FOOD I: Soul food.

So last night me and my one (white) friend from Mississippi went back to that new soul food restaurant that opened up near the bike path like four or five weeks ago, and that I had found out about since the owner was at an intersection handing out flyers and invited me in for a sample of free bread pudding. We had gone down last week only to find the place is closed on Mondays, but last night was Tuesday, so it was indeed open when we came.

As soon as we walked in the door, the manager on staff who I had talked with the time I got the bread pudding was like, "Hey, how are you doing?", which was very nice, and she kind of gestured us over to the dining room and told us to sit down wherever. The place has a blues theme, so there's a lot of paintings of blues stuff on the walls, and blues and jazz playing softly on the stereo system, but since it's bistro-ish too, they have nice table cloths and these big wooden carve-outs "BON JOUR"s sitting on a shelf in the dining room.

My one (white) friend from Mississippi was hoping for corn bread to crumble in milk, but they didn't have any, but he was intrigued by the cubesteak on the menu, so he ordered that, and I ordered the turkey wing special; I know a lot of soul food places stock turkey legs, but this was something new, so I tried it.

(I was talking that very day to the [black] lady who cleans up the gym when I ran into her there, and when she asked me how I was doing, I told her great since I was meeting a friend for soul food, and she started telling me how she cooks macaroni and cheese but doesn't eat it, and the last time she was over at her sister's she made a pan up for her and her sister almost broke the plate because she slid it out of the oven and almost dropped it, she didn't expect the plate to be that heavy, there was so much cheese in it... She adds in soy milk and egg yolks, too, which she says makes it good. She also said that just like my friend she crumbles up her cornbread in milk, since she's done that since she was little, what's the point of stopping now.)

Anyhow, while we were waiting for our food, the owner/cook came out of the kitchen - they had like five or six tables full and take-out orders coming in - and he glanced over, saw me, and gave me a pat on the shoulder and was like, "Hey, you made it back," and then he shook my hand and my friend's and introduced himself to my friend, and then before he left, even though he wasn't our server, he was like, "And when you leave, just make sure you give the tip to me."

Then, like ten minutes later, the busboy kid brought out a slice of watermelon on a plate for us each, but we weren't sure if everyone got that with their meal (it wasn't on the menu), or if it was from the cook. But, it was good, and it tided us over till our meal.

The turkey wing when I got it was huge - it went from one end of the large dinner plate to the other, and it came over corn stuffing drizzled in gravy. The meat was so tender it fell off the bone as soon as I peeled the skin off. I got a side of mac and cheese (okay) and greens (they sucked!, too sweet), and the busboy had brought out some little cornmeal pancakes too, which I ate and were absolutely awesome.

My friend had gotten the cubesteak since he couldn't remember if he had ever had that cut of meat before, and though it was good - I tried some, I'll have it there as part of their breakfast special if I'm ever there for breakfast sometime - but he wasn't a fan since it was too tough, though he loved the rice and gravy, though the 'sugared sweets' (sweet potatoes) were so-so. My friend was actually envious of my turkey wing, and now I'm pissed since I would have swapped him meals if he had told me that, I thought both entrees were equally good.

Towards the end of our meal, too, the cook sent out some slices of sweet potato pie for us, on the house. They were good and smooth, with a nice crust, though a little over-spiced. They would be killer alone with hot coffee, though.

Finally, we left, though there was trouble with the bill. I had had a long day, and my friend had gotten change for his $20 and gave me $10, and for some reason I forgot I had to give my $20 to the register person, so we almost walked out on our bill, though they caught us in time. I hope they don't think it was purposeful, or that we were trying to be dicks. Though, we did leave a three-buck tip, and I had heard the owner be like, "Nothing, again!", when he was clearing a table near us while we were eating, so I take it they get stiffed a lot for some reason, who knows why.