Review: Soul Daddy Strikes Out (Guest Session Review)

Our favorite Special Guest, Y.S., is back for thirds. Lend him your eyes, ears, hearts, and appetites. ___________________________________________________

Before Top Chef and all these new cooking reality shows came on the air, there was one great cooking program that started it all – Iron Chef. For any food lover, this show was inspiring. Watching a 4 course meal being whipped up in one hour is absolutely astounding and eventually America caught on. This new found infatuation of cooking, along with our competitive spirit and love of reality shows, spurred a new genre of television in the US…food competitions. The most recent of these to culminate was a show called “America’s Next Great Restaurant.” Now, I was never interested in this show as it was more about the entrepreneurial spirit of a restaurant instead of a cooking aspect; though I did take advantage of the “Buy one, get one free” Chipotle promotion. Upon the winner being announced, my friends, who watched the show, decided we should visit the place and try the food (reason #21,903 why LA is awesome - Hollywood makes a show for a new restaurant, winning restaurant sets up shop in LA). With this, I was on my way to try a new restaurant, Jamawn Wood’s Soul Daddy. Man was I excited! Who doesn’t love fried chicken with a side of mac & cheese and some corn bread??

Saturday had come and I was pumped to try out this new place. However, the excitement slightly started to turn sour when I heard the restaurants location, Hollywood and Highland. Every LA resident knows that is the one intersection to avoid at all costs. Why? Because you can’t walk around without being pestered by tourists, salesmen for LA bus tours, artists trying to charge you for demo cd’s, crazy religious people, and creeps dressed as famous movie characters that charge you after you take a picture with them. Location: curveball low and just inside, Strike one!

Sadly, I saw no advertisement for this new restaurant once I got to the plaza. Unless you know this place exists, and I don’t think tourists really go out looking for soul food, you aren’t going to look for it. Because of this though, there was no line – woohoo! Standing and reading the menu, which is leaner than a super model, I got an eerie feeling that Chipotle’s assembly line idea was “subtly” incorporated into Soul Daddy. Regardless, we stepped right up and ordered when we were ready. Because I don’t eat pork, that quickly eliminated my options for what I could get – either chicken or just side dishes. The sides also disappointed as all but two of them were cold sides; there was no Mac & Cheese!!! At the end of the assembly line I had a plate of Herb Chicken, wild rice “salad”, sweet potato “salad”, a corn bread waffle, and a biscuit. After paying, I made a quick pit stop at the Sauce Stop where I could grab a side of Jamawn’s hot sauce, Jamawn’s BBQ, and/or a mustard sauce. Menu options: sinker, swung on and missed, strike two!

I got to my table, sat down and looked at my plate, there was potential here. I started with the biscuit and corn bread because I love them both. In this case the biscuit wasn’t half bad while the waffle was bland and quite spongy; not enough of the corn taste either. They were also handed to me cold which I didn’t appreciate, and neither would Mama Jamawn. Now was the sweet potato’s turn, let’s just say that I had much of it left over at the end of the meal. As for the wild rice, it was alright. The rice “salad” lacked salt and wasn’t very flavorful – the cranberries were the boldest flavor in the dish. Luckily, the chicken was pretty good as it was moist and fully cooked throughout. I tried both the BBQ sauce and the hot sauce on my chicken, which tasted pretty good, however I preferred the hot sauce – the BBQ sauce was a little too sweet for my taste. Taste of the food: fastball, high and inside, swung on and popped up to short.

At the end of the meal I asked myself and fellow “critics” if we would come back. My friend who got the pulled pork sandwich said yes as he enjoyed it and my other friend was on the fence. Personally, I wouldn’t come back. The food simply wasn’t good enough to overcome the location and lack of menu options. I hope that they are currently in a test phase and will be updating the menu soon. I would suggest adding friend chicken, or at least more protein options apart from pork, as well as increasing the amount of hot sides that are available. How is there no Mac and Cheese?!!!?! Serving their breads warm would also be a big plus.

Overall, Soul Daddy is not indicative of soul food at all. The restaurant lacked the warm, hospitable feeling that southern soul food should provide you with. More importantly, the food itself lacked everything that soul food is all about: food served fresh and made with lots of love. At the end of the day I couldn’t feel the love; I would give Soul Daddy a 6.6 out of 10. The location choice is completely wrong and the restaurant just isn’t indicative of soul food. At the current moment I cannot recommend Soul Daddy and I’m sure that Mama Jamawn wouldn’t be proud of this place either. I personally will not be a return customer but I wish all the best to Jamawn and Soul Daddy.

 Remember that the only way to grow is by experiencing new things so don’t be scared to try a new restaurant or exotic foods when you’re out on the town. Bon Appetite!

Have restaurant suggestions for me? Want me to review your restaurant? E-mail me at LAfoodadventurer@gmail.com