Friday Food: Sylvia's

Last week I went with a group of friends to Sylvia's in Harlem for dinner. I had never really had soul food before, but I couldn't think of a better place to dive into the delicious world of fried chicken and collard greens than at Sylvia's.

Sylvia Woods, the "Queen of Soul Food" opened her titular restaurant in 1962 and famous diners have since included Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. I decided to take the "when in Harlem" approach and order chicken and waffles. The chicken can also come smothered, aka covered in gravy, but I opted for the unsmothered version which, from what I saw, was definitely the right decision.

Turns out that there's really nothing special about chicken and waffles — it's literally just a piece of fried chicken and two waffles, but there's something about the combination of foods (each delicious in their own right) that is just so good. I'm not a huge fan of mixing my foods, so I kept them mostly separate, but I will say that I didn't hate the pieces of chicken that accidentally got syrup on them. I haven't had much fried chicken in my life, but this was probably the best I have had. I ordered the all white meat version and it was crispy and juicy but not at all oily.

I would love to return for their Sunday Gospel Brunch, which judging by the amount of amps sitting around has got to be a great show. I don't know if I'm quite ready for the collard greens yet, but if all soul food is as delicious as chicken and waffles then I have no idea why I waited so long.