I saw a cluster of daffodils in my yard this morning. That’s spring harbinger number one. And I’ve already bought a king cake. That’s spring harbinger number two.
But spring harbinger number three begins February 19th. That’s when the Calvary Waffle Shop opens.
I can’t wait. This is the annual Lenten luncheon and speaker series, which is celebrating its 98th anniversary at Calvary Episcopal Church. Except for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, Waffle Shop is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday through Friday in the basement of the church at 102 North Second Street.
Visiting Waffle Shop — with its tomato aspic, fish pudding, shrimp mousse, Boston cream pie, and other delights — has been a tradition of mine for decades. I thought I knew almost everything about the beloved little place until I recently talked to Waffle Shop committee chairperson Connie Marshall. She shared a lot of its history, some of which she uncovered during our interviews.
More than one story exists about how Waffle Shop began. Marshall heard that it “started as noon day Lenten services in a downtown theater.”
According to The Great Book, Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church Memphis, Tennessee 1832-1972, by Ellen Davies Rodgers, “Prior to 1927 Mrs. Eugene (Mamie Walworth) Tate of Calvary visited friends, Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Bauer who resided in Springfield, Ohio. During the visit, Mrs. Tate was a guest at a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at Christ Episcopal Church in Springfield. She was greatly impressed by the church ladies’ successful food serving project that had continued since 1918.”
So, the Calvary Circle “under the able leadership of Mrs. Ellis, president, launched the project of serving lunches during Lent, 1928. The name ‘Waffle Shop’ was chosen and plans were made for the cooperative endeavor.”
There was no space for Waffle Shop at the church, so they began in a building at 10 North Front Street. “After two years, they moved Waffle Shop to 109 Court Street,” Marshall says. “And in 1933, they moved to the basement of the church.”
In 1950, the basement was dubbed “The Mural Room.” In “The History of the Mural” in the Rodgers’ book, “The Calvary mural was painted in 1952 from a ‘cartoon’ done by then rector Donald Henning, using input from parish children and their ideas of what the church and community looked like.”
Much of the mural couldn’t be saved during the 2024 restoration of the basement, Marshall says. “It was in one continual piece and it was starting to disintegrate. And it was plaster.”
Waffle Shop menu items go back to the beginning, Marshall says. Going through old Waffle Shop menus, she says, “A lot do date back to 1928.” And in the 1925 Calvary Church Circle Cook Book, fish pudding is included. “It appears that the fish pudding has always been served. I think most people think it’s like a bowl of mushed-up pudding!” It’s actually a casserole-type dish made with catfish fillets.
Then there are the waffles, which are made in the dining room. “They have the batters all made. They bring them to us. You have to be patient with your waffle iron. You can’t open it too soon. People open it and check on it. It starts to stick. Once it sticks, it’s over. It’s a disaster. You have to cool the iron down and clean it out. You get the waitresses backing up and they get testy.”
Becoming a waffle maker is a coveted position. “You used to have to inherit a waffle iron,” Marshall says, explaining that only when a waffle-maker quit or retired did someone else get to make waffles at the luncheon. “Space opened up and you became a waffle cook.”
Marshall, who began working at Waffle Shop in 2000, was one of those novices. A waffle maker got sick, so Marshall was asked to fill in. Her first day didn’t go so well. “I came home and cried because they were so mean to me. I’d never cooked a waffle before.” The woman she trained with “just criticized everything I did.”
But Marshall decided to go back the next day. “And I’ve been there ever since. I took a couple of years off when my kids were little. And then I took them down there with me. They’d come down on spring break and cook waffles.”
I experienced the Waffle Shop hierarchy years ago. I asked one of the women in an apron near my table for some more iced tea. She said with indignation, “I’m a hostess.” She summoned another woman in an apron to fill my request.
Those hostess jobs used to be such a big deal that they were listed in the Commercial Appeal. In a 1931 article under the title “Hostesses Announced for Calvary Waffle Shop,” a paragraph begins, “Hostesses for tomorrow will be Mrs. E. G. Tate, chairman; Mrs. Gordon Erskine, Mrs. George Phillips,” and on down it continues. “Tuesday’s hostesses will be …”
Another article reads, “Mrs. Leslie Thornton, president of the circle, is general chairman of arrangements, assisted by a different community each day. The menus will include waffles and sausage, spaghetti, salads, and on Wednesdays and Friday’s, the circle’s famous fish pudding.”
Hostesses and servers were from the “elite in Memphis,” Marshall says, “They wore high heels and pearls and waited tables with little hats on.”
One long-time volunteer began as a teenager in the Waffle Shop, but older volunteers made her toe the line, Marshall says. “They would thump her on the head if she wasn’t standing up straight. She did sausage and hash for years.”
Mainly women filled the jobs as servers and waffle cooks, Marshall says. “But at one time, there was a group of judges that came down and cooked.”
The Waffle Shop’s cookbook, The Shrimp Mousse and Other Waffle Shop Recipes, came out in the 1970s, Marshall believes. Two years ago, they printed a new cookbook, Fish Pudding & More. Most of the recipes in the old one were for large amounts, Marshall says, “We tried to cut it down to size.”
Menu items are rarely dropped. However, Marshall says, “This year there will be no peanut butter pie. Because the person who did that retired this year.” But, she says “It’s only been on a few years. It was one of the newer desserts.”