Yesterday, I had two meals at the Gaines Ridge Supper Club in Camden. It was a good day. This is one of the spots we always direct tourists to when they are in the area. It is on the Alabama Department of Tourism’s 100 Places to Eat Before You Die list. We recommend the food, but love the atmosphere as well. It is especially beautiful in December. The setting is beautiful any time. It is located just east of Camden in an antebellum home set on a hill surrounded by trees draped in Spanish moss. In December, the house is festooned with all the accoutrements of the season. It greets you with lanterns along the gravel driveway. At night they are lit. The front of the house is garlanded with evergreens and red bows that are only a clue to what you’ll fine inside. Every room is decorated in a style befitting a grand old lady of a house.
This is not a fancy house, which is part of its charm. It was not built for a wealthy planter to show off his fortune. It was a lived in house of a normal family. It has been added on to as the restaurant business grew. The added on part is the one most folks mistake for the original part because it has the look of a pioneer cabin.
When the two Gaines sisters started the supper club, nobody in Camden thought it would last. People there didn’t eat out much. There had been only one café in town as long as anybody could remember before Gaines Ridge. Betty Gaines Kennedy and her sister prove the local critics wrong. For many years they have been serving good food to appreciative people. It is another example of how far out of their way people will come to eat well. The group I was with a lunch yesterday was from Montgomery, 60 miles away.
They were expecting to eat lunch, not spending so much time with the visual treats as well. Every visitor is free to look over the whole restaurant before settling down to their meal. It is all right to pop into the other dining rooms to see the decorations even if your party is not in that room. It’s a kind of “excuse me, I’m just looking” as we sometimes do in department stores. The other diners are good natured about it because they just did the same thing.
The rooms are all done in individual themes, but they flow easily into one another.
The homespun atmosphere of the fireplace room was my favorite. Most of the other rooms were fancier, but the decorations on the hearth were charming. There was a teddy bear and other toys in a wicker box placed next to the tree that was decorated in bird ornaments, natural materials and raffia. The mantle had simple decorations. A fire burned merrily in the fireplace. The tables were covered in red and white checked homespun. The valances at the window continued the checked theme with ribbon and greenery trim.
All of the rooms had trees. Some were grand ladies in their Christmas finery. My favorite tree was a small one that had demitasse teacup as the only ornaments. The owner has many interesting collections. I think the cups must come from those. Just inside the front door, there are bookcases filled with, of all things, a collection of gravy boats! I wouldn’t have thought of collecting those. However, some of them were pressed into service in the dining rooms as holders for sugar packets. It was clever idea, because with all the tea and coffee that gets served, I imagine there is a call for a lot of sweetener packets.
Even the back porch has red and green plaid cloths. There are red ribbons on the plants in the back garden. If you want to get the Christmas spirit, got the Gaines Ridge.
They are open all year around Wednesday-Saturday nights, and for lunch for groups by appointment. They are open daily for lunch during December and at nights for group Christmas parties. At lunch the menu will be whatever they happen to be serving. Yesterday, it was a traditional turkey and dressing dinner. It included turkey/dressing, rice and gravy, sweet potato casserole with crushed pineapple and a touch of cloves, well seasoned green beans and always hot from the oven homemade parker house rolls. There was bread pudding with bourbon sauce. There is always all the tea and coffee you can drink. When you arrive, hot spiced cider will be waiting for you to enjoy as you walk through looking at the decorations. The total for lunch including tax and tip is $15.00.
For dinner, the menu will include several choices of entrée. With this comes your choice of potato or rice pilaf, a dinner salad and, of course, those homemade rolls. For we dessert, we were fortunate enough to be served the black bottom pie, the dish that is to die for.
Gaines Ridge is worth driving for as many visitors have discovered. It is a destination in itself, but combined with a trip to Gees Bend on the ferry and Black Belt Treasures, a gallery for local artists; it makes a great day trip. A drive around town to see the antebellum homes will add to the experience.
If you don’t have the Christmas spirit now, maybe you need a trip to Gaines Ridge to put you on the right path.
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