Still Standing 

2001-06-02
When Patti Labelle performed in Charlotte, she dined at Simmons Fourth Ward Restaurant. "She loves our food," one employee told me. "She was here every night. Marie Osmond, too. She likes our baked chicken." The walls of this small center city restaurant are plastered with autographed pictures of gospel singers and musicians, actors and actresses, and professional athletes. Modestly located in a vaguely Victorian strip center overlooking new and established homes in Fourth Ward, the air at the 64-seat Simmons is scented with Sunday supper. It is the same palpable aroma which fills a house before the Southern Sunday meal where family members gather to dish out familiar comfort food. Carolyn Simmons presides over this restaurant and is the sole proprietor. She first opened her doors 13 years ago. In the restaurant business, the definition of a "classic" restaurant is one which has been in business for 10 years, a feat not achieved by many restaurants. What is the secret to her success? "Secret recipes," Simmons says. And she intends to keep them secret. When I inquired about a specific spice or ingredient, she was quick to respond, "I can't tell you that. That's my secret." But it is more than the food that keeps this place popular and running smoothly. Simmons' has made the enormous time commitment to being there day in and day out. Simmons learned how to cook out of necessity. She was raised in Charlotte, not far from Fourth Ward, and was one of 18 children. As one of the middle children, her responsibility was to feed those who were younger. She prepared many of the same dishes that are currently served in her restaurant. Most of the sweet recipes she currently uses, such as the sweet potato pie and the peach cobbler, are her mother's recipes, but the others she developed either while growing up or later in her own kitchen where she cooked for her six children. Not all of Simmons recipes were developed by her. She notes, "A man in Hickory showed me how to make my barbecue sauce and that's the sauce I make." Years ago, the kind of cuisine Simmons serves was known as "soul food." Sometime during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, that term came to be used primarily by African Americans in northern urban areas to describe the food they had eaten growing up in the South. Soul food has also been defined as southern comfort food, down-home cooking, or cooking from the heart. It is the food which brings back memories of family meals. Many recent Southern cookbook authors, notably Dori Sanders and Edna Lewis, use the term "country cooking" to describe the same cuisine. Whichever term is used to describe the cuisine, the food has a distinctive style and flavor. As with any Southern meal, side dishes define the meal. At Simmons, diners have a choice of two vegetables to complement a dish: broccoli casserole, cole slaw, candied yams, collard greens, French fries, green beans, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, rice and gravy, streamed cabbage, or potato salad. Customer favorites are the steamed cabbage, collard greens, and green beans. Most dinners are $7, although the barbecue rib dinner is $9. The weekday lunch special is $5.60 for any of the entrees except the barbecue ribs and smothered pork chop. Child's plates are available as well. Many customers are greeted by name when they enter. Newcomers feel equally welcome. Service is friendly and familiar, but not offensively so. The people who work here are as kind as your favorite relative. When I requested some hot sauce, my server just shook his head in a disapproving way and said, "A lot of my customers like that. It just doesn't agree with me." But a fresh bottle quickly was brought. Soon after being seated, a basket of steaming corn bread arrives. Next up are main dishes, tried and true. The lovely juicy baked chicken, which you can order either white or dark, straddles Simmons' wonderfully moist corn bread dressing. The broccoli casserole is rivaled only by the more successful collard greens. Not to be missed are the unbearably wicked, succulent meaty ribs swathed in a tomato-based spicy barbecue sauce. You won't want to go further. But then there's the macaroni and cheese, sensual and soothing. Unlike the frozen oozing variety, this dish is sturdy. You can sink you teeth into chunks of cheddar cheese and elbows of al dente pasta. The flaky crisp, skinned, deep fried chicken leaves you eager for a picnic. And take Simmons' potato salad with bits of fresh tasting red pepper and hard boiled eggs along too. Simmons' irresistible candied sweet potatoes have a pleasant hit of exotic spices. True to country cuisine, the meal will end with an exceedingly sweet dessert, in my case an excessively wafered banana pudding. Simmons' brand of Southern cooking is not elaborate. The recipes are classic, and the prices are hard to beat. No wonder Simmons is a success. All the more reason to venture over to Fourth Ward and try some of Charlotte's heritage cuisine. Simmons Fourth Ward Restaurant, 516 N. Graham Street. 704-334-6640. Hours: Monday through Saturday 6am until 9pm; Sunday 11am until 6pm. AmEx, MC, Visa, Dis. Catering available.