Rack & Soul (UWS BBQ/Soul Food)

[slkinsey]

So... a little while back, I noticed that a new restaurant had opened up on the Southeast corner of 109th Street and Broadway where there had previously been a filthy fried chicken shop into which I had never ventured. The restaurant was called Rack & Soul and purported to be a half-barbecue, half-soul food restaurant.

The barbecue side of Rack & Soul is designed and overseen by John Wheeler, a homebuilder and competitive barbecuer from Mississippi who comes in once a week to tweak the smokers, etc. The soul food side of the restaurant is run by Charles Gabriel from Charles' Southern Style Kitchen in Harlem, where he is known for his pan-fried chicken.

I was eager to give it a try.

The first time I visited, with Eric_Malson, was unfortunately a disappointment. The restaurant had just opened, and was slammed with customers (interestingly, they were around 75% families of Israeli Jews out for some smoked pork after the end of Passover). We were told it would take at least 30 minutes for our food to come to the table. It didn't take that long, but when the food arrived it wasn't particularly impressive. The menu has no appetizers, but each dish comes with two sides from an interesting list, and all the sides are available as invidiual orders. They were already out of pulled pork, so we each ordered the combination platter of fried chicken and baby back ribs with collard greens and macaroni and cheese. The ribs were undercooked, with none of that "pulling apart tenderness" you'd like to see. The fried chicken was not particularly crisp. More to the point, everything was critically underseasoned. I left feeling like I'd give them another chance, and hoping they'd learn how to use the salt and pepper shakers by my next visit.

On several subsequent visits, I have not been disappointed. The fried chicken, as expected from someone with Mr. Gabriel's pedigree and reputation, has been crispy and tender with a nicely salty skin. The barbecue has been performing at a much higher level. I have so far tried the pulled pork, baby back ribs and beef short rib from among their barbecue offerings. All were nicely smokey and cooked properly, although the pulled pork could have bee fattier/moister for my taste. The beef short rib is particularly well done, smokey, sticky and unctuous. They also offer bbq chicken wings, bbq salmon and a bbq half chicken. I'll probably try the salmon one day, and they also offer ox tails which I'd like to sample in the future.

The sides have also been very good. Long-cooked collard greens have clearly benefitted from spending time in the pot with copious amounts of salty pork products. Asparagus comes heaped in a ridiculously large pile of green stalks. They even have excellent Belgian waffles, creating a serious temptation to double-order the waffle sides with a full order of fried or smothered chicken. Other offerings include broccoli, string beans, baked beans, black-eyed peas, lima beans, candied yams, cole slaw, stewed okra, mararoni and cheese, yams, white rice, mashed potatoes, potato salad and french fries. I've bad the baked beans, mac & cheese and potato salad since my first visit. These have been good to very good. Must-tries for me are the rest of the legumes and the mashed potatoes.

Rack & Soul does have a modest and interesting wind list, including some barbecue and fried-chicken friendly wines like reisling. There are also several interesting beers on the menu, such as Gosser and Abita. I wouldn't know about any of this, because I always have a bottomless glass of either lemonaid or iced tea. These are seriously old-school concoctions, and heavy on the sugar in a way that can sneak up on you after a few glasses. More than a few times I've left Rack & Soul feeling like I needed an insulin injection.

So far I have tried two of the desserts: rather uninteresting and dry pecan pie and an delicious, moist and absolutely gigantic slice of red velvet cake that is not to be missed. Be forewarned, however. This is easily enough cake for three to four people, and it is very sweet.

So... Rack & Soul is a nice neighborhood place and a welcome addition. I wouldn't say that they're quite on the same level as Dinosaur, but the relative ease in getting there and getting a table for those of us on the Upper Upper West Side more than makes up for the difference. If you're in the area, I encourage you to check it out.

[Fat Guy]

We finally made it over to Rack & Soul tonight, and were impressed -- not uniformly so, but overall the restaurant put in a strong performance.

