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Robin Garr

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Shirley Mae's puts the soul in soul food

by Robin Garr » Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:01 am

Shirley Mae's puts the soul in soul food

The fried pork chop at Shirley Mae's is firm and flavorful. Like all the entrees, it comes with two pieces of fried hot-water cornbread.
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Some say that the art of soul, in music or in food, can never be mastered by white folks, and I can buy this hypothesis: Lacking a history of slavery and oppression, we just don't have the tools born of heritage. But we can certainly enjoy soul, and honor it, whether we're listening to Aretha or dining at someplace like Shirley Mae's.

Soul food, and soul music too, go back to the '50s and '60s, when the civil-rights movement burst into the national conscience and with it Black power and Black pride. Shirley Mae's came along a bit later, in 1988, but this Smoketown landmark remains as one of the best places in Louisville for humans of all colors to come together and enjoy seriously good soul food in a seriously soulful setting.

The full name of the place is Shirley Mae's Cafe & Bar, and there's no denying the bar component. A long black bar with a row of a dozen stools lines one side of the long, narrow room. There's a row of tables along a banquette on the other side. You'll probably get a happy wave from Shirley Mae cooking in the open kitchen, sitting on her Rollator walker at the flat-top grill; and you'll definitely get a warm welcome from the friendly service folks.

The menu nicely covers the soul food genre; and its pricing falls on the low side of affordable: in other words, cheap. Seven of the nine entrees are $5, and that's for a generous portion of such soul-food goodies as pan-fried tilapia, meatloaf, even a ham hock or a pig foot; only spare ribs ($6) and chitterlings ($9) break the five-dollar barrier, and that's fair: Ribs need long smoking, and have you ever tried to clean a chitlin'?

Ten sides go for a thrifty $3 each; two pieces of Shirley Mae's "world famous hot water cornbread" go for just $1, and I can tell you that you're going to want more than two.

Come for lunch before 3:30 p.m. and grab an even better deal: $10 gets you an entree, two sides and cornbread. ...

Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/shirley-maes-soul

You'll also find this review in LEO Weekly's Food & Drink section today.
http://www.leoweekly.com/category/food-drink/

Shirley Mae's Cafe & Bar
802 S. Clay St.
589-5295
http://shirleymaescafe.com
https://facebook.com/shirleymaescafe

Robin Garr's rating: 86 points.

Noise level: A pleasant but not ear-shattering buzz didn't interfere with conversation during a Saturday brunch. (Average sound was 75dB, the level of normal conversation, with occasional bursts to 85dB.)

Accessibility: A single step at the entrance bars independent access for wheelchair users. The restroom has basic accessibility features, but getting to the men's requires negotiating a narrow, turning corridor.
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Steve Eslinger

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Re: Shirley Mae's puts the soul in soul food

by Steve Eslinger » Sun Oct 20, 2019 7:32 pm

Thanks for the prompt. This place was on my radar years ago and then forgotten. My mistake. We went yesterday and sampled a bunch; two lunches and two dinners to go. As you said, the sides were all estimable and the mains were fantastic. The ribs, the fish, the meatloaf and then the chicken. Man, those are the biggest chicken wings I've ever seen, and they were perfectly fried. I can understand why they've been in business since 1988.

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