local flavor
Story by Shaila Creekmore, Photos By Dero Sanford

New owner Donna Daugherity has brought back the deli to Ms. G’s Deli and Diner with a full service meat and cheese cooler selling by the slice or pound.
Ham and turkey that is smoked by Ms. G’s, mesquite turkey, pastrami, bologna, roast beef and corned beef that is pickled and smoked in house are now available in the deli and can be sliced to your liking. A number of cheeses are also available for purchase by the pound. Homemade breads including white, wheat, sourdough, brioche and cinnamon swirl can also be purchased by the loaf.

Bringing the deli back to the diner was one of several changes Donna made to the small Culberhouse establishment when she took over on Aug. 11, but like all the previous owners before her she kept the original name – and the famous chicken salad, tuna salad, pimento cheese and homemade bread.

“I had to keep the chicken and tuna salads — people drive from an hour away just to get the chicken and tuna and homemade bread,” said Donna. “Some of the recipes are the same as Ms. G’s, but most are new ones I have brought in. I’m sure many are actually recipes some of the other former owners brought in, not actually Ms. G, but I did keep just a few of those recipes.”

While the recipes are new to the diner, they are not at all new to Donna. Passed down through her family, many of the recipes are more than a 100 years old.
“A lot of the recipes I’m using are from both of my grandmothers. Many of my recipes are very old recipes,” said Donna.

Among those recipes are items such as meatloaf, sausage and kraut, fried potatoes and meatballs that are part of the blue plate special. Each weekday, Ms. G’s features different hot lunch plates for only $5. On Friday and Saturday nights from 5-9, Donna features ribeye steaks, as well as a Cajun seafood boil on Saturday nights.

Like any good diner, Ms. G’s has several burgers on the menu, as well as Philly cheese steak, Ruebens, catfish and shrimp po-boys and sandwiches made with fresh meat from the deli case.

A large selection of baked goods is also available, along with custom baking.“We’ve really become known as a custom bakery. Jonesboro doesn’t really have a real bakery and we’ve found we can help fill that need,” said Donna.

Soon after taking over the restaurant, Donna gave the 40-year-old building a facelift with new coats of paint inside and out and a cleaning from top to bottom. Most extensive to the update was a dishwasher and updated gas grill and bringing all of the restaurant equipment up to current code.

“It was a lot of work. She’s an old building and it needed a lot of care. We discovered that the walls were leaking and paint wouldn’t adhere to the walls, lots of things like that,” said Donna.

Among the décor changes, Donna has invited her customers to sign and write notes on the back wall of the restaurant.

“I wanted to make the customers part of the restaurant,” said Donna. “My idea was to make it homey and make it an affordable place for anyone to come.”

Early in 2009, Donna will begin the next phase of changes in the diner with the installation of black and white floor tiles. Soon she plans to remove the hot bar located along the front counter space and replace it with an eat-in counter.

“I think people will like being able to come in and sit right up at the counter,” said Donna. “But we will always have the blue plate special. We’re already trying to just serve people at their tables as much as possible, so we will just be serving from the kitchen rather than the hot food bar out front.”

The restaurant business has proved tiring, exciting and more than Donna, who made her first full course meal at age nine, thought it could be.

“I thought I would close down, go home and let it go at night but I don’t. I go home and go through recipes, try new things for my family and neighbors. But I get to do everything I love to do. I get to sell, I get to decorate, I get to cook and to talk to people.”

Ms. G’s Deli and Diner, 2301 Culberhouse, is open Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Saturday, 5-9 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information, call 972-8674.