Southern Comfort Food at Soulful Street Bites

Soulful Street Bites, a take-out-only spot in Addison specializing in New Orleans-inspired soul food, has been operating for a couple of years pretty much under the radar as a food truck before opening a physical location this September. The place operates out of a small storefront in Yet Another Strip Mall with a small area consisting of just a few chairs for those waiting for their orders. But the food here is large: cooked with care and full of flavors straight out of your childhood kitchen.

The menu has specials that change daily, with mains that are available only on that day. Tuesday is chicken tetrazzini, Wednesday is red beans and rice with sausage, and Sunday is the granddaddy of them all: oxtails, gravy and rice. Other main choices include chicken with dressing, pot roast and crawfish etouffee.

Sides can vary daily as well but include fried okra, greens, cabbage, broccoli-rice and cheese casserole, yams and dirty rice; desserts include banana pudding and peach cobbler.

We were there on a Tuesday and were greeted by the friendly staff at the front. They answered all of our questions patiently while also prepping and bagging orders for the three or so people waiting ahead of us.

We started out with an order of the brisket mac and cheese, and it did not disappoint: shell pasta in a rich cheesy sauce with chunks of tender brisket that was a perfect combo of fat and lean. There was no skimping on the meat, either, so even though this was perhaps a bit high at $10 for an appetizer, it was worth it.

We wanted to try the daily special, chicken tetrazzini but noticed that it was one of the choices for the three-vegetable plate, so we went with that, gladly accepting it as a vegetable because if nothing else we are health nuts.

Broccoli rice casserole and some cooked cabbage rounded out the plate, along with a cornbread muffin that hit the spot. All three items were delish, and they gave us the larger entrée size of the tetrazzini because they’re nice that way. The cabbage is described as “cabbage (turkey)” on the menu, but while there was no turkey present one assumes that it was prepared in turkey stock, so vegans beware. The broccoli rice casserole was on point as well.

Our other main was the pork chop sandwich, fried and well-seasoned, served simply on a couple of pieces of sliced white bread and a side of hot sauce. The bone-in chop was large but we were a bit underwhelmed, perhaps because we’ve been spoiled by Big Daddy’s pork chop sandwich.

Several flavors of what was described as “Kool-aid” and lemonade are available for beverages; we went with lemonade and mango lemonade, and they did the job.

Finally, why not finish everything off with a cup of banana pudding? This was vanilla pudding with banana pieces mixed throughout and topped with shortbread crumbles and a whole cookie rounding out the presentation. It all tasted as good as it looked.

The joy of having a rotating daily special menu is that there is always a new reason to return. Oxtail is definitely in our future.