date: 2/28/06
location: st. paul
grade:a

so as someone who has spent no more than a week in the southern u.s. at any given time (and not that often do i venture there), it's kind of odd that i really like a lot of southern food. though i suppose it's no weirder than me liking french food or what have you.

but every now and again i get the urge to eat bbq and cornbread or something along those lines. fried pickles, hush puppies, okra, etc. therefore i suggested this place for restaurant club, winner of the 2005 best of city pages award for soul food.

because in winter, you need mac and cheese now and again to cope. which three of the five of us had. hush puppies, cornbread dressing, black eyed peas, candied yams, fried corn, buttery mashed potatoes and fried okra were also ordered as sides and passed around. the mac and cheese was the best, imho, but everything was good. there's nothing i tasted that i wouldn't like to eat again... i kinda wish they had fried pickles, but that may be just me...

for an entree, i got smothered chicken breast. someone else went with the same thing, only dark meat. the chicken was falling from the bone tender and tasted like chicken (given the plastic taste of chicken at many restaurants, this is significant). the other entree we got, fried catfish, was crispy and tasty.

everyone also got a hunk of cornbread with the meal. it was all good. i think i had about 4 glasses of the fresh lemonade, which may be the best i've had around, with lemon bits in it. the sweet tea was also the real deal reportedly.

the place is more homey than bistro-like, if that makes any sense. i think of bistro as someplace with lots of blonde wood or something. the breakfast menu looked tasty, too. service is casual in a good way.