mmmmm. . . M&M Soul Food

At the corner of Valley View and Charleston (a bit to the west on the South side of the street) is M&M Soul Food.  I hadn't been.  I actually was confused, there was an H&H Soul Food that burned down a while back and I thought this was the second coming of that place.  Wrong.  It was a different place.  Is there something going on with soul food and repeating letters (H&H, M&M, etc.).  

I met a buddy from church and fellow lawyer, Jim.  M&M was surprisingly small.  had about twenty tables.  It didn't look like you could fit a whole restaurant in there.  I sat down, got a diet Pepsi and read the menu.  Looking at the menu, it wasn't cheap.  Even things like fried chicken was $10 for two pieces of chicken.  Full orders were $13 and up.  The menu wasn't very big.  About 15 entrees altogether.  There are a few sides and three (count 'em three) desserts.  

Today's special was - fried chicken for $6.99.  I took it.  

A lot of places bring you bread, a muffin, some starchy deal.  M&M brought delicious, slightly crispy, warm cornbread pancakes with butter.  DELICIOUS!  I gobbled those up, polished off another Diet Pepsi, and waited. 

Service at M&M is pragmatic.  In a good way.  My chicken was ready first (as it should be).  Only one piece of Jim's chicken was ready (as it should have been).  What is a waitress to do?  Since the chicken is fresh cooked with every order, the waitress brought mine and one piece of Jim's so we could eat it while it was hot and fresh.  Sides, I got rice and gravy with fried okra.  Then, as an added bonus, they brough MORE CORNBREAD PANCAKES!

The clientele was surprisingly diverse, which almost made me wonder if we weren't in a real soul food restaurant.  But the quality and type of food tells me it was legit.

The food:

Cornbread Pancakes: Delicious!

Fried Chicken: Wonderful!  Crispy on the outside, delicious batter with good seasoning.  Moist and delicious inside.  At the table is a shaker bottle of hot sauce, use it generously.

Rice and gravy: Good, but not noteworthy.

Fried Okra: Delicious - Jim told me a funny story about eating fresh okra.  Moral of his story - DON"T EAT FRESH OKRA!

Big picture - I loved the food and the atmosphere at M&M Soul Food.