To find the House of Soul Food, look for the red awnings, which hail a cheery hello along Lafayette Boulevard’s industrial stretch. In 1999, Rhonda Manning left the high-tech world to start cooking. Two years later, she and husband Danny opened up House of Soul Food, where all meals are prepared "from the soul" from recipes passed down through three generations.
Order at the counter, then seat yourself in one of the bright, cherry-colored booths and wait for your number to be called.
There is smoked barbecue chicken, smoked barbecue pork ribs, baby-back ribs, sliced beef barbecue, and hot links ($5.95–10.95). Most of these may be ordered in combination. Lunch is served in a red plastic basket with your pick of potato salad, coleslaw, or french fries. Barbecue anything here is a good choice. Manning’s barbecue sauce is red, sweet, and tangy. Skip the ketchup and dip your fries in sauce instead. French fries are cut thick as your fingers. Heck, skip the fries and dip your fingers in barbecue. No one’s looking; they’re too busy finding their own things to dip.
If you like lunch that goes crunch, order from the fryer. Fried chicken has a light cornmeal, salt, and pepper batter ($6.95). The 10-foot distance from the fryer to your table isn’t a long cool-off period, so be careful. You get three pieces of thigh, wing, and drumstick. There’s also fried catfish and fried red snapper, using the same cornmeal batter ($9.95, $10.95). As with traditional fish fries in the South, hush puppies or corn bread accompanies the meal. Hush puppies are cornmeal fritters the size of ping-pong balls. A dip in the fryer gives them a hard crust; the interior remains somewhat cakey and has a subtle sweetness.
House of Soul Food knows there’s a lot of fun to be had on the side. That’s why they’ve got a long list of side orders sure to make the primmest among us pick up a drawl while reciting them: corn on the cob, yams, baked beans, fried okra, mac & cheese, collard greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas, and red beans and rice ($0.75-$3.95). Y’all pass me some of them fixins before I whup you with a ham hock.
Collard greens are slightly bitter and cooked al dente. Yams are soft as ripe melon and have been warmed in maple syrup. Coleslaw is cold and finely shredded and has not been over-gooped in mayonnaise (as is too often the fate of many a cabbage head).
For dessert, take your pick of Screamin’ Peach Cobbler or Goin' On Sweet Potato Pie ($3.25 each). While the cobbler is full of soft peach slices, a watery interior causes the crust to become soggy. Sweet Potato Pie is so popular, you can order whole pies to go.
With weekends come specials like chicken and waffles, smothered pork chops, and chitlins ($11.95, $13.95, $18.95). Hats off to second careers, Mrs. Manning.