Vaishali Patel
A locally owned and operated business has been baking up special treats and hearty meals for more than five years. Brandy Ingram and Catherine Wooten, owners of Octagon Cafe, have come a long way since their days at what used to be Eckerd Drugs in the Milledgeville Mall.
“I used to be the manager at Eckerd’s for 16 years and [Ingram] was the photo lab manager. She had a bake sale one day and everybody just loved it. The rest is history,” Wooten said. “This used to be Pickle Barrel Cafe, and we moved in when they moved out. [Ingram] somehow thought of the name and we just stuck with it.”
The restaurant offers a Breakfast bar, open Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 9 a.m., offering patrons pancakes, homemade biscuits, sausage, hash browns, omelets, grits, oatmeal, breakfast sandwiches, milk, juice and blended coffee drinks. Wooten said “the folks from Cornbread Cafe” asked them to provide breakfast for them.
“They asked us to do breakfast for them at 6 o’clock, but we asked them ‘how about 6:30?’ We could get here at 5:30 a.m. and it still wouldn’t be early enough because the Cornbread Cafe men will be waiting outside,” she said.
At first, Octagon Cafe served sandwiches and salads, but the menu has expanded since May 2004 to provide locals country cooking and smoothies. A lunch bar open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. provides hungry mouths more than they can chew. Patrons can choose from a variety of offerings included with drinks: a $7 meal consisting of one meat and three sides, $6 plate with one meat and two sides and $5 meals including one meat and half of two sides or a veggie plate with four sides.
“My favorite is the meat loaf. We have fried and baked chicken, pork chops and black-eyed peas,” Wooten said. “The recipes are a combination of personal and customer recipes. Some people give us their recipe for different things and say, ‘why don’t you try this out?’ The macaroni and cheese originally started one way and now it’s different.”
Freda Roberts, a local retired teacher, believes the food piled onto plates comes with an excellent price tag.
“If I’m going out to eat, then I like to come here because the food is very good. The baked chicken and fried pork chops are my favorite. The meat loaf is good, too, even though a lot of people don’t eat it,” Roberts said. “It’s always clean and everybody is always friendly. Sometimes it’s so busy that you can’t even get in here, but I’m willing to wait.”
One dedicated customer, Patrice Veal, rarely misses her weekly visits at Octagon Cafe to receive the welcoming service.
“I come in three times a week from Gordon. All the food items are great. I try to mix it up when I order, but I always get the green beans because I love them,” Veal said. “The variety of food you get is not for a bad price either.”
Wooten makes her rounds every day to the local Piggly Wiggly and Save-A-Lot to purchase meats and produce for the day’s menu.
“Piggly Wiggly cuts the pork chops for us. We just want to keep much as we can local,” she said.
With the help of four employees, Ingram stays busy preparing and whipping up baked goods, including sugar-free cakes, cookies, brownies and smoothies.
“It used to just be me and [Ingram] who did everything ourselves. Everybody here is either family or friends,” Wooten said. “Everything is made from scratch, and [Ingram] makes 100 percent of the baked goods. She makes the red velvet coconut cake at least once a week.”
Seventy-two-year-old Rachel Shock spends her time lending her helping hands to the business when she can. She said some customer favorites include banana pudding, pecan pie, brownies and cheesecake.
“We can have a little boy come in here who wants his strawberry banana smoothie, to other people that depend on us for their meals,” Shock said. “Everyone that comes in is very happy. I love the public and I like being with people because that’s what makes my day.”
Wooten expressed her gratitude to L.T. and Velma Lay for sticking around since day one. She said Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are also provided during the holidays, but she refuses to increase prices. Since the recent job losses, the restaurant has not been affected.
“We have a lot of regular customers still coming in from Rheem and YDC. Even though we prepare a special meal for the holidays, we refuse to go up on our prices because a lot of people depend on us,” she said. “Some people come for breakfast and two hours later they come for lunch.”
The establishment will provide Valentines Day cakes and four to eight inch cookie pies in shapes of hearts. Wooten said if anyone wants a particular food item, they just simply have to ask.
“We each work at least 90 hours a week for seven days. I haven’t taken a day off in six years,” Wooten said. “We plan to bring wings back and start doing hamburgers from scratch.”
Catering is available for cakes, pies and party trays. Octagon Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information or to place a call-in order, call Octagon Cafe, located in the Milledgeville Mall, at (478) 452-0588 or e-mail octagon_cafe@yahoo.com.
