I haven't been laden with soul food experiences since moving to LA, but it's hard to imagine a better offering than Granny's Kitchen. Having gone to college in North Carolina, I've been bookmarking potential eateries left and right, in search of a really good Southern-style meal, and I finally stopped here halfway down from Pasadena on a day-trip to Long Beach. It was everything I hoped it would be, as we didn't order a single thing that wasn't delicious.
My brother and I shared a literal smorgasbord of food, building our meal with a Hungrywoman Plate and a Veggie Plate. We chose fried chicken and neck bones with rice for our two Hungrywoman meats, as well as cornbread stuffing, mac and cheese, and cabbage for our three sides. We had three additional sides with the Veggie Plate, choosing the yams, corn, and pinto beans. Our meals came with three cornbread muffins total and a drink each (choice of lemonade or Kool-Aid). We closed out with an additional cup of gravy for crucial dipping purposes, and a peach cobbler (sadly, they didn't have banana pudding).
The fried chicken was fried to order, coming to us still glistening out of the frier and too hot to eat for several minutes, as we are undeserving pansies. This was amazing. It took about 20 minutes, but we enjoyed the rest of our meal in the meantime, and the chicken was brought to our table when it was ready. Our portion included a wing and a thigh, lightly battered, crisp, golden, juicy--all the good fried chicken attributes. It wasn't an earthshatteringly crisply Korean-style batter or thick and craggy with intended crispy clumps, but just a very excellent traditional in between rendition.
As good as it was though, I enjoyed the neck bones more. This is for dark meat lovers, and it was super tender and juicy and covered furthermore in brown gravy. The best part of this dish is eating the meat with the rice underneath that soaks up the juices--carnivore heaven.
Although all the sides were great--the cabbage was braised into soft submission and the mac and cheese had a lovely cheddar-y cheesy crust--it was the cornbread stuffing that stood out to us, also topped with a blanket of gravy, making for a sweet and savory bite. The top edges were browned and chewy (delicious), while the bottom sponged up the juices from the plate around it (also delicious). I don't know why most of the country only eats this on Thanksgiving, but I'm definitely going to need this more often. I feel confident that if every box of Stouffer's (and I like Stouffer's, no shade) were replaced with this, stuffing would inevitably cease being a holiday-only food.
The yams were my other favorite, sweet like dessert and cooked super soft without falling apart, though I would have preferred more syrup with them and smaller chunks, for higher glaze-to-yam ratio. I can't really complain though, because they have officially converted my brother from a supposed yam-hater and made him see the light.
The corn may looked "canned" because they're kernels only, duh, but taste far from it. These kernels had bite and tasted of fresh corn sweetness rather than can juices. I was dubious of these sitting in the hotel pan, but they were as good as advertised. And the pinto beans were an ideal salty supplement, brothy and rich with flavor.
We brought home enough leftovers for probably two more meals, as well as the cobbler, which, after warming up, was wonderfully spiced and moist and made whipped cream disappear rather quickly. We paid with card but tipped with cash, as we were well taken care of between entering and leaving the shop, making me miss that Southern hospitality all the more. Granny's Kitchen is a welcome break from Instagram eateries that require queuing for food, and I'm looking forward to bringing my husband and everyone else I know back here as soon as my leftovers run out. read more