Tisha Atkins Carey had a hard time feeding her son Ka’Deem when he was growing up.

The football coaches at Canyon del Oro High School and later the University of Arizona would reach out to her when her 5-foot-10 running back son would nibble his way through team meals.

“He was a real picky eater,” she recalled. “I would get calls from the high school and UA asking me for advice.”

Her best advice: Mama’s cooking — homemade broccoli and cheese with rice; hot links and hot wings; mac and cheese; fried chicken; and Philly cheesesteaks like the ones she ate as a child growing up in Trenton, New Jersey.

“That’s the food I grew up with, the food that made me who I am today,” said Ka’Deem Carey, who will be on hand Saturday, Aug. 24, to help his mom celebrate the opening of his restaurant, Mama Carey’s Kitchen.

The restaurant is tucked in the back of the convenience store next to the urgent care on the corner of North Park Avenue and East Sixth Street. It’s only blocks away from Arizona Stadium, where Carey set several rushing records in his three seasons as a Wildcat.