By Todd Howey
This story was originally published in the 2024-25 Brown County Area Guide. Stay tuned as we share more stories from our 2024 magazines in the coming weeks.
At ten years of age, Mary Stanley accompanied her father to his home country of Germany to attend her grandfather’s funeral. It was there where she tasted real butter and whipping cream for the very first time. “My grandmother and aunts were baking everything from scratch. Using ingredients from their garden and the farmer’s market. I couldn’t believe how good and fresh everything tasted. My grandmother made a red plum cake, and it was amazing. It was like nothing I had ever tasted before.”
Upon her return to America two weeks later. Mary negotiated a deal with her mother. “My mother was not a great cook. She didn’t like to cook, and I didn’t like to clean, so I made a deal with her. I told her I would cook if she would clean. And that’s how I got started.”
Mary would take her father to the grocery store, “because he had the checkbook,” and have him buy all types of spices and ingredients. “He humored me and allowed me to learn.”
Mary’s first cookbook; McCall’s Cook Book – The Absolutely Complete Step by Step Cooking and Serving Guide, was salvaged from the sale bin at a Zayers department store.
“I started watching Julia Childs on television, just trying to learn as much as I could.”
Mary attended the University of Illinois but did not pursue an education in anything directly related to cooking or the restaurant industry. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and majored in Sculpture, where she met her future husband, Dave.
Mary mastered the skill of production baking while Dave attended Graduate School at the University of Texas. She worked at the famous Swedish Hill Bakery on West Sixth street and Texas French Bread. The Swedish Hill Bakery was the first European style bakery in Austin and is still very popular today.
During their time in Austin, Dave trained as a shoemaker, building shoes from raw materials. After a downturn in the economy, Mary and Dave moved to Brownwood and opened Bear Feet Shoes in 1985 on W. Anderson.
“It was tough early on. We lived in a tent out at the State Park for about six months before we found a place to live.”
For the next few decades, Bear Feet, along with a dozen or so employees, sold handmade shoes all over the world.
“Shoemaking is just like food making. All about production, just different materials and skill set.”
Mary visited Italy regularly to purchase quality leather for their shoes and discovered the slow food movement, and Gelato.
The slow food concept started in Italy over thirty years ago. It’s an alternative to fast food and its goal is to preserve a local way of life.”
With the shoe business becoming more competitive and consumed by large factories, Mary and Dave purchased a building downtown and The Turtle was born in 2004.
Embracing the slow food movement she discovered in Italy, Mary set out to offer an alternative experience for consumers to enjoy.
“In Italy, when you reserved a table in a restaurant, it was your table for the evening. The Turtle is no different. We are not going to run you out. Stay as long as you want, it’s your table. Turn off your phone, visit with family and have an experience, not just a meal. Good food, good company, good service, and good drink. Try new things. We want to inspire curiosity in our guests.”
Mary chose turtle because it represents patience, resilience and embracing life’s journey. And that concept is reflected in her menu and the process she follows in preparing a meal for a guest. In a time where many people eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner out of a bag from behind their steering wheel, The Turtle provides the opposite.
Mary’s commitment to the slow food process is printed along the bottom of the menu. “This is a Slow Food Restaurant. We invite you to slow down and enjoy life and well-prepared food. If you are in a hurry, please visit a Fast Food Restaurant.”
“We make everything from scratch. Everything. There is a process that goes into every item we send out of the kitchen. We offer a variety of fresh food that is inspired from cultures all over the world. I call it World Heritage.”
Glancing down the menus at The Turtle, you will find dishes inspired from France, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Indi, Cuba, Ireland, Mexico, New York and even Brownwood, Texas. They offer a smash burger made from Certified Piedmontese beef that is a tribute to Lindsey Burgers that was once located on Coggin Avenue next to the old Brownwood High School.
Piedmontese beef comes from a rare breed and is recognized as the only heart healthy beef by the American Heart Association and used for their steak dishes as well.
Akaushi beef, known as the Emperor’s Breed, originated in Japan, and is known for its buttery rich flavor and melt in your mouth texture. Raised in Texas, this breed with Japanese origin, is used in their other burger offerings.
The Turtle’s award winning Enoteca – wine library – offers a massive assortment of undervalued wines for your drinking pleasure. The Gelateria serves up Italy inspired gelato and highlights Mary’s award-winning original flavor, Hill Country Lemon Lavender.
“We don’t cut corners here. To me, I am creating art. The concepts are the same, color, preparation, plating, composition, and balance. Shoemaking and designing a cake is no different than putting up sheetrock. It’s a skill. When people eat, they use all of their senses. They eat with their eyes, nose, and ears. Appreciating quality art is no different.”
Offering a comfortable, inspiring, and safe place, Mary Stanley provides an opportunity for people to engage all of their senses while sharing a meal with loved ones. She is preserving a culture of community at The Turtle with her art, and she loves doing it.
“I am still sculpting, just using different materials.”
Mary Stanley Bio –
Owner, wine buyer, pasta maker, gelato artisan, and chocolatier for the Turtle Restaurant, Gelateria, and Enoteca. She crafts well over sixty different flavors of gelato and sorbetto to fill the twelve pans of the gelateria’s Panorama gelato case.
She has studied chocolate making with master chocolatier Jean-Pierre Wybauw, and the art of entremets with Spanish master Ramon Morato. Mary earned diplomas in Artisan Pasta and Breads from Manuelina Culinary in Brescia, Italy. The Turtle Gelateria was a finalist in the North American Stage of the Gelato World Tour, and a participant in the finals held in Rimini, Italy in 2014
Mary is T Certified in Tequila from the Consejo Regulador Del Tequila, Mexico, she received a partnership award from the wine region Rioja DOCa (Qualified Designation of Origin), Spain in 2014. The Turtle Restaurant wine list received an award of distinction from Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2010. She has a WSET Level 2 Award with Distinction in Spirits.
Story was originally published in the 2024-25 Brown County Area Guide magazine. Pick up a free copy at one of our sponsor locations.