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Best Soul Food & Southern Comfort Restaurants in Orlando & Kissimmee: A Local's Guide
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items Smothered pork chops, oxtails, collard greens, mac and cheese, and cornbread that actually tastes like somebody's grandma made it. Here are my favorite soul food and Southern comfort restaurants in Orlando and Kissimmee, from long-running Parramore i...
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Nikki's Place in Parramore has been feeding Orlando for generations, and it's still the benchmark for soul food here. The smothered pork chops and oxtails are the move, and don't skip the sweet potato pie.
Nikki's Place Southern Cuisine
Gotta Have SoulFood BBQ on Marigold Ave is right here in Poinciana and it's the real deal - slow-smoked ribs, candied yams, collards, and jalapeno cornbread from a family that's been at it since 1995. My go-to when I don't feel like cooking Sunday di...
Gotta Have SoulFood BBQ
Candee Lee's on W 192 near the Disney side of Kissimmee is a family-run spot serving fried catfish, smothered chicken and baked mac and cheese with real hospitality. Portions are generous and the peach cobbler is worth saving room for.
Candee Lee's Soul House
Chef Eddie's East on Goldenrod is famous for the chicken and waffles, but the whole soul food menu delivers - fried pork chops, red velvet waffles, and a Sunday brunch line that tells you everything. Get there early on weekends.
Chef Eddie's East
Sunshine Soulfood Cafe on W Colonial is a no-frills counter spot where the plates come piled high - turkey wings, yams, rice and gravy, and cornbread on the side. Lunch here will carry you through dinner.
Sunshine Soulfood Cafe
P & D on Goldwyn Ave is a west Orlando favorite for takeout soul food - baked chicken, oxtails, lima beans and the kind of mac and cheese with a crust on top. They do delivery too, which is dangerous on a lazy Sunday.
P & D Soulfood Kitchen
Oley's on Rio Grande Ave straddles soul food and barbecue - smoked ribs and rib tips on one side of the menu, collards, yams and cornbread on the other. It's cash-friendly, quick, and consistently good.
Oley's Kitchen & Bar B Que
Homecomin' at Disney Springs is the upscale take on Southern comfort - Chef Art Smith's fried chicken is brined for 24 hours and it shows. Pricey, but the hummingbird cake and the moonshine cocktails make it a great splurge night out.
Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'
Collard greens and oxtails need a long, slow braise, and this Lodge Dutch oven is my workhorse for both. It's a fraction of the price of the French brands and has held up to years of Sunday dinners.
Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Preheat this wedge pan in the oven with a little bacon fat before the batter goes in and you get cornbread with crispy edges on every single piece. Way better than a square pan, and it goes straight to the table.
Lodge Cast Iron Cornbread Wedge Pan
Carla Hall's cookbook is the one I hand to anyone who wants to cook soul food at home. The everyday chapters are healthy weeknight food, and the celebration recipes - her mac and cheese especially - are what you make for the family cookout.
Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration
This is the bottle that lives on the table at every soul food spot on this list, and it's the one on mine too. Vinegary and mild enough to shake generously over greens, fried fish and black-eyed peas without drowning them.
Louisiana Brand Original Hot Sauce
No shame in the Jiffy box - it's what half the grandmas in the South actually use. My upgrade: swap the milk for buttermilk, add a spoon of sugar and a can of creamed corn, and bake it in the cast iron wedge pan above.
Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Ask any soul food cook what's in the fried chicken dredge and Lawry's is in there somewhere. I use it on chicken, pork chops, fries and even the water for boiling greens. Buy the big shaker, you'll go through it.
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Sweet tea is not optional with soul food, and Luzianne is the brand made specifically for iced tea - it never goes cloudy or bitter. Four family-size bags, a cup of sugar stirred in while it's hot, and a gallon pitcher in the fridge all week.
Luzianne Family Size Iced Tea Bags