Main Street Café is a mandatory Christmas season stop

Storyteller Donald Davis describes Main Street Café in Jonesborough as "magical." It's an adjective that applies to the entire town this time of year. With Gabriel's and Noel, two of the country's best Christmas shops, a well-stocked store for pet presents called Tennessee Tails Pet Boutique, and a non-stop schedule of events this month, Jonesborough is a Christmas wonderland. There are several downtown dining choices but one constant. Herman and Beverly Jenkins opened Main Street Café in 1982, and the business is still thriving and in the same family. Their son Zac runs it today. From the beginning, the Jenkins family has respected the history of Tennessee's oldest town, preserving the 1930s-era post office and its original 14-foot, pressed-tin ceilings. As Davis and fellow storytellers have discovered, Main Street has become a community gathering place. The "magical" quality Davis describes starts with the people who stand in line for a cup of soup, a slice of quiche, a quarter-pound hot dog, or a mint brownie. Tableside conversations are frequent. New friends are made in the ordering line. And somehow, even though the staff members have no idea where you're going to sit when they take your order up front, they figure out where you're sitting in the roomy building without asking. When I interviewed Beverly Jenkins years ago, one of the first Main Street dishes she described was the Reuben, made with corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on rye bread with 1,000 Island dressing. "There's a secret ingredient in that dressing," Beverly told me. One of the best sandwiches on the menu is called The Breezy, named for the Jenkinses' daughter Breelyn. It's made with smoked turkey, grilled mushrooms and garlic aioli. Quiche selections change virtually every day, as do the soups, from tomato bisque to white bean and ham to loaded potato, seasoned with onion, garlic, cheese and bacon. The burger is one of the best in the region, featuring 7 ounces of American Angus. The hot dog is grilled and topped with either pickle relish or sauerkraut. A recent addition to the Main Street menu is gelato. Nearby, in a glass case, you'll typically find about 20 desserts, including the customer favorite chocolate cream pie. Main Street is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The family, which also does an extensive catering business, takes a well-deserved day off from the restaurant on Sundays. Christmas in Olde Jonesborough continues this weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 20, the town will host the annual Christmas Church Stroll. Its hours coincide with the Saturday operating hours of Main Street Café. That day, visitors can see inside four of the town's churches, all located within walking distance of each other on Main Street: First Baptist Church, Central Christian Church, Jonesborough United Methodist Church, and Jonesborough Presbyterian Church. If you start your stroll at Jonesborough Presbyterian at 11 a.m., you can hear a short Christmas concert by the church's outstanding handbell choir. Fred Sauceman is the author of "The Proffitts of Ridgewood: An Appalachian Family's Life in Barbecue."