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Ruby Mae’s
The dining room at midday: tall multi-pane windows down the left wall throwing hard bars of light across a plank floor, bentwood chairs, a steam-table counter and coffee urn at the right, and a plate of fried chicken with two glasses of iced tea on the near table.

Ruby Mae’s

Meat-and-three, and a pit out back. Olive Branch, Mississippi, since 1974.

Hold a tableSee the menu

What comes out of the kitchen, most days.

A white oval plate carrying two thick slices of smoked brisket with a dark bark edge, a scoop of baked macaroni and cheese, and a mound of turnip greens with pot likker at the rim.
Brisket, mac, and greens
A mound of hand-chopped smoked pork shoulder heaped on brown butcher paper, dark bark pieces mixed through the pale interior meat, a steel knife beside it.
Shoulder, chopped off the pit
Two cornmeal-fried catfish fillets and a scatter of hushpuppies on a white oval plate, one fillet broken open at the near end showing white flaking flesh.
Catfish, and it is Friday
A deep white enamel pan of baked macaroni and cheese with one scoop taken out, the cut edge showing soft interior under a browned, blistered crust.
Mac and cheese, browned on top

The pit is lit at four in the morning. Everything else follows from that.

Pale wood smoke curling out of the open mouth of a brick smoker, crossing a hard shaft of low window light, with coals glowing down in the firebox.
Six in the morning, out back
A battered aluminium stockpot of collard greens on a wooden counter, a long steel spoon across the rim with pot likker draining off it, steam rising through a beam of window light.
Collards, and the pot likker
A round of skillet cornbread in a blackened cast-iron pan, one wedge lifted out and leaning against the rest so the coarse open crumb shows.
Cornbread, out of the skillet
A peach cobbler in a small white baking dish with one serving lifted out, craggy dropped-biscuit topping browned unevenly and dark peach filling bubbling between the scoops.
Cobbler, while it lasts
Two mismatched pressed-glass tumblers of iced sweet tea sweating on a scarred wooden table, a lemon wedge on one rim and condensation rings soaked into the wood.
Sweet tea, and the second glass

Nothing on that wall is a special. It is Tuesday, or it is Friday, and that is what was on the stove.

The recipes came from one kitchen and they have not been improved since. Two generations have cooked them, and the plate you get today is the plate your grandfather got.

Reserved — the family’s own photographNothing goes in this frame that was not taken here.

The menu, the way it goes up on the board.

The plate lunch

One meat, three sides, and cornbread. Served until we run out, and some days that is early.

  • Fried chicken, dark$13
  • Fried chicken, white$13
  • Smothered pork chop$13
  • Meatloaf, tomato gravy$12
  • Chicken and dumplings$12
  • Catfish, fried Friday$15
  • Chicken and dressing Sunday$14

Off the pit

Lit at four in the morning. When it is gone, it is gone.

  • Pulled shoulder plate$15
  • Sliced brisket plate$16
  • Half slab of ribs$19
  • Smoked sausage plate$12
  • The pit plate all four$23

Sides

Three come with a plate. Extra sides are four dollars.

Butter beansCollard greensMac and cheeseFried okraTurnip greensCandied yamsPotato saladSlawField peasStewed tomatoesRice and gravy

Sweets and the pitcher

The pudding is made in the morning.

  • Banana pudding$5
  • Chess pie$5
  • Peach cobbler$6
  • Sweet tea refills on the house$3
  • Buttermilk$3

Every plate comes with cornbread. If you need something left off, say so when you order and the kitchen will handle it. Cash and cards both.

Hours, and what is on the plate that day.

Kitchen hours · plate of the day
DayKitchenPlate of the day
Monday10:45 – 3:00Meatloaf, tomato gravy
Tuesday10:45 – 3:00Smothered pork chop
Wednesday10:45 – 3:00Chicken and dumplings
Thursday10:45 – 3:00Fried chicken
Friday10:45 – 8:00Catfish, fried
Saturday11:00 – 8:00Off the pit, all day
Sunday11:00 – 3:00Chicken and dressing
Parking
Behind the building and along the side.
Takeout
Call ahead and it will be waiting at the register.
Big tables
Anything over eight, call the day before.
Payment
Cash and cards both.
Closed
Christmas Day, and the first week of July.

Hold a table.

The telephone is the booking system. It was the system in 1974 and nobody has wanted a different one since. Pick what you need below; the line under it is what to say into the phone.

How many
When

Pick a size, a day, and a time — then call and read it back to whoever answers.

Call (662) 555-0134Check the hours first

Finding us

Town
Olive Branch, Mississippi. DeSoto County, twenty minutes from south Memphis.
Street
Reserved — the real street address
The room
Bentwood chairs, the steam table at the front, and the long windows down the left wall.
Ruby Mae’s · Olive BranchMenuCall