Congratulations! To Lovera’s Famous Italian Market in beautiful downtown Krebs, Oklahoma! Earlier this month, their handmade cheese won two awards at a national competition. In Wisconsin, of course – home of the self-proclaimed Green Bay Packers cheese-heads.
For those of you who haven’t sampled the Krebs cuisine, you’ve certainly missed some special dining. Pete’s Place is probably the best known of the Pittsburg County Italian restaurants located just east of McAlester. The Prichard family has been preparing Italian food and Choc beer since the early 1900s. The Lovera family has had a steady run with their Krebs food market as well, and their reputation seems to keep growing.
Ms Middleton of the Tulsa World featured the business in a Monday morning article.
Before reaching high school age, I was fortunate enough to attend a combined McAlester-Krebs school, where the middle-school-aged students were bused the three miles or so over to St. Josephs School. There, the cafeteria was staffed mainly by volunteer moms who whipped up lunches, Italian style. I’d had spaghetti before, of course – but it was courtesy of my dad and a can opener. This was something entirely different.
As is the case with a lot of things encountered in those early years, the special nature of those pans of fresh garlic bread and ravioli weren’t appreciated until years later. I guess I assumed every kid had the same sort of lunch program.
I suppose that’s where I got my kitchen start – as a tray-stacking, floor-sweeping, plate scraping volunteer. The way I figured it, it got me out of class a little early and I got to ease back into the post-lunch studies a little late. The kitchen activities didn’t strike me as work at all, and even provided a life changing event for me.
Part of my pre-serving duties was to get the little milk cartons organized to set them onto the trays as the kids passed down the serving line. One of the cooks (someone’s trickster Mom) said she thought one of the crates was full of cartons of spoiled milk. Maybe they were just beyond their “good until” date. Somehow it was suggested that someone needed to sample one to find out. I volunteered and pried open the waxy-paper flaps.
Didn’t even bother to take a sniff. I just tipped up and gulped down. You can’t truly appreciate a great spoiled milk until your mouth is full of it.
That was it for me and milk.
I kept it down, though, and survived the episode. Got a couple of laughs from those watching – you know – from that I-just-drank-spoiled-milk face pucker. After that day: Milk? Not so much. Actually, closer to never again.
Too many associated memories with that one.
But recalling the Italian food, remembering the Lovera market with its tastes and aromas – that’s different.
When so many family businesses have a difficult time through the generations and when small businesses in general have enough roadblocks to continued success, it’s nice to see one still plugging away.
And doing a great job of it.
You can visit Lovera’s and the Krebs Italian eateries by rolling down through Okmulgee or Muskogee (depending on your highway of choice) and crossing the highway on the east side of McAlester. Ninety minutes from Broken Arrow, or thereabouts.
When you find yourself in downtown Broken Arrow, come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main Street, Broken Arrow, OK!
