By Terry Valdez

Springfield Times Intern

Momma finally has her own restaurant.

Aline Austin, 72, has worked in various kitchens over the years. Several of them were dubbed Momma's Kitchen.

Now Aline and her daughter Marian have opened a new restaurant called Momma's Kitchen in the Royal Building on the corner of 5th and Main Streets in Springfield.

Aline said she uses a soul food style of cooking at her restaurant.

"(Soul food) means good, solid home cooking," Aline said.

The name of the restaurant appears to be a fit.

Aline is known as Momma by people that know her, and cooks all her food from scratch.

Raised on a farm in Alabama, Aline would cook the vegetables and meat until there was juice that was left in the pot, which was called pot liquor. The menu for the new restaurant proclaims that the food is "pot liquor good."

Marian Austin said she and her mother came up with the idea for the restaurant back in 1979.

During this time, the family was living in Arizona and Aline was a nutrition cook.

Aline was inspired for the name Momma's Kitchen when her kids would bring home college kids to eat her food.

Though Momma's Kitchen has been an unofficial name that Aline has used for years, it did not become an official name until the family registered the name with the State of Oregon in 2002.

Since coming to Oregon, the family has done other jobs. One job started in 2006, when the family ran a kitchen – also called Momma's Kitchen – within the nightclub Taboo in Eugene. The family did not own the nightclub.

"The family named Taboo's restaurant Momma's kitchen," Aline said. "I ran the kitchen."

After the former St. Vincent de Paul building at the corner of 5th and Main was torn down, Marian said that the family started planning for the restaurant back in June of last year.

Though the family had been planning the endeavor since last year, Marian said that mom had wanted to open her own restaurant much longer, since Marian and her siblings were young children.

That dream came true when the restaurant opened on June 23 of this year. True to the family's Alabama roots, Momma's Kitchen features items such as cabbage greens, collard greens and corn bread. Aline said that during New Years, chitterlings may be done which is another traditional soul food item.

Marian notes why the restaurant is unique.

"Because we're southern cooking," Marian said simply. "People haven't tried these foods."

The Austin family plans to have a grand opening later down the road.

"The family wants to get a feeling of it," Marian said.

As the family gets a feel of it, Marian has stopped her education at Lane Community College to help her mother pursue her dream. Marian has one year left and will later pursue a degree in graphic design. She runs her own graphic design business and will continue working with her business in conjunction with her mother's restaurant.

There are four family members and two that are not family members who work at the restaurant. Julie Blanton is a family friend and a waitress at the restaurant.

"They're very close and very loving," Blanton said of the Austins. "Very wonderful."

Aline not only cooks soul into her food, but towards the endeavor of the restaurant.

"It's a family type of a business," Aline said. "If my family in Arizona, California or Texas wanted to start one that would be good."

Aline noted that other people that are not her family members could start this business.

Furthermore, Aline said she wants to franchise some of her food if the business becomes successful like the restaurant Marie Callendars. She would like to expand her business and build another restaurant in Eugene. If the restaurant is successful, she hopes to expand it nationally.

"I like to make money," Aline said. "I like my kids to have a stable income."

Marian said she has no doubt in her mind that it will become successful.

"We wanted to leave a legacy behind," Marian said.

Aline said the menu will later be diversified to include more healthy items. Currently, the menu includes lunch and dinner. Marian said the restaurant will later become an all-meal restaurant, adding breakfast so that everyone will be put to work.

"The whole idea was to get the family a job," Marian said.

Marian notes why she feels the restaurant will appeal to customers.

"(The restaurant) is comfortable and we've got great service," she said. "You'll be able to feel at home."

That is literally the case for John Holland, 39, a customer who lives above the restaurant.

"I like it a lot," Holland said. "I would recommend it."