By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
February 6, 1994
Don’t let the faux leopard skin tablecloths scare you when you peek inside Soul Kitchen. The food waiting for you inside this Ukrainian Village restaurant is scrumptious.
How good is it? Let’s put it this way: I don’t particularly like pork, but I love Soul Kitchen’s pork chops. Even better are the creole dishes and the fried green tomatoes. And then there are the delicious greens and the pecan sweet potatoes.
Don’t get too used to a favorite, though, because the menu changes every few weeks, depending on the culinary whim of chef Monique King. The hush puppies are gone, as are the fried sage leaves. But due to popular demand, King said the sage leaves probably will re-appear as a special. The food is so good that you forgive the
long waits on Friday and Saturday nights.
The tiny restaurant at 2152 W. Chicago is owned by Pam Scariano and Scott Gray. Gray also owns the Lizard Lounge nightclub. Liquor isn’t served at Soul Kitchen, but check out the wine list. Huh? There’s a liquor store/bar across the street, and the wine list helps diners make selections before they scurry away for some
libations.
Soul Kitchen describes itself as serving “loud food” and “spicy music.” The music’s not so spicy, but it is fun. There’s a little bit of Stylistics, Barry White, Al Green and Prince from the days before he renamed himself into a symbol. If you don’t like the play list, do what other customers do and submit your own mix tape. More often than
not, they’ll play it.
The restaurant, which is just more than a year old, is filled with paintings that, if they were music, would be classified as jazz. Loud, colorful and bright, they offset the candlelight ambience.
“Scott and I worked on this place for eight months before opening it,” Scariano said. “He had always wanted to open a restaurant and name it the Soul Kitchen and wanted to have music to reflect that. I liked that, but the name also reflects food that’s good for the soul.”
The comforting food includes catfish and pecans, jambalaya, oysters and crab-filled pasta shells. Try to get a side dish of collard greens. Stewed with vinegar and hamhocks, they’re out of this world.
