4140 E. 12th, 926-6804
Mon-Thu, 10:30am-10pm; Fri-Sat, 10:30am-sometime after lunch
Unemployed servers who love good, down- home cooking should apply with Sallie Foster at her new restaurant on 12th and Springdale, because it looks likes Sallie is busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger. After spending eight years operating her open-air style stand on 11th and Rosewood, Sallie finally moved her business to a more comfortable restaurant space where patrons can have a sit-down meal. The only problem is that Sallie still does most of the work herself. On the day I went, she not only took orders and cooked, but also served and operated the cash register. All this in a full dining room, which made for a lengthier lunch than I had anticipated. But then again, as my companions and I surveyed the bedraggled remains of our once formidable-looking meal, we all agreed that the food had been worth the wait.
Sallie’s down-home cooking encompasses both Southern and soul food, which means that she not only offers the more ubiquitous fried pork chops, hamburgers, and fried catfish, but also less familiar dishes such as braised neck bones, pig’s feet, and oxtails. As is typical of the genre, each meal comes with two side dishes. Corn, okra, greens, mashed potatoes, cabbage, black-eyed peas: All of the usual suspects are represented. The mashed potatoes are smooth and buttery and served covered with brown gravy. The richly flavored braised cabbage contains just the right amount of tart to take the edge off that blunt cooked cabbage flavor. The fried okra arrives fresh out of the oil, coated with a hard cornbread shell; and the greens are cooked to perfection, with a bacony taste offset by the unmistakable tang of vinegar. If I’d dreamed of the perfect greens, I think I couldn’t have invented anything as good as those that float out of Sallie’s kitchen.
The meats too are good enough to inspire gustatory hallucinations. On the day I visited Sallie’s, I ordered a luscious fried pork chop smothered in smooth, almond-colored gravy. The smothered beef was tender and savory. And the fried catfish came battered with a crackling cornbread crust. But I think the most delicious item we ate that day had to be the cornbread with its deep yellow color and moist, heavy texture. To me, it tasted of seasoned cast iron skillets and old wood-burning stoves.
In general, all of the food Sallie prepares comes to the table well-fixed and full of flavor. Although I’d counsel soul food traditionalists to stay away from some of the more common menu items such as chicken fingers (which are just regular chicken fingers) or steamed broccoli (which is just steamed frozen broccoli). It’s not that these are bad, but with so many other delicious down-home dishes to choose from, why order something at Sallie’s that anyone could cook at home? So go ahead and try the braised neck bones. If Sallie cooked them they are sure to be a treat.
This article appears in October 8 • 1999.
