Southern Food: Upper West Side vs New Orleans

The trendy food in NY these days appears to be fried chicken, a classic dish from the south. For a taste of south on the Upper West Side, we have Rack & Soul on

Mother's Restaurant, New Orleans. Photo: Mother's.

Broadway at 109th Street. There you can munch on their crispy-on-the-outside, moist-on-the-inside fried chicken. There’s also some pretty good iced tea to wash it down with. But for a true taste of the south, you need to travel to a place like New Orleans, as I have this week, and find an eatery like Mother’s, where the grits, po boys and iced tea are unlike anything you can get in New York.

Rack and Soul's fried chicken, a taste of the south on the Upper West Side. Photo: Rack & Soul.

The homey legendary New Orleans diner is staffed by friendly African-American ladies who call you “baby,” while dishing up fabulous grits, eggs, and sausage.  It’s ballast for the rest of the day, if not for the rest of the week.

Another bonus at this New Orleans pit stop—and something nearly impossible to find in New York—is perfectly brewed ice tea, or “tea,” as it’s called in these parts. In New Orleans and in other parts of the south, the choice is unsweetened or sweet tea.

Here are some New Orleans foods I’ve discovered that are not known in New York:

• Calas: Calas are a recently revived New Orleans food. Originally from Africa, slaves brought calas, made from rice, to the south and hawked them on the streets of New Orleans beginning in the mid-19th century. Something like a fritter, calas are deep fried, then sprinkled with sugar.
• Creole Cream Cheese.  No, this is not the stuff you put on a bagel. In the old days, before refrigeration, the people of New Orleans would take spoiled milk, wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it from a tree out back. Served for breakfast, it’s sprinkled with sugar.

Mother’s
401 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA
504 523 9656

Rack & Soul
258 W. 109th St.
New York, NY
212 222 4800

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