Elina Shatkin
Lists
Top Soul Food Restaurants in L.A.
I'm using a broad definition of "soul food," one that includes some Cajun/Creole cuisine as well.
Formerly on Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, this soul food restaurant and caterer packed its bags and set up shop in an unlikely spot in the San Gabriel Valley. The rib meat is soft, juicy and tender, nearly falling off the bone. And the smothered pork chops as well as the chicken and waffles are great. But almost all the food (the barbecue sauce, the potato salad, the cornbread, the baked beans) is exceptionally sweet. Side dishes like macaroni and cheese, potato salad and baked beans taste like upgraded supermarket versions. The portions are generous and the prices are reasonable. You may not be wowed, but you probably won't be disappointed.
While there are many pretenders, Aunt Kizzy’s is the truest soul food restaurant on the Westside. Angelenos acknowledge this by packing the place, especially on weekends, when there’s usually a pretty long wait. They come for entrees like the fried chicken, smothered pork chops and fried catfish and sides like collard greens, fried okra and candied yams. Everything is prepared in the traditional Southern style which means—if you don’t know it—there’s plenty of lard used in the kitchen. This is not the place to go if you’re counting calories, because you will lose count shortly after you walk through the front door. Service can sometimes be a little too casual—typically you get your food and that’s about it. The food, though, is so delicious that it’s easy to ignore that your water hasn’t been re-filled since you sat down. The portions are generous, but make sure you leave room for dessert.
Straddling the line between barbecue and Cajun/Creole food, Big Mama's serves perfectly golden brown fried chicken, ribs drenched in sauce, pork chops, jambalaya, gumbo, fried catfish, red beans and rice and for dessert, cobbler, red velvet cake, pecan pie and sweet potato pie.
This takeaway soul food joint specializes in simple fare, but there are bigger things going on behind the scenes. Chef Marilyn's main business seems to be catering, but the restaurant (which does a brisk takeout business and also delivers locally) is open from breakfast through dinner every day and has daily specials. The dinner choices run the gamut from hot dogs to fried oysters. One of the best things here is the hamburger. The meat is not neatly shaped but roughly clumped into a patty. The moist meatloaf comes in a lot of tangy tomato sauce. The menu boasts it has "the best oxtails west of the Mississippi," and they certainly are good. This place makes very good smothered chops, breaded in cornmeal and braised until they just about fall apart. The greatest demonstration of skill here is the fried chicken, which is good and crisp on the outside but remarkably moist inside. Two kinds of cornmeal-breaded fish are available every night: red snapper and catfish.
The late Flossie Miller opened this South Bay soul food restaurant with daughter Sandra Foster in 1991. On Thursdays, Foster still makes her mother's Mississippi-style dumplings. The irregular strips of green onion-studded dough swell up in a boiling yellow brew of chicken broth, egg and black pepper. Customers order the dumplings as a side, or with the day's offerings: baked chicken, fried chicken, fried catfish fillet or smothered steak
At Harold & Belle's, the quality of the Creole food is as impressive as the gargantuan quantities.
Jerry's is primarily a bar, but Thursdays through Sundays, they serve darn good soul food.
Mississippi meat, fried catfish, smothered chicken, greens, yams and all the traditional soul food fixings. The popular seafood platter big enough for two. For dessert, try he potato pie, cobbler and/or banana pudding. Great sides and big quantities. Daily specials vary (such as roast beef and okra, cabbage and buttered corn, or chicken and dumplings).
Mississippi meat, fried catfish, smothered chicken, greens, yams and all the traditional soul food fixings. The popular seafood platter is big enough for two. For dessert, try he potato pie, cobbler and/or banana pudding. Great sides and big quantities. Daily specials vary (such as roast beef and okra, cabbage and buttered corn, or chicken and dumplings).
Mississippi meat, fried catfish, smothered chicken, greens, yams and all the traditional soul food fixings. The popular seafood platter big enough for two. For dessert, try he potato pie, cobbler and/or banana pudding. Great sides and big quantities. Daily specials vary (such as roast beef and okra, cabbage and buttered corn, or chicken and dumplings).
Moma's Chicken is a small, take-out only joint that's known in its neighborhood (and beyond!) for its homemade sausage, especially its chicken sausage, and it's terrific chicken burgers.
Louisiana transplants and longtime Angelenos will appreciate Stevie's Creole Café & Bar, the sequel to popular soul food restaurant Stevie's on the Strip. Steven Perry has turned this restaurant into a comfortable and polished neighborhood favorite. The menu includes everything from crawfish-stuffed Cajun potatoes to crawfish and shrimp etouffee to macaroni and cheese. The walls hold posters of New Orleans’ legends, and some – such as Bobby Brown and Stevie Wonder – have even performed within those walls. Live music still fills the spirited space on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, starting around 9 p.m. The prices aren’t the cheapest (Creole succotash, $23; seafood pasta, $28), but the portions are far from skimpy. For a less pricey taste of the Big Easy, stop by Stevie's at lunch for $14 po-boy sandwiches that come with potato salad, coleslaw or fries.
Rich, complex jambalaya; savory gumbo; delicious red beans and rice; as well as fried catfish, po' boys, cobbler, sweet potato pies and everything else you'd expect from a Cajun/Creole restaurant. On the weekends, Uncle Darrow's also serves a Cajun breakfast. The basic includes eggs; choice of Cajun-style potatoes, grits, rice or tomato; and French bread or buttermilk biscuit. For a few more dollars, you can add on extras like turkey or chicken links, chicken wings, salmon croquettes, fried catfish and more.
Venni Mac's M&M Sould Food, not to be confused with M&M Soul Food, serves home cooked soul food in a family style environment. The restaurant offers seafood gumbo, catfish, fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, beef short ribs, oxtails and cornbread and is known for its sweet potato pie.
Venni Mac's M&M Sould Food, not to be confused with M&M Soul Food, serves home cooked soul food in a family style environment. The restaurant offers seafood gumbo, catfish, fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, beef short ribs, oxtails and cornbread and is known for its sweet potato pie.
Venni Mac's M&M Sould Food, not to be confused with M&M Soul Food, serves home cooked soul food in a family style environment. The restaurant offers seafood gumbo, catfish, fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, beef short ribs, oxtails and cornbread and is known for its sweet potato pie.