Cuisine Review

I came in from the cold and rain on MLK Avenue the other day. No, I was not there for a parade, and the rain was not from Hazel Fournier pouring down beads from a float. I was there to do some big time eating.

For several years I have popped over to the Best Grille, Du Jour section, the hands-on feature of Bishop State’s culinary program. Most culinary programs have a restaurant operation that allows students to practice their skills in the kitchen, work on service and see how a restaurant is managed. Bishop State has been very successful with this program, and we all know it is a favorite of Yvonne Kennedy’s – having moved discretionary funds toward this operation. I believe Yvonne’s money is well spent. Hundreds of students have found good jobs from this program. I have eaten there several times since it opened to good success.

But it has been a while since I’ve been there. First let me tell you about the set-up. There are a couple of choices/settings for lunch. For the most part, I have eaten at Du Jour, which is a cafeteria style restaurant, and then next door is a sit down.

The sit down part is nicely done, with green and white tablecloths, as well as servers waiting on the tables. The two times I have eaten over there we had the same choices as found in Du Jour. I peeked in the window the other day and saw a buffet was laid out, so I am not sure if this is now the deal.

The restaurants are located in a building across from the monument Yvonne Kennedy built for herself – just find the large clock tower where she is in hiding. Maybe once her shining knights come to her rescue she can let down her hair for him to crawl up to save her. Anyway, just look for the clock tower.

The smell of down home, well seasoned soul food waft and envelope the air. The cafeteria has fast food type seating and is rather small. Two coolers are filled with Coke products and lots of orange Fanta. A bulbous lit case displays the food. Fresh food is continually come out from the kitchen and there are plenty of servers who move you along quickly. This needs to happen, because if you get there at noon, there is a long line of construction workers, old ladies and students.

Each day there are about five entrees to choose from. On my visit they had shrimp skewers, fried chicken, fried pork chops, grilled catfish and fried whole trout. In the past I have eaten the pork chops – large, bone-in chops tender with a light coating and crust. It was tempting to order this again, but I have been craving some good fried chicken.

I succumbed and ordered the chicken – a gargantuan breast and wing combo. The vegetables to choice from were all quite tempting. I settled on creamy homemade mashed potatoes with well-made, rich yellow gravy. They melted in my mouth. The turnip greens needed no extra seasoning or vinegar sauce and had the mild smoky, brackish taste of ham hocks.

I did order something I know was not in-house made, but I could not help myself – corn nuggets. They fried them well. My friend ordered the grilled catfish, not over cooked and with a splotch of maybe Greek seasoning. He must not like to eat his green vegetables as he got mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and corn nuggets. The mac and cheese is of the Church Sunday Dinner style. In my opinion it could use some more cheese. If they have the baked chicken with dressing and gravy, make no other choice. It is succulent and whopping. The green beans are a nice substitute when you are tired of greens. An artsy friend of mind says the crab cakes, served on Friday are the bomb.

If you love sweet tea, theirs is like hummingbird juice and so strong that it will shoot you to the moon. While I wanted to take a nap after being put into a food coma, the tea had me all hopped up. It did not help that one of the ladies had brought an entire pitcher of unsweet to the table after messing up and giving us the syrup.

Everyone is nice, friendly and full of good conversation. I ended barely being able to spoon peach cobbler in my mouth. The crust was lumpy, bumpy and soft, but the filling was too candied for my taste. I say I was full, yet I followed it with a vanilla moon pie when I got to the car.

The Best Grill is worthy of a trip from anywhere, but get there about 11:30 to avoid the rush and enjoy people watching while you eat your meal.

No mind-changer downtown

I went recently to watch a parade and eat, and to give one of our downtown restaurants another chance. It was a disappointment to say the least. While we were well treated, my filet was cooked to death and I know the coffee I was served was not decaffeinated but the fully leaded kind, despite my asking three times if it was caffeinated. I know because I was up all night long. Unfortunately, the experience did nothing to change my mind from this past summer when I selected them as an inferior restaurant in the Nappie issue.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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