Behind the doors of the Salvation Army’s Dauphin Street facility in Mobile, a kitchen once known mainly for feeding the homeless and marginalized has become a source of some of the best barbecue in the region. The man responsible is Cecil Morris, a former Salvation Army client who rose from dishwasher to Culinary Arts Manager and, along the way, became locally famous for his slow-smoked ribs.
Morris and his ribs have taken top honors in some of the area’s best-known cooking competitions, including the Bay Area Food Bank’s Gourmet Chef Challenge, the Point Clear Rotary Club’s Taste of Rotary, and the Volunteer Mobile Shrimp Cook-off. That reputation has helped transform the Salvation Army’s kitchen into something more than an institutional feeding operation. “We’re proud to serve more than just institutional fare,” said Major David Waite, the Salvation Army’s Area Commander for Coastal Alabama.
The popularity of Morris’s ribs led to the creation of an annual Memorial Day weekend rib sale, now in its second year, that gives the public a chance to taste the same barbecue that has won over judges and diners alike while supporting the Salvation Army’s mission in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Morris’s path to the kitchen began far from a stovetop. Born in Mobile but raised in New York, he took his first drink at age 14 and was using crack cocaine by 16. When he returned to Mobile at 30, he was in the grip of full-blown addiction, homeless and eating out of grocery store dumpsters. Deep in depression and contemplating suicide, Morris found his way to the Salvation Army, first as a transient in the feeding line and later as a client of the organization’s Corps Salvage Rehabilitation Center.
Recovery did not come easily. Morris was dismissed from the program early on because of behavioral problems he attributes to years of street living and fear of the unfamiliar. But the Salvation Army gave him another opportunity, and this time it stuck. Like every new client assigned to the kitchen, Morris started as a dishwasher. As his recovery progressed, so did his career: he was hired part time as a cook, promoted to first cook, and within five years of walking through the Salvation Army’s doors, he had become Culinary Arts Manager. Today, Morris has 13 years of sobriety.
He has had other job offers over the years but has chosen to stay with the Salvation Army, saying he wants to give back to an organization that gave him a second chance. Morris sees himself as living proof for the clients coming through the program now, many of whom are facing the same struggles he once did. Alongside team members Oscar Smith, Lorraine Ledqux and Willie Harborson, most of them also in recovery, Morris now leads a kitchen that prepares meals for the homeless and marginalized across Mobile and Baldwin counties, while also showing off its skills to the wider community.
That skill will be on display this Memorial Day weekend, when the Salvation Army holds its annual rib sale at 1009 Dauphin St. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The menu includes ribs, sandwiches, potato salad and baked beans, and organizers encourage placing advance orders by calling 251-438-1625, extension 139. Proceeds support the Salvation Army’s programs for those in need in the Mobile and Baldwin County areas.
Downtown Mobile’s dining scene has also picked up a new addition. Margarita’s Bar, tucked just behind Three George’s and connecting to the Dauphin Street storefront just east of it, is now serving authentic Mexican fare in the Lower Dauphin Street (LoDa) entertainment district, marking the return of a South-of-the-border dining option to downtown Mobile. Owner Yolanda Garcia offers a traditional lunch menu, while evenings bring a rotating selection of tapas, including ceviche. Garcia says she spends much of her week outside the restaurant’s Wednesday-through-Saturday operating schedule sourcing ingredients for her dishes, including an in-house pico de gallo loaded with vegetables and a tangy brine. Reviewers who have sampled her tacos, both chicken and beef, describe them as standouts on a menu that is bringing a taste of Old Mexico back to downtown Mobile.