Alcenia’s

The first thing you get when you arrive at Alcenia’s is a hug from the owner herself. Betty Joyce “B. J.” Chester-Tamayo believes that she has the world’s greatest customers. “I thank you for coming,” she tells each one, “because there are so many places you can go, and when you come to me, I really appreciate that.” But if it weren’t for a tragic event in B. J.’s life, there would be no Alcenia’s to go to at all.In B. J.’s family, her 85 year old mother – whom the restaurant is named after – is known as the cook. “My mom has been cooking since she was about 9,” says B.J. “We always had homemade biscuits and fresh peach preserves, but she never thought of opening a restaurant.B.J., however, knew early on that she wanted to manufacture her mother’s recipe for preserves. “Among our race, so many times our heritage dies with our ancestors,” she notes. “Great cooks, great people, but we never get the recipes. And I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted a legacy to go on with my mom.”