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Southern Hospitality
Edgewood Towne Center,1763 S. Braddock Ave.,
Edgewood.
412-518-9556
Hours:
Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Prices:
Appetizers $3-4.75; meats, a la carte $1-8; entrees $6-12
Liquor:
BYOB
Baby, it was cold outside. But after three days of enforced family togetherness, it was also getting a mite cabin-feverish inside. Heading south for warmer weather wasn’t a realistic plan, but, on the tail end of the polar vortex, we did go out for some Southern Hospitality.
The restaurant by that name has been doing business for about five years now in almost as many locations. Downtown denizens may remember the storefront on Wood Street; mall shoppers may have encountered Southern Hospitality at food courts in Monroeville and Pittsburgh Mills.
The restaurant’s new digs, in Edgewood Towne Centre, are its most spacious and gracious to date, standing out from other local soul-food places that all too often tend toward barebones interiors. Oak flooring, wainscoting, tables and booths give warmth to the surprisingly large dining room, while flowers and lamps on the unused bar add a homey touch. On Sundays, the after-church crowd fills every table, but on a wintry Thursday night, we almost had the place to ourselves, while take-out customers came and went.
The pork-free menu focuses on fried chicken and fish, punctuated by the appearance of beef ribs, turkey and burgers, plus an extensive selection of appetizers and sides. Some, such as jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks and fried zucchini, seemed more like pub grub than soul food, but we tried a few items that were more down-home.
One appetizer that really stood out was hash browns. The potatoes seemed to have been shredded and then deep-fried, creating a miraculously light, crisp mound of potato confetti that occasionally clumped into larger bites. Its deliciousness made us wonder why the preparation isn’t more common.
Wings were fried — not buffalo-style, but offered with a half dozen sauces, including Buffalo Wild. We went with Uncle Troy’s Mumbo, a slightly sweetened hot sauce with fruity undertones. We ended up dipping more or less everything on the table in it, savoring its balanced fire. The whole wings were excellent, with a light, crisp coating and moist, succulent meat.
Fried okra, a soul-food favorite of ours, was one of the night’s few disappointments. Although the thick slices of vegetable within retained their bright green color and fresh flavor, their tough, armor-like coating was difficult to get past.
Angelique wanted to order Uncle Troy’s Platter (fried chicken or fish, two sides, cornbread and a drink) with catfish, but it was out. Our server — none other than Uncle Troy himself — recommended the whiting, and Angelique was glad she took him up on it. The three beautifully cooked filets were firm, not fishy-tasting (as whiting sometimes can be) but mild and meaty, and encased in satisfyingly crunchy, lightly seasoned cornmeal batter.
In addition to various bone-in parts, fried chicken was available in nuggets or strips. We were impressed that it was all hand-cut: The nuggets were simply small pieces of white meat, fried golden-brown and juicy. Fried turkey cutlets received the same treatment, the more flavorful meat a nice bonus. We recommend asking for a side of Uncle Troy’s excellent turkey gravy.
Beef ribs, served by the bone, were good and tender, with robust, beefy flavor and a barbecue sauce that enhanced, rather than swamped, the meat. It was a traditional, sweet, tomato-based sauce, but because it was not at all cloying, it didn’t make Jason wish he’d asked for it on the side.
Of more than 15 sides on the menu, we managed to sample seven. Only a couple fell short of our expectations: mac-and-cheese featured overcooked noodles and, though the sauce was stretchy with real cheese, it didn’t offer much flavor; the mashed potatoes were sticky and slightly sweet.
But after that, it was hit after hit. Sweet and smoky baked beans. Buttery grits. Deep brown, almost caramelized fries. Extraordinarily savory black-eyed peas (available with or without rice mixed in; we liked the body provided by the rice). Perhaps best of all was greens with smoked turkey. The flavor of the smoky meat pervaded the tender greens, and their plentiful chunks fell apart and integrated into the leaves.
Our only general criticism of Southern Hospitality was that most of our dishes could have used a pinch less salt. In all other respects, this restaurant lived up to its name.
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2014.
Less salt makes sense… food good!!
When they were in the food court at Monroeville Mall, I also found the food to be a bit salty. However, other than the salt, I thought the food was good. I also found the service to be great! But I hope that they make their presence more noticeable in Edgewood than in Monroeville so that people actually know they are there and are open (ex: better signage)! I wish them much success!
I went to visit this restaurant last night based on the CP review as well as others on the net. My experience was so unbelievably bad that I can’t understand how anyone would continue to patronize such a deplorable restaurant. We showed up right around 8 PM – ample time to receive our food and eat before the 9 PM closing time. There was another couple sitting in the booth behind us who arrived a short time after us. The very nice lady who was our server waited on the table behind us but didn’t take our orders for another 10 minutes or so. The fact that they were out of just about everything they advertise on their menu should have been my first clue that this was not going to be a good experience. When she finally brought us our glasses of Countrytyme Lemonade (I saw the container on the counter), she took our food orders and vanished for another 50 minutes. Imagine our surprise when a gentleman arrived at our table with our food in to-go containers and informed us that they were closing and that we needed to leave. The other table had received their food and were eating – they were not asked to leave, however. We were not being disruptive nor did we complain about the long wait for service. We were just sitting at the table chatting. We were so shocked at the fact that the restaurant gave us our food to-go that we paid and left. When we got home, we discovered that the food was barely edible – particularly the fish which was fishy and overcooked. The disgustingly sweet beans and yams tasted like they came out of a can. There was no bread despite the fact that the menu said that the meal came with bread. The menu says that they have chicken breasts, but, in reality, all they serve are wings. The wings were OK but I think that they were frozen Costco wings. The only part of the meal that was remotely edible was the macaroni and cheese. I will NEVER go back here again and I will spread the word among my friends, as well. I never hope for a restaurant to close but, based on my experience last night, this one certainly deserves to close.
I would have to be there the same day the critic visited. My experiences. Yes i said experiences have been horrible. First off we’ve had to wait about 10 minutes just for someone to come acknowledge our presence. Our food takes about 20 minutes to come. The yams or sweet potatoes whatever they are may as well have been mashed. Mac n cheese had no flavor and it wasnt cheesy. Oh Troy asked how we liked the food. I told him my mac n cheese had water at the bottom of the bowl. He said it was milk. Sigh. Clear milk huh. We keep going because my boyfriend wants to support a black business owner. Quite frankly im fed up. How much support does he need if the food n service are terrible?