Bakery serves up favoritesStephen Wall, Staff WriterArticle Launched: 02/07/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

 

 

COLTON - Even in Miami, Shaquille O'Neal can't live without the mouth-watering desserts at Mommie Helen's Bakery here.

The NBA superstar has his sweet-potato pies shipped via next-day delivery to his South Beach pad, said Dorothy Pryor Rose, owner of Mommie Helen's.

"He's gone, but he can't forget the taste, that's what I tell Shaq," Rose said Tuesday from the front counter of her bakery next to a wall of fame with photographs of Shaq and other famous people.

Mommie Helen's, which opened in Colton in 2000, moved in December to a new location at 1220 E. Washington St. that is nearly three times larger than its previous spot.

"We outgrew our old place," Rose said of the original location on the other side of Interstate 215. "I never knew it was going to be like this."

Shaq is one of many athletes and celebrities who order peach, apple and roseberry cobblers, pecan pies and cakes.

But it's the sweet-potato pies that they crave.

On a given day, the family-owned business named in honor of Rose's 89-year-old mother, Helen Williams, will churn out 100 sweet- potato pies for customers from as far away as Japan.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Rose said, the bakery ran out of

sweet-potato pies after selling 250.

Word of the business has exploded across the close-knit circuit of current and former NBA and NFL players as well as actors and singers.

Most have their desserts delivered or send runners to pick them up.

Besides Shaq, the customer list includes Joe Bryant, Kobe Bryant's father; former Laker great James Worthy; actor Tom Arnold; NFL Pro Bowler Junior Seau; Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen; and former Raider receiver Tim Brown.

Actress Angela Bassett; rap mogul Master P; rapper Snoop Dogg; and boxer Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, are also big fans.

Last November, Mommie Helen's shipped pies and cakes to Oprah Winfrey's 50-member production crew.

Rose said she gets customers who drive from Arizona and Nevada to fill up their ice chests with pies to take home.

The bakery also has sent pies to naval officers stationed in Japan, she said.

For the past four years, she has driven to La Costa for the Junior Seau Celebrity Golf Classic and donated pies for the tournament that raises money to help at-risk youths.

"Oh my gosh, she's so fabulous, I can't even tell you," said Bette Hoffman, director of the foundation. "She's so generous. She's so wonderful."

Food tables are set up on every hole of the course for the more than 100 NFL legends and celebrities playing in the tournament to sample.

"When the golf carts get to her hole," Hoffman said, "it really slows down the game because everybody wants to eat her pies. Every one is more delicious than the previous one."

What makes Mommie Helen's pies so special?

"Simplicity," said Ken Jones, Rose's cousin, who was busy filling orders in the kitchen. "Everybody's trying to overdo it. Ours is plain and simple and the old-fashioned way."

Rose said she gets lots of people who tell her it's the best pie they've ever tasted.

"Once you taste it, you can't go anywhere else," said the 60-year-old San Bernardino native who now lives in Rialto. "We take our time. We don't cheat you on the ingredients. Everything is from scratch. We use the best butter, the best sugar, the best everything."

Rose decided to start the business one day in 1999 as she was driving to work for Pacific Bell in Los Angeles.

She said she heard God tell her to to open a bakery and decided to retire from the phone company.

She started the business with her two sisters, Gloria Jacks and Barbara Watson, both of whom died recently.

The sisters had been perfecting their mother's recipes on their own for years before getting into business.

Rose said her immediate plans are to save money to buy better machines and equipment to meet the growing customer demand.

"We've come a long way," she said, "but we still have a ways to go."

Rose said she first met Shaq while working for Pacific Bell. She dealt with many big-name clients as an engineer for the company.

A colleague suggested she try to sell her pies at one of Shaq's charitable functions because she knew he loved sweet-potato pies.

It took some prodding, but Shaq's representatives finally agreed.

Now, Shaq, his wife or maid will call Rose on major holidays, or "any occasion when Shaq gets a craving," and request four to six pies.

Before they are shipped, the pies are frozen and placed in containers with cold packs to keep them fresh during transport.

Customers aren't charged until the food is delivered, Rose said.

The pies usually arrive the next day, she said.

Rose is thinking about opening bakeries in other markets and possibly franchising her business.

She said she has received offers to move to the Los Angeles area where many of her high-profile patrons live.

But she won't forget her loyal customers in Colton.

"I wouldn't leave the city of Colton," she said. "They've been too good to me."