when the shop keeper was distracted.” Teresa explained.

Eventually the 12 kids were found out and separated to different family members throughout the state of Illinois. When the oldest brother was able he left for California and to try and make it in the movies. “He was one of the Keystone Cops.” Teresa said.

He returned after succeeding in the movies and got all the siblings back together. He then paid back all of the stores they had stolen from . “He had a little register book and he would walk in and hand them money for pickles they had stolen when they were trying to survive.” Teresa said.

Brandon’s family arrived in Dubois County when Teresa’s father, one of the brothers, became a manager at Holland Dairy. Brandon’s family has been here since and he graduated from Southridge in 1997. “I wasn’t a great student.” He said with a grin.

Brandon began going to college, but it was an accident that got him into the restaurant business. “I got stuck at home over Christmas break and couldn’t get back to school. I had some problems with financing and I was trying to get it fixed.” Brandon said. “Some of the family had a restaurant in Fulton and after New Years they were just done with it. They called up to tell us and we thought well why not try it?”

Brandon took over the family restaurant in Fulton, Kentucky and later expanded to Jackson, Tennessee. Things were going really well until the gas hit $4 a gallon. “You know gas hit $4 and corn hit $4 and food prices went up. I had customers that would come every week start coming once a month.”

This crippled the business and he closed the restaurants and came back home. He started working at MiMi’s in Jasper as a cook, but things fell into his lap when Robert and Mio Holly decided to close Sweet Violet on Fourth Street.

“I just asked Bob if he would rent it to me.  He thought about it, agreed, and here we are.” Brandon explained.

Mama T’s opens tomorrow at 11. Right now the family is running around decorating, getting menus put together, and cleaning. Brandon is doing what he seems to do best, cooking.

“Food in my family is like currency.” Brandon said. “I mean if you got someone moving then you call everyone and say ‘hey we got this thing to do and ma’s cookin’ and everyone would show up.”

Mama T’s has lunch specials and a full menu. Family specials are available as well as wine. According to Brandon they have an incredible family sangria recipe.