S.A.’s Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen spot gets surprise visit from 'Dirty Jobs' star Mike Rowe

Celebrity host Mike Rowe honors San Antonio restaurant owner Alice Harper of Ma Harper's Creole Kitchen on his new Facebook series "Returning the Favor." Celebrity host Mike Rowe honors San Antonio restaurant owner Alice Harper of Ma Harper's Creole Kitchen on his new Facebook series "Returning the Favor." Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close S.A.’s Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen spot gets surprise visit from 'Dirty Jobs' star Mike Rowe 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

For more than 25 years, San Antonio restaurant owner Alice Harper has been giving to her neighborhood. Feeding the homeless, employing former inmates, serving on community boards.

But when celebrity TV host Mike Rowe showed up at Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen on the East Side recently, it was Harper’s turn to share in the grace she’s shown so many others.

The former “Dirty Jobs” frontman paid a visit to San Antonio for the latest episode of his Facebook series “Returning the Favor,” in which he travels the country donating labor, money and publicity to people doing positive work in their communities.

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Posing as a film crew shooting a food documentary, Rowe and his team interviewed Harper about her Southern cooking, then lured her out of the restaurant to work some magic behind the scenes.

Spoiler alert: After talking to several current and former employees about how Harper hired and helped them after they got out of jail, Rowe and “Returning the Favor” crew installed a new commercial dishwasher, bought new dishes and silverware and brought Harper back to present her a $20,000 check.

Amid a standing ovation, Rowe told a speechless Harper that the show honors “people who live as an example for other people to emulate.”

Harper’s long history of philanthropy began when she and her family opened her N’Awlins Creole Kitchen on East Commerce Street in 1990. She then moved the restaurant to South W.W. White Road in 2004 and renamed it Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen before settling eventually on North New Braunfels Avenue.

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“God owns this restaurant,” she told the Express-News in 2000. “He only allows me to the opportunity to run it.”

Catch new and past episodes of “Returning the Favor” at facebook.com/ReturningTheFavor.

Ma Harper’s Creole Kitchen is at 1816 N. New Braunfels Ave., 210-226-2200, Facebook: @maharperscreolekitchen