Albert and Helen Ma are the owners of Starkville’s Jean Café, but few know them by those names. To their customers, they are Mama Jean and Papa Al.
Helen, or Mama Jean, is originally from Hong Kong, and met her husband while he was fighting in the Vietnam War. Albert was living in the United States, but had family in Hong Kong who knew Mama Jean’s cousin. When he visited his relatives in Hong Kong, his family asked Mama Jean’s cousin if she would spend time with him for an afternoon. She refused because she did not want to be alone with a boy she had just met.
Before long, Albert came back to Hong Kong for another two days. Again, his relative begged Mama Jean’s cousin for her to entertain him for a few hours. This time, when her cousin asked Mama Jean to meet him, the cousin said being in Vietnam was dangerous and no one knew when their last visit home would be.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, he could die,’” Mama Jean said. “I couldn’t say no to that.”
Next time Albert was in Hong Kong, he asked to see her again. After being told once more that any visit could be the last visit, she agreed and they started writing to each other.
After seeing one another only twice in person, receiving letters and one Christmas card, he wrote to her and asked if she would marry him if he made it back to American soil from Vietnam. She accepted his proposal, and joined him in America about a year later.
Now, Mama Jean compliments her husband for his skills.
“Papa Al is a great cook and very talented Chinese artist,” Mama Jean said. “He had many one-man art shows in the past. He also served the U.S. Army fighting in the front line at the Vietnam War for two years.”
They now have three children and seven grandchildren. The couple will be married 48 years this Valentine’s Day and have been in the restaurant business for just as long.
The first Jean Café opened its doors in the Cotton District. There, Mama Jean earned her other nickname, Cheese Mama. Her famous cheese wontons have been described as life-changing, and she said she has even been accused of putting cocaine in them.
Mama Jean said she is not intimidated by customers who come in claiming they do not like wontons. This is where her famous wonton speech comes into play. It is not uncommon for other tables of customers to overhear and join her in the convincing.
Sarah Katherine Todd, an MSU junior accounting major, described her first experience at Mama Jean’s restaurant.
“I decided to go there one Sunday night because I wanted Chinese food, and had heard it was the best place in town to get it,” Todd said. “As soon as I walked in with a friend to get our takeout, she was so happy to see us and talked with us like she had known us forever. She raves about all the people that loved her cheese wontons, so we ended up ordering some because she was so convincing.”
One wall in the restaurant is covered with pictures of customers who begrudgingly tried her wontons and “magic liquid gold sauce,” and proceeded to come eat with her regularly. One 70-year old woman even licked the bowl of sweet and sour sauce clean, Mama Jean said. She said one student got a $200 speeding ticket trying to make it to Jean Café before closing time, just to get some wontons.
Mama Jean has never known a stranger, and talks to all her customers like family.
“Doesn’t matter who you are—if you’re young or old, a boy or girl, what culture you’re from or where you live—before they leave, customers want to give me a big bear hug,” she said.
One boy whose picture is on the wall ate with her six times a week until he graduated, she said. He later drove from Phoenix, Arizona, year after year to see her. Mama Jean truly is family to her regulars.
“When a customer comes to Jean Café, they have a smile on their face before and after they eat,” she said. “I remember details about my customers because they are my life. My customers are my life. We’ve dedicated our lives for almost half a century to cook great food and have the best service for our customers.”
After years of working in the restaurant, she and her husband decided to retire about five and a half years ago. They turned in their last rent check without mentioning a thing to anyone, and spent the last 30 days of work as if nothing had changed.
When customers came to the restaurant the Tuesday after closing, they found an empty building. Mama Jean said everyone was distraught, and the couple spent that first month in their home so they would not run into emotional customers. After that, everywhere they went, people ran up to them for a hug and to plead with them to reopen. They missed the food, but even more, they missed Mama Jean and Papa Al.
After traveling the country for two years, the couple decided to move to California to be close to their younger daughter and her new baby. When the customers caught word of this, they made one last desperate attempt for Mama Jean and Papa Al to stay and signed a petition. Overwhelmed with emotions, they decided to stay and reopen Jean Café.
Jean Café won the Best of Starkville People’s Choice Award for best Chinese food in 2013, and won again after reopening in 2018. Her customers rave about the restaurant online, earning the restaurant 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp.
One customer read a particular review and knew she had to come to Jean Café as soon as possible, Mama Jean said. The customer read the review aloud to all the customers in the restaurant, and begged them to read it themselves. A repeat customer came back and had printed the review out because she told Mama Jean she had to hang it up in the restaurant.
The review reads, “YALL. There is good Chinese and now there is this. Let me begin with Mama Jean herself. This woman is AMAZING! You feel like you’re in her kitchen, you’re a part of her family, and she’s loving up on you. Completely wonderful woman that makes this experience. Secondly, THE CHEESE WONTONS. Oh. My. Gosh. They are the perfect bit of crunchy, creamy goodness. Served with her liquid gold… amazing. Then you get to the actual meal. Honest to God, true Chinese food. It is so good, so fresh, and just wonderful, you constantly want more. Completely reasonable prices and just wonderful people. Will absolutely be back.”
Mama Jean said this kind of reaction and feeling of love is the restaurant’s focus.
“This is our goal. Money can’t ever buy this kind of relationship with and love from our customers,” Mama Jean said. “We are so blessed to do what we love—to serve our customers by giving them great food, great service, a nice clean place and reasonable prices.”
Mama Jean still continues to invest in her customers’ lives.
“I didn’t reopen to say, ‘Here is your food, thank you, goodbye,’” she said.
Mama Jean said she has a genuine interest in her customers, and wants to encourage them with her life’s stories.
“Why do you think they call me Mama? I am so proud of what I do,” she said.
Jean Café’s food is cooked fresh to order from their own original recipes, as Mama Jean said, not from a cookbook nor a computer. The restaurant is located next to the Microtel at 12072 MS Highway 182, and is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
They also take plenty of to-go orders, and the phone number is 662-615-3888.
“We want to say thank you for all the love our loyal customers have given us, and for demanding to reopen the restaurant, even when we were retired for two years. Finally, we gave up retired life to reopen the restaurant because of all the love,” Mama Jean said.