We were able to make a reservation, which was nice, and our server was very competent and friendly -- kept the water and lemonade glasses full (I'm not sure I've been to another restaurant in New York City that refills lemonade for free), checked in on us frequently, smiled at the baby, etc.

The lack of appetizers is a little disconcerting. We thought about hacking the system by sharing the barbecued chicken wing entree as an appetizer, but we restrained ourselves. An appetizer really isn't necessary anyway -- the portions are generous and filling.

We sampled the pulled pork, baby back ribs, fried chicken, fried catfish and barbecued salmon. The pulled pork and baby back ribs were amazingly good. Whatever problems they've had with these items in the past were not present tonight. I'll need to sample them a few more times, but if they can make them this consistently good I'll say they're the best in town on those two products -- and on par with an average place in Memphis. The fried catfish and barbecued salmon were very good -- not revelatory, but well executed. The big disappointment was the fried chicken, which had clearly been sitting under a heat lamp for some time and was not crispy.

Some of the sides were quite good: the mac-and-cheese, collard greens, potato salad (if you like Southern-style eggy-and-mustardy potato salad) and the free biscuits they bring out. The okra was bad, even for okra -- way too sweet. The mashed potatoes were okay, as was the gravy.

Both desserts we tried were exceptional. I didn't figure this place for serious desserts, but the red velvet cake (baked for them by some bakery -- I wasn't able to extract the name) was beautifully moist and the banana pudding was vibrant (lots of fresh bananas and high-quality custard -- not that fake pudding mix a lot of Southern places use) and not overly sweet.

Prices very reasonably by NYC standards. Website is here. I'll be back.

[Dryden]

They also deliver.

[cchen]

They also deliver.

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Their delivery service is spotty, at best. They always forget something from the order.

[Dryden]

They also deliver.

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Their delivery service is spotty, at best. They always forget something from the order.

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No problems when we've ordered from them.

[Tom Secor]

Two questions:

First, anyone know how far uptown they deliver?

Second, any thoughts on how both the overall experience and food compare to Dinaosaur? Not because Dinosaur is the bbq standard, but because for many people in that area, Dinosaur is the other go-too option. For me, Dinosaur is closer.

Speaking of comparisons, how do the fried chicken and sides compare to Spoonbread on 110th, which is usually where I go for soul food. Well, actually, for fried chicken I go to Jacque-I-Mo's which I think has fantastic fried chicken. One of the few items that I think is just as good in NY as in New Orleans (well, almost). But Im still interested to know how the "Soul" side compares to Spoonbread....

[slkinsey]

I'd say that the bbq is maybe not quite as good as Dinosaur -- but it could be only by a small margin. That beef rib is outstanding. Significantly for me at least, it's a hell of a lot easier to get to and there's never a wait for a table.

Their fried chicken is the first in the City (other than my own) that I've really liked, but it sounds like there may be some variability still. Ask for all dark meat.

I really like the sides. It's too bad that Fat Guy didn't try the baked beans, because I swear they're half pork.

[phaelon56]

I did once have good fried chicken in NYC on on of my two visits to Soul Cafe. But at $20 - $22 for fried chicken and $5 for a side of collards? I don't think so.

[Sneakeater]

I was disappointed by Rack & Soul last night.

I should note at the outset that I walked in soon before closing. The food was not at the peak of freshness. So maybe it's unfair to judge it by this visit.

I had fried chicken and baby back ribs. The chicken was obviously fairly old. The coating was saltily delicious, but not the least bit crisp. It tasted like it had been sitting around for some time. The ribs, while not remotely undercooked (they were definitely falling off the bone), just seemed kind of underflavored to me. I dumped on a lot of the spicy barbecue sauce they gave me -- which is something I NEVER do.

