Restaurant review: Soul Food Express does soul food right

Soul Food Express at 618 E. M.L. King Blvd. offers a variety of home-cooked meats and vegetables, such as lemon pepper wings, baked beans and coleslaw.
Soul Food Express at 618 E. M.L. King Blvd. offers a variety of home-cooked meats and vegetables, such as lemon pepper wings, baked beans and coleslaw.

If you're eating at place called Soul Food Express, order soul food. Don't worry about calories and fat. Indulge.

Soul Food Express serves a variety of dishes, and twice I tried to go the healthful route with less than satisfying results. It wasn't until I found the super zesty lemon pepper chicken wings that I realized what I'd been doing wrong.

THE FOOD

Soul Food Express lives up to its name with a menu listing all things soul food. Soul Food Sundays include ox tails, chitterlings, ham hocks, pork chops, fried chicken, baked chicken and dressing. Sides served include turnip greens, yams, mac and cheese, pinto beans, baked potato, cabbage, green beans, mixed beans, coleslaw, french fries and fried okra.

The menu on Tuesdays through Fridays also includes hamburger steak, chicken wings and lemon pepper chicken. Meals come with flat cornbread or toast.

Be careful when ordering. Prices range from a $5 special, which includes three chicken wings and two sides, Tuesdays through Fridays up to $11.79 for baked chicken or grilled tilapia, two sides and tea during the week. Most dishes are $9.29, plus tax. There are no written menus, so unless you're already familiar with the menu, you may not know the price until the cashier rings it up.

THE ORDER

Casting caution against calories aside, the lemon pepper chicken wings were unrestrained food fun. I'm talking wings so good you start rocking your head and humming after you bite them.

If you go

› Where: Soul Food Express, 618 E. M.L. King Blvd.› Phone: 423-425-7000.› Hours: 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday.› Price range: $5 for weekday special of three wings and two sides to $11.79 for baked chicken, two sides and drink.

Of the three meals I tried on the three days I visited, the lemon wings were the best, hands down. Almost every customer that came in ordered the pork chops, lemon pepper or fried wings.

My order included crisp golden wings showered in zesty lemon pepper, served with coleslaw and decadent baked beans plus sweet lemon tea. That meal was awesome.

But I almost never had the experience. I ate at the restaurant for the first time on a Tuesday and asked the cashier to recommend any food not fried. On that day, grilled tilapia was my only choice. It was so-so: two pieces of small fish without much seasoning. I ordered coleslaw and okra as sides. The okra was fried hard.

I went back Wednesday and asked for another recommendation. On that day, the menu included baked chicken. I avoided the okra and selected baked beans. Great tangy beans, with red peppers, green peppers and hamburger meat. Creamy coleslaw. The chicken was OK. That meal satisfied my taste more than the tilapia, but at $11.79 for what seemed to be mediocre, I knew I probably wouldn't be back.

Then it dawned on me that I was making the wrong food choices. As I was about to leave, Uncle Bud, the short-order cook, gave me a sample of the lemon pepper wings. Oh my goodness! I never would have ordered these chicken wings on my own. I'm too worried about grease, calories and fat. But when I tasted it, I was hooked.

The next day I returned and ordered a full lemon pepper wing plate. Divine was the word that came to mind. Crisp, crunchy outside, juicy inside. I winced when the cashier said $11.79 again for the third meal. But honestly, 10 wings is enough for two meals, and the price is comparable to other restaurants like Hooters, Applebee's and Heavenly Wings.

THE SPACE

The eatery sits back from the road at 618 E. M.L. King Boulevard across from the News Chronicle. It's next to a closed-down novelty store and an old gazebo, but beyond the drab curb appeal lies good food.

The small rectangular building provides the space where owner Samantha Freeman Noble and her family exercise their skills. The business, previously called M&T's, has been in her family for more than a decade.

Noble, who credits her late grandmother for teaching her to cook, says she hasn't changed anything. All food - to go or dine-in - is served in sectioned foam containers with plastic utensils.

Customers order at the register. Most people order and leave, but those who dine in may choose from four tables that fill the room along with an open counter that displays the cake of the day and gives a view into kitchen.

THE SERVICE

The waitress set my tea on the table almost as fast as I could choose a seat. My order of lemon wings came minutes later piping hot. My waitress was waitress and cashier for all four tables, and she moved with accuracy and confidence. She asked if we needed more tea and water after serving our food. My table was clean, and my tea cup stayed full.

But it wasn't just the way I was treated that made an impression. I saw how polite and kind the staff is. On one of my visits, I watched the family assist a homeless man who had no money to pay but wanted to eat. They warned the man that they can't make a practice of giving food away, but they fed him and when he asked to eat inside, Noble and her family said of course.

THE VERDICT

At $11.79 plus tip this may not be in my normal workday lunch. But Soul Food Express will be my go-to place when I'm having fun with friends or celebrating special occasions.

Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.

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