Soul Food Cafe knows a thing or two about frying

The chicken brought to our table was a culinary work of art, so uniformly golden as to reflect the proverbial Midas touch.

Ah, but I’ve been fooled before by pretty exteriors, so I took knife and fork in hand, cut through the shatteringly crisp crust and was instantly rewarded by a trickle of juice that was my first hint that the white meat inside — so prone to dryness — was positively succulent.

This, my friends, is fried chicken.

The subject piece was an extremely large and very nearly boneless chicken breast that was part of a fried chicken dinner at Soul Food Cafe ($15). There’s a very reasonable $1 surcharge for all white meat and that’s what we got, with the plate also including two similarly oversized (and similarly perfectly fried) wings.

That brings you three sides, too, and all of them were not only generously proportioned but skillfully prepared — just-soft-enough black-eyed peas, crisp-crusted hush puppies with a bit of onion for zip and okra fried with a nice feisty coating of cornmeal that brought crunch to every bite.

Soul Food Cafe knows a thing or two about frying, it was clear. The chicken, okra and hush puppies retained hints of neither grease nor off-flavors, the oil obviously both fresh and at just the right temperature. If I have one quibble, in fact, it’s that, unlike the Alabama-born cook who taught me the art of fried chicken, this one seasons either extremely lightly or not at all. On the other hand, the hot sauce on the table — which has a presence in every self-respecting soul food and/or Southern restaurant — solved that problem quite handily.

The kitchen staff at Soul Food Cafe knows a thing or two about grilling as well. Order pork chops ($16) and the server will ask if you want them grilled, fried or smothered. Choosing the first option brought us two nice juicy chops, judiciously grilled and accompanied by sauteed bell peppers and onions, a complementary and enjoyable flavor boost.

With this one we chose corn, yams and fries. That the fries were golden, crisp and grease-free came as no surprise; nor did the fact that the whole-kernel corn was soggy, in the Southern way. The yams were soft and almost creamy, flavored with honey and cinnamon and other warm tones that made them an absolute triumph.

And speaking of warm flavors: As we waited on our dinners (the menu warns of a 20-minute wait for all fried foods, but trust us, it’s worth it) our server brought us each a round of hot-water cornbread, that style that’s more like a pancake or a fritter than the conventional cakelike style. It was hot, the surface gently crisp, touched with butter and slightly sweet. Another triumph.

Soul Food Cafe looks at first blush like a counter-service restaurant, no doubt because it seems to do a pretty healthy takeout business. As we entered, though, our server invited us to sit wherever we liked and quickly brought us menus and glasses of ice water. The place filled up as time passed and she was working alone but kept her good humor and returned regularly to see if there was anything we wanted. The strip-center storefront is fairly basic, but textured treatments on one wall and the ceiling add interest and the open kitchen provides a view of the staff bustling around.

After portions like this we had to skip the peach cobbler and sweet-potato pie. But that’s OK, because that hot-water cornbread and perfectly fried chicken would alone be enough to draw us back.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383--474 or email her at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. For more restaurant news, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rjneon.