Kelley's Kitchen putting soul into downtown Port Arthur

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Marie and Hilton Kelley fix plates of oxtail, okra, sausage, and rice at Kelley's Kitchen Soul Food Restaurant Tuesday in Port Arthur. Morgan Jones

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September 29, 2010

Kelley's Kitchen putting soul into downtown Port Arthur

Darragh Doiron The Port Arthur News The Port Arthur News Wed Sep 29, 2010, 08:20 AM CDT

PORT ARTHUR — Kelley’s Kitchen putting the soul into downtown Port Arthur

By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

B.B. King sang from the speakers, but no one swayed on the cozy dance floor the size of an office conference table. The disco light wasn’t even turned on.

Lunch diners at Kelley’s Kitchen Soul Food Restaurant were more focused on heaping plates of okra shrimp and sausage over rice, or cornbread dressing worth a special trip.

“People come in and say, ‘I just want the dressing today,’” Hilton Kelley said, balancing a to-go box of sweet potato pie over a plate of oxtails and potato salad.

He and his wife, Marie, staged a grand opening for their little diner at the corner of Austin Avenue and Sixth Street in downtown Port Arthur. Address sound familiar? The red-roofed building was the longtime home to Nurse’s diner, where Kelley had many a meal in his younger days.

The restaurant has been open for a while, but marked Tuesday as a grand opening affair to re-establish the soul food cuisine of the area, Kelley said.

“It’s a part of our culture,” he said.

There’s no doubt Marie Kelley, the main cook, has the credentials to serve up happy customers. The couple says they’re often asked why they chose to open in downtown, when they could potentially get more drive-up business elsewhere.

“Why here? U.S. 69 is flooded with restaurants already. We wanted to bring jobs back to the West Side,” Kelley said.

After six years of marriage, Kelley said his wife needed to share her cooking with others. As they dated, he said he discovered he spent more time at her house than his own.

“That’s where all the good food was,” he said. “I thought, more people need to taste her food.”

When he’d discuss opening a place for her, her response would be “Oh, boy, quit playing,” they said.

“I was like, whatever,” Marie Kelley said, still rolling her eyes at the thought.

Now that her turkey wing dinners and fish are feeding the West Side, the Port Arthur native admits she doesn’t even recall how she learned down-home cooking.

The couple and three others are running the restaurant, gussied up with a new wood-look floor. A window unit cools off diners sitting down to spicy barbecue ribs, smothered chicken and pork chops. The breeze also set a hanging star and paper balls to dancing. Mardi Gras beads, burgundy drapes over barred windows and a framed tribute to jazz musicians rounds out the no-nonsense decor. Kelley’s very much resembles Nurse’s, and Kelley said he has fond memories of food vendors of old Port Arthur, including Nick’s and Comeaux’ barbecue.

Kelley was raised in Port Arthur and spent time acting in California. He said he’s still a member of the Screen Actors Guild, though in recent years he’s become known for his environmental and political work. Kelley formed the Community In-Power and Development Association Inc. to “clean up Port Arthur as a whole.”

E.J. Lewis a club owner, said he’s been enjoying chicken and other dishes at the kitchen, and Kelley reaffirmed his goal, to “bring it back” to downtown.

ddoiron@panews.com

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Kelley's Kitchen putting soul into downtown Port Arthur

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