North Valley
Momma’s Soul Fish & Chicken
Opened: April 2023
A word of advice about this welcoming soul food restaurant run by a mother-and-son team from St. Louis: Get there early, before the kitchen runs out of St. Louis-style barbecue ribs (the most popular dish on the menu). If that happens, you’ll have to punt with something like catfish strips, dredged in cornmeal and fried to a glorious brown crunch ($23), the best catfish I’ve had in ages. Order any protein as a “soul food meal” and you’ll also get sweet, crumbly cornbread (not my favorite), and your choice of two sides. I fell for the gooey mac and cheese, crispy fried okra and melting sweet potatoes (all $4.75 as sides), and soupy collards, generously bolstered with ham hock, which may be ordered a la carte ($4.75). Restaurant pork chops are often bone-dry, but not here, where they’re perfectly seasoned, breaded and fried ($23). Order chicken and waffles ($13.99) – composed of two crispy, well-seasoned drumsticks with wings attached and one syrup-drizzled, powdered sugar-dusted waffle – with a side of spicy-sweet, vinegar-forward house special sauce. It’s great with the fish, too. Here, you’ll get friendly service and soulful, satisfying cooking.
Wild Card: Don’t miss lattice-topped peach cobbler, Southern through and through ($4.50).
15414 N. 19th Ave., Phoenix, 480-435-2203, order on toasttab.com