I had the mac and cheese and stewed okra as sides. The mac and cheese also suffered from obviously having been sitting around for an extended period. The okra was, well, interesting. It was a stew of okra, tomato, and corn. It was very highly seasoned in a way that seemed almost African. This was of more historical/sociological than culinary interest to me, because I wanted to taste the okra but couldn't. I'd have used less pepper (and whatever) myself.

What I think we're seeing is that this place is inconsistent (which is hardly surprising when you look at it). Given its (fairly) convenient location and the pedigree of its executive chefs, I certainly plan to return. But maybe you have to be a little careful about WHEN you go.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[slkinsey]

Interesting. Your experience is almost exactly what mine was the first time I was there. . . which was also near the end of service. Since then, I've had several very good meals there. But I also haven't gone late again.

The general consensus seems to be that their stewed okra either a) sucks, b) is in a style that many of us don't like/understand, or c) both. I'm leaning towards c) myself -- but, then again, I hate okra anyway.

IMO the can't-miss sides at R&S are the collard greens and baked beans.

[phaelon56]

The okra was, well, interesting.  It was a stew of okra, tomato, and corn.  It was very highly seasoned in a way that seemed almost African.  This was of more historical/sociological than culinary interest to me, because I wanted to taste the okra but couldn't.  I'd have used less pepper (and whatever) myself.

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Apart from the heavy seasoning and stewing this calls to mind the only okra preaprtio I've ever enjoyed. My former girfriend's stepfatehr would chop fresh tomatoes from his garden, shuck some corn right off the cob and then saute that in a sizzling hot cast iron skillet along with a bit of diced green pepper and fresh picked fresh sliced okra.

It's the one and only time I have ever truly enjoyed okra - interesting taste and none of the sliminess most of us associate with that vegetable. It was his contention that freshness and extremely limited handling of the vegetable is key. He also advised fressing it immediately after picking if it was to be used in any stewed prepartion and hanbdling the frozen okra as little as possible before cooking. Again - all in the pursuit of reduced sliminess - always a worthwhile goal to my way of thinking.

And I don't care how good fried chicken is when it's fresh - even the best preparations suffer when sitting on a steam table or under a heat lamp for more than a few minutes.

[bethala]

I had the mac and cheese and stewed okra as sides.  The mac and cheese also suffered from obviously having been sitting around for an extended period.  The okra was, well, interesting.  It was a stew of okra, tomato, and corn.  It was very highly seasoned in a way that seemed almost African.  This was of more historical/sociological than culinary interest to me, because I wanted to taste the okra but couldn't.  I'd have used less pepper (and whatever) myself.

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when i was in junior high school in houston, i had a friend whose mom was a creole from louisiana, and boy, could she cook. she sometimes made something she called okra "goulash", which sounds similar to what you had at rack & soul. clearly, my friend's mom was not hungarian, but it seemed as if she'd somehow put together a dish that merged creole elements (the okra) with hungarian ones (the addition of corn, making it goulash). but unlike what you had, this dish was fresh-tasting, and, although somewhat spicy, pretty delicately seasoned.

i think the mistake a lot of people make when making cajun/creole/"soul" food is over-seasoning. there's a pre-conceived notion that the food is highly seasoned, and it sometimes is, but this is different from over-seasoned. also, as with all cuisines, there are always certain dishes that are only mildly seasoned and let the flavor of the food shine through. just as thorough fans of indian cuisine know that not every dish is "spicy", those with a thorough knowledge of southern and soul cuisine know that it's not all Lowry’s seasoning salt and Tabasco sauce. Edna Lewis did a good job of putting that out there. some of the best home "soul" cooking i’ve had has been food that i appreciated more for the cooking method -- e.g., vegetables "cooked down" with seasonings that might include salt, pepper, onion, garlic, cayenne, and pork fatback, all used very judiciously -- than the use of heavy seasoning. just as with the cajun craze where people thought if they just "blackened" something, it would be ok, i think some think that if they just use a lot of seasoning salt, it's "soul". well, it ain't so, and it’s really unfortunate that your okra was not soulful in a good way.