Sherry Burgess: An old-fashioned, always-from-scratch cook

Published 10:01 am Wednesday, May 25, 2022

When folks hear the name of the DeQuincy restaurant, The Lunch Box, their first thought might be of a menu of sandwiches and such. Think again. Owner Sherry Burgess is an old-fashioned, always-from-scratch cook from a long line of old-fashioned, always-from-scratch cooks who have owned restaurants before mixes, microwaves and frozen meals were made available.

“The only thing I don’t do is peel and cut up potatoes for my French fries,” Burgess said. I buy frozen fries and tater tots.”

Next week she will introduce baked potatoes stuffed with grilled or fried chicken, grilled shrimp or chicken fried steak. (Yes, she batters and fries her own chicken fried steaks and makes her own gravy.)

“No mixes here,” she said. “I had a new cook come in one morning and she asked where the pancake mix was. I pointed to the flour, the water, the eggs, and told her to watch me, I was the mixer.”

To get to the restaurant to begin serving pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, ham, hash browns, eggs and biscuits at 5 a.m. she wakes at three.

“Most of the recipes have been in my family for years,” she said. “My mom and dad owned a restaurant in Zwolle when I was growing up, and my dad’s mom had a restaurant.”

Her daughter Rachel is her morning manager and cook and her son Randy is her night manager and cook. Her husband does not cook much, but Burgess said that “he makes the best barbecue and fried fish there is.”

Thus far, her most popular selling menu item is her fried livers and gizzards.

“I sell five pounds or more a day,” she said.

She sells salads for the crowd who don’t know what good eatin’ really is or know all too well. Hamburger steaks are another popular item.

“My mamma and daddy taught me a seasoning mix that I put on my burgers and hamburger steaks,” Burgess said. “We use good, lean hamburger meat and we always grill our buns. My mama told me if I don’t grill the bun, don’t even put it out that door.”

Burgess learned by watching her mother in the kitchen, worked in the restaurant with her parents, and has always enjoyed cooking to please her family. Grandchildren call her before a visit to tell her they’re coming, and ask for favorites like chicken and dumplings.

“They even ask for cold cornbread,” she said.

On Sunday, cars pack her location for the day’s plate lunch special, pork roast, chicken and dumplings, beef roast or ham. She has hamburger steak every day she’s open. Making food from scratch isn’t easy. It takes time. But there’s a market for it. Burgess satisfies that market, and that’s satisfying to her.