Photo courtesy of Cameron Carr.
Cameron O’Carr shows off a copy of his book, “O’Carr’s Eat By Color Restaurant: A History, Stories and Recipes.”
Cameron Carr said for years, he and his wife, June, have had coffee in the morning and told each other stories.
At O’Carr’s — the restaurant and catering business they ran for 47 years at 2909 18th Street South — there was never a dull moment.
“We had so many stories that were unbelievable or funny or sweet, and we would say, ‘You know, we need to write a book,’” Carr said.
That desire only grew when Carr’s granddaughter gave him a subscription to Storyworth, which emails questions over the course of the year and collects about 50 stories to bind together in a keepsake book.
Carr said it was “such an enjoyable experience” that after he and his wife retired and sold the business to Kenneth Rhodes in October 2022, Carr decided to write something he could make available for his customers and friends.
And now “O’Carr’s Eat By Color Restaurant: A History, Stories and Recipes” is available for purchase at the restaurant, which is a favorite lunch spot in the area.
“It’s kind of a history of our process to get the restaurant open and going,” Carr said.
The book also contains the recipes for 16 longtime O’Carr’s favorites, but “sorry, no chicken salad, and no cheesecake,” he joked.
Carr said his favorite parts of the book are the stories about the people he and his wife encountered over the years.
“We had very, very interesting people in our restaurant,” he said. “They became very special customers and very special friends.”
The stories run the gamut — in one, while catering a wedding at the Alabama Theatre, a groom chose a shocking entrance. In another, a birthday party took a turn he never could’ve expected.
“Those are the kind of stories we had; sometimes we got surprised,” Carr said.
The book names lots and lots of customers, and he said he thought “it would be fun for them to find out they’re in the book.”
“They’re all sweet people,” he said. “That’s one of the things we miss right now — for 47 years, we’d have interaction with 300 or 400 people a day.”
Carr said he still drops by the restaurant several times a week and is always happy to see familiar faces and read messages on the board Rhodes keeps for him near the cash register.
He said in addition to their customers, another key element of their years there was the staff, including Rhodes, who got involved with O’Carr’s about a year and a half ago.
“We had a base of staff that worked for us for 35 years, and they were one of a kind,” Carr said. “We have had an unbelievable amount of characters work for us, and we have always thought of them as our restaurant family.”
Currently “O’Carr’s Eat By Color Restaurant” is only available at O’Carr’s in Homewood, which is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, visit ocarrs.com.
