Alberta Williams

Alberta Williams was born on June 28, 1937 in Waterproof, Louisiana, “about 40 miles on the other side of Natchez, Mississippi.”  She had three sisters and two brothers, and learned to cook from her grandmother.  “Growing up in the country you had to cook…we made soul food; things like hominy and scrambled eggs, corn pone, monkey bread and greens.”  In 1955 she moved to New Orleans with her kids and her “ol’ man,” who took a job at the riverfront.  Aged 18, Alberta went to Hayes Chicken Shack and though told by the owner that she was just a “country girl,” she convinced him to let her work for free for the week.  A successfully catered party where all the food got gobbled up earned her big thanks, a new job and even a bonus.  She moved on to various restaurants over the years, getting experience with lots of different foods, especially seafood.

In 1969, Alberta answered an ad for a nanny but cooked for the family out of boredom. The family eventually recruited her to make all the family’s meals – red beans and rice, seafood gumbo, jambalaya, hot sausage sandwiches, crawfish etouffée…you name it!  When the family’s friends came for dinner parties, the party always moved from the dining room into the kitchen and guests would eat right out of the pot. The family grew up on Cajun and Creole food, literally eating for dinner nightly what people travel to New Orleans to enjoy in the finest restaurants.

In 1978, she “ran away” to Las Vegas and got a job at the Aladdin Hotel as a cook, making salads and cooking for room service.  She remembers meeting Redd Foxx and Rodney Dangerfield and laments not having started a little place right downtown of her own, “not on the ‘strip,’ but downtown.”  She missed her eight kids and the family she “nannied,” so she moved back to New Orleans and has called it home ever since.