Charles' in Charge

Up until this past weekend, living near Charles' Southern Style Kitchen was a bit like living near, say, a huge museum--somehow, knowing that it was nearby made me less likely to go there, maybe on the "It's right there and I can go whenever I want, so I don't need to go just right now" train of thought. That turned out to be a big mistake.

Charles' is exactly the kind of place you want to go to for old-fashioned, unpretentious soul food--the kind of place whose mere existence makes you happy. It's a bit disorienting to pay for your buffet (through a window, no less) as soon as you walk in, and the modest little six-foot steam table in the corner of the small dining room doesn't immediately look promising, but eating at Charles' makes you feel like you've just discovered the neighborhood's best-kept secret. It's no wonder that everyone who was in the restaurant looked so damned happy.

The buffet (about $13) featured perfectly stewed okra (seriously, if you've been put off by okra's texture, don't give it up without trying this one first), silky and smoky collard greens, candied yams that were just about one degree too sweet for my tastes (but more on this later), fried chicken, ribs, pork chops in milk gravy, and oxtails in gravy.

The chicken was pretty good when I first tried it, but I also knew from other reviews that the time to have cast-iron-fried chicken here is right when a fresh batch comes out from the kitchen. And the difference was extraordinary--the fresh batch was bursting with juicy flavor, and the skin was neither too crisp nor too soft. New batches do come out fairly often, since the kitchen only cooks up a little at a time, so if your timing isn't perfect, try some of the rich oxtails first. I also spooned some of the gravy from the oxtails onto the chicken, which turned out to be a good move; it gets especially good when the flavors from the gravy, the collards, and the yams start to meld in the center of the plate. Somehow, the sweetness of the yams was now perfect, and even though I was pretty stuffed by the time this happened, my last bite felt as satisfying and pleasant as my first. In fact, the whole mess of flavors probably amounted to one of my best food experiences so far this year.

The ribs are also well-regarded, but I found mine to be a bit too tough. Couldn't argue with the vinegary sauce, though.


Charles' Southern Style Kitchen (map)
2837 Frederick Douglass Blvd., at 151st St.