By Jay Whipple
Trend Magazine Online™
Great Service!
Trend Magazine Online™
Great Service!
This eatery caught my attention because it is located in the same space
once occupied by a Chinese buffet that I patronized a
few times in the past. The service and food were pretty good so I am
quite surprised that they are no longer in operation. Running a
successful restaurant is a major undertaking in that it requires a draw
full of cash, talent, help, and dedication. One also needs a great
location, location, location, that is easily accessible to customer
traffic. It is a business that I personally would never tackle unless I
am the owner and am able to find a reliable, dependable, on honest person
to manage my establishment.
I had planned on visiting the Queen’s Soul
Food restaurant for a few months before the opportunity arose
when I was in the area just before the typical lunch crowd arrived at
noon. You have to have extreme confidence in your product/service to
include the words soul and food in your eatery’s name. It says to
me that you have consulted with someone’s grandmother or great
grandmother who was born in the south (below the Mason Dixon Line) no
later than 1910, or, a relative who carefully paid
attention to what they were doing in the kitchen. Unfortunately many
great soul food restaurants perish after the death, or retirement, of the
original owner. The former McDonald’s Cafeteria,
located on Beatties Ford Road off I-85
here in Charlotte, NC, is one good
example of that phenomenon. Its history is covered on the
QCT Charlotte Black/African-American Heritage Toursm
Another challenge that this eatery faces is that it is located in the
same shopping plaza as the very popular K&W
Cafeteria which has a long history of serving up mouthwatering
southern cuisine. In fact, some of the older folks here have rumored that
they now employ former cooks from the old McDonald’s
Cafeteria on Beatties Ford Road. Another
quirk/twist to this establishment is that the owner is of
Asian descent. I have been told that he learned how to
cook soul food while working on a military installation overseas. This
proves my point that the talent/skill of preparing good food can be
learned. In fact, I used to frequent a Chinese take-out
restaurant that was run my Mexicans.
