When I retired from Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a few years ago, I imagined that I would, at last, have time to do cool things at home like fry chicken. Wrong. It’s hard to fry chicken for one person and then, what are you supposed to do with all of that grease? Besides, Mama Dip’s Kitchen was a five-minute bike ride away and the pros there made fried chicken every day.
Alas, late last month Mildred “Dip” Council’s children announced they will be closing the restaurant in mid-August after forty-eight years of service. The Council children make up the core of the staff, and many of them are approaching retirement age. The regulars, however, were caught off guard, and people have begun showing up in droves to this place that has been a favorite eatery since 1976. I was there for lunch just yesterday, and I knew so many of the diners that it was almost like a cocktail party.
I’m happy to be able to say that Dip’s and I go back all of those forty-eight years, and we even share some history. The Cat’s Cradle music club (I was one of the owners in its early days) was looking for a new home in 1976. As luck would have it, a developer friend was working on a new building down the street. We ended up in the back half. Mrs. Mildred Council was in the front. I called her Mrs. Council, even though she told everybody to call her Dip. I guess it was my upbringing, but she was always Mrs. Council to me, and this was in the days before everyone went around calling each other “chef.” We were neighbors until I departed the Cradle in 1984. I remained a diner.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I swear, it’s like my great-grandmother is back there cooking.” Mrs. Council’s food was just like home. Fried chicken of course, but also pork chops, fried catfish, all kinds of things with gravy, both chicken and beef liver, greens, butter beans, and all manner of homemade cakes and pies. Her restaurant was the place to have lunch after the First Baptist Church held its Martin Luther King Day service for the town every year. There was a spell in the mid-eighties when me and a bunch of friends formed an informal group that we called Dip’s and Dynasty. I think it was on Wednesdays. Supper at Dip’s and then off to watch Dynasty and drink beer.
Mrs. Council was a hero of mine and set an example as I made the transition from rock and roller to full-time chef. She worked hard all the time, cooked great food that everyone could afford, and still found time to do community work. In fact, in 2001, she founded the Community Dinner, a gathering that celebrates the town’s cultural diversity. The twenty-fourth supper was held this past April, and the event now bears her name. Over the years, we served together on committees and boards in support of things we thought were good causes. She once told me she tried to hire people who were just out of prison because lots of other people wouldn’t. When I asked her if that always worked out, she said not always, but she felt it was her responsibility to offer people a chance. And lots of times it did.
Mrs. Council passed away in 2018, but her children continue to run the restaurant. I’m privileged to count many of them among my good friends. I’ve also become friends with some of her grandchildren, all in the food business. Erika Council owns Bomb Biscuit Company in Atlanta and Tonya Council has Tonya’s Cookies here in Chapel Hill. Mrs. Council seems to have founded a dynasty.
Like Joni Mitchell says, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Or almost gone. Mobs of people are turning up now to eat the things they love one more time. I’m on my third visit this week. This is because I like so many things on the menu that I can’t have them all in one sitting. Fried chicken, as mentioned, but also there is fried chicken with gravy. And chicken livers, also with gravy and onions, if you like. I have cousins from Pennsylvania who insist on going to Dip’s when they visit because of all the liver options. This week there is also a fine peach cobbler.
After the dining room closes on August 17, the staff will continue to serve family-style take-home meals for a while longer. Mrs. Council’s daughter Spring plans to keep rights to the brand and keep running the website that offers cookbooks, barbecue sauce, and T-shirts. Spring also has plans to start up a new fast-casual place in the future. So don’t be sad. Stay tuned.
