I had lunch in a soul food restaurant today that was completely lacking in soul, and the food sucked
The lesson learned is "always take the Yelp reviews with a grain of salt." I wanted to love the place, but even though this is only January, this will easily go on my "Top Ten Disappointments Of 2012" list.
I made the mistake of ordering the brisket plate. In other restaurants like Armadillo Willy's, the brisket is sliced. Here, it was shredded / chopped...not a bad thing in itself, but the BBQ sauce it was swimming in was probably the worst I've had in my life. It tasted like the juice in B&M Baked Beans and was watery / runny in some places and thick in others, like there was oil in it that was separating. There were sickly sweet overtones of perhaps brown sugar or corn syrup (or maybe both) in too great of a proportion, and there was a pronounced aftertaste...not because anything had "gone bad," just because their recipe for BBQ sauce sucked. You get a tiny little styrofoam cup of a "side" (I had potato salad) and a thin, wimpy little slice of bread (about 2/3 the size of a slice of Wonder Bread).
I once did a free one-page Website for a local business who did soul food / BBQ. THIS guy knew how to cook but was run out of business because the property owner declined to renew his lease. One time I went in there and ordered a burger to go and while it was on the grill he said "Here, try one of these," and gave me a free rib that was the size of my arm and "fall off the bone" tender. THIS man knew how to whip up a batch of BBQ sauce. It broke my heart to see his business go down.
I am posting this because I asked DU recently if there were any requests for my next restaurant Websites, and BBQ was among the responses. The place I visited today has a Website, but it's one of these template nightmares from wix.com, and I went out there to check out the place first-hand and potentially offer my services. One look at my plate and I said "no WAY." I paid almost eleven bucks and no drink (just water).
So I'm still looking for a VERY cool BBQ / soul food place. Stay tuned!
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Wow, the food you have to eat and places you endure...just to see if you can get their business...
I mean it, that sounded truly awful!
Better luck with the next place...
I wonder what happened to the guy you mentioned, with the terrific BBQ? Have you tried to find him?
I don't know if he ever got it off the ground, and I lost the postcard he gave me that had the church's info on it. He didn't have a lot of money...the property owner wanted to significantly raise the cost of his lease, and he couldn't pay it, so he was told it wouldn't be renewed.
Tomorrow morning I am driving to Morgan Hill (about 25 miles away) with my list of 23 restaurants that don't have Websites. It's impossible to know which ones are strong bets versus long shots without going there in person. I put together a new restaurant flyer, 2-sided color, with screen shots of some of my page designs on the front and a dozen of my best food photos on the back. I was careful to break it up into 3 "comfort food," 3 Italian, 3 Japanese, and 3 Mexican.
You just never know...but you always have to give it the "college try."
to Oakland. I've only had the chance to try one (Chef Edward's on San Pablo), but it rocked, and I'm told that there are several other top-notch joints there as well.
Oh, dear. I am now on the website of the best-known soul food joint in the Valley (out of what, three?) -- you know, the one that advertises on Comcast -- and guess what? It's a template nightmare from wix.com. Guess I won't be going out of my way to go over there. 
And it's called, of course, Soul Food.
The cook (he'd never want to be called a chef) is from North Carolina and lemme tell ya, HE CAN COOK! It's been years since I was there and I hope it's still open. It's the real thing, just like down South!
Mmmmmm. CORN BREAD to die for.
Bake