Lucy Buffett Releases New Cook Book

Lucy Buffett Gulf Shores Restaurant The sister of one of the Gulf Coast's most famous native sons is sending a little bit of Lulu's home with customers in a new book.

by Bill Riales

Published: Mon, March 03, 2008 - 5:00 am CST Last Updated: Mon, March 03, 2008 - 12:22 pm CST

The sister of one of the Gulf Coast's most famous native sons is gaining some notoriety of her own. Only two months after it's release thousands of copies of Lucy Buffett's new cookbook are already in the hands of eager readers. And not all of them live here on the Gulf Coast. Buffett says 'Crazy Sista Cookin' wasn't born out of the success of LuLu's, her popular Gulf Shores restaurant. In fact the idea about a book of her recipes and stories may have come first.
"Yes, I always wanted to write the book." she told News 5's Bill Riales. "I started with that little place on Week's Bay and I genuinely thought that I'd sell a lot of beer, I'd cook a few cheeseburgers and a pot of gumbo and I would sit on the porch and write my cookbook.. I really thought that, and it was not to be."
It turned out the restaurant proved so popular, especially after the move to Gulf Shores, that Lucy thought she might have to give up her dream of writing it. But seeing the heart of the eatery, the kitchen, and the rest of it could run without her there all the time--the book started to take shape once again. With help from her daughters, the final draft was finished. She published it herself. The pictures and color and the recipes mirror the atmosphere and the food at LuLu's--a little piece of the place patron's can take with them.
She says, "Iniitially I just thought if I sell it at LuLu's it would be fine--that's what it started as. I've been wanting to write this book for a long time and it follows the dishes we serve here at LuLu's and those dishes come from my personal experience or they've been borrowed or adapted from either friends of mine or family."
To borrow a line from famous brother Jimmy, Lucy's cooking expertise 'started at her Grandma's in her kitchen by the sea.'
"Pascagoula Mississippi, Parsley Avenue--that's where my grandmother, my paternal grandmother Buffett--She was sort of like the boarding house cook. And she cooked everyday and I was always--I spent a lot of summers there and I'd always be in the kitchen with her.
Buffett says she's gotten word the book has reached readers in Minnesota, and Michigan, New York and California--and lots of points in between. Only two months after its release, she's already ordered another ten thousand copies--and expects to order more. And just in case you've already devoured the stories and recipes in this one--Lucy says she's still got plenty of tales left to tell and is already planning a second book.
A portion of the proceeds from 'Crazy Sista Cookin' will benefit one of Lucy's pet projects, art education in Baldwin County Schools. The book is available at many of your favorite bookstores and Amazon.com. And Lucy Buffett will be reading and signing, and no doubt telling stories, at Page and Palette bookstore in Fairhope this Friday night from 6 to 8pm as part of Fairhope's First Friday Artwalk.

You can watch Bill's entire interview with Lucy by clicking here.

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