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| - Seeing that a soul food restaurant was opening next door to my office filled me with great joy and anticipation. That space has had many restaurants try and fail over the years. Everything from a Quiznos to a Chinese restaurant, yet none seem to stay more than a year or so.
Sadly after my first visit to Anointed One, I don't think it will be here long either.
I ordered the brisket for $14. Other options on the menu included smothered pork chop, fried chicken, fried catfish, and ribs. Dinners include 2 sides and cornbread.
I feel the best measure of a soul food restaurant are 3 things, Greens, Mac and Cheese, and Cornbread. So those were the sides I ordered.
We'll start with the greens they had for the day, cabbage. The cabbage itself was made in a classic greens style with bacon and spices. The cabbage itself was overdone, but overall the flavor was good due to the pot likker it was cooked in. Very tasty. I found myself wishing it was collard or some other greens because the flavor of the cabbage just didn't hold up to the likker.
While the greens were tasty, the Mac and Cheese was not. It was a bland, boring, and had a paste like consistency due to the noodles being well overcooked. I moved on quickly to the cornbread.
As the final of the three sides, I feel a restaurant's cornbread can speak volumes about how much they care about the food being made. The bread was warm as though it had been microwaved, not a great thing for carryout. Thankfully my walk to my desk was less than 2 minutes, so the bread had not yet hardened. IMHO Cornbread should either be soft and moist like a cake, or have a grit to it like the corn meal was just milled by hand earlier that day. Unfortunately this had neither. Bland flavor with a dry and firm but mealy texture. I would guess this came straight from a box, and if it didn't, its a recipe that should get an overhaul.
So, 2 strikes but the "greens" were promising. There was still hope...... That hope was quickly dashed as I got to the brisket.
The first thing I noticed was that the 3 large slices of meat were smothered in BBQ sauce. Normally this is a sign of an amateur, or someone trying to cover up bad BBQ. Next I noticed that the brisket had a HUGE fat layer between the flat and the point, another sign of someone new to BBQ since that should be trimmed out. There was almost no fat cap or bark to be found either. So when I started trying to cut it and found it tough and overdone, I wasn't surprised. The flavor was also disappointing. I couldn't tell if it was the sauce or the meat, but there was a heavy liquid smoke flavor going on that was tough to get past. I couldn't really taste anything else and it's still hanging around. Strike 3.
Its pretty clear these folks are new to soul food and they probably aren't their grandmother's recipes. I would give 2 stars for the cabbage, but considering I paid almost $15 for a meal I didn't eat much of this is a definite 1 star. Not sure if I'll even be giving a second try like I normally do since it wasn't busy and the service wasn't a problem. Maybe if they survive the year I'll give it a shot.
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