Eating Soul Food for the First Time? Here Is Honest Advice

We get a steady number of visitors — tourists, new Nashville residents, people brought in by a friend — who have never eaten soul food before and are not sure where to start. This is honest, practical advice for that exact situation, without any pretension about it.

Start with something familiar, dressed up properly

Fried chicken with mac & cheese, green beans and mashed potatoes is the safest possible first plate, and “safe” is not an insult here — it will show you, immediately, how much better this cooking is than what you may have had before under the same names. Nothing on that plate should be a surprise, and everything on it should be better than you expected.

Then order the dish that explains the restaurant

If you want to understand why a place like Silver Sands has lasted seventy years, order smothered pork chops with greens, candied sweet potatoes and mac & cheese. It is not an exotic plate, but it is the one that shows the technique — a chop browned then finished slow in its own gravy, greens simmered for hours, sweet potatoes cooked down until the syrup thickens around them. This is the plate regulars actually eat.

If you are feeling adventurous

Ox tails are the dish we would point most newcomers toward if they want something they will not find easily elsewhere — rich, slow-cooked, with a gravy worth eating over rice on its own. It is a bigger commitment than fried chicken, but it is not a difficult dish to like.

What to hold off on, your first time

Chitterlings and hog maws are genuine delicacies with real technique behind them, but they have a strong, distinctive character that people who did not grow up eating them often need time to appreciate. There is no shame in trying something else first and coming back to these on a later visit, once you have a feel for the rest of the menu.

Do not skip the cornbread

Whatever else you order, eat the cornbread that comes with it. If we had to pick the single dish that best represents this kitchen, it would not be a meat at all — it would be the hot water cornbread, and almost every first-time visitor mentions it afterward.

Ask questions

If you do not know what something is, or whether a vegetable is cooked with pork, ask at the counter. It is a normal question, asked several times a day, and you will get a straight answer every time.