SOUL DADDY - Minneapolis (Mall of America)

Soul Daddy is a new restaurant owned by Jamawn Woods - winner of NBC's "America's Next Great Restaurant". Soul Daddy is a funky space of polished plywood tables, benches & booths, cement wall tiles, large chalkboard graffiti walls and an open kitchen gleaming with shiny stainless steel. Jamawn also has his signature purple on one wall and his staff's T-shirts. The staff is super fast and very friendly. Tonight, Jamawn was on premise meeting and greeting his diners and fans that followed him on the TV show.

The short menu offers "new home cookin'." Your choices include 5 meals and sandwiches, 8 side dishes, and either a whole wheat biscuit or corn bread waffle.

I ordered the baked herb chicken meal. This meal included a large juicy chicken breast with crispy skin (just the way it should be!), braised kale in a very light creamy sauce and sweet potato salad - perfectly cooked al dente & tossed in a bit of butter and a sprinkling of brown sugar. The accompanying whole wheat biscuit was a flaky, warm handful of heaven. The meal was scrumptious and an incredible value at $8.95. Almost too good to be true.

Soul Daddy creates 3 signature sauces: Sweet Molasses Mustard, Soul Daddy BBQ and Jamawn's Hot Sauce. My favorite pairings were the Soul Daddy BBQ sauce on the baked chicken and Jamawn's Hot Sauce on the kale.

This has become a new fast, casual favorite of mine!

Mmm... Mmm... Mmm...

$

++++

&&&&

Entrée

$ 10

$$ 20

$$$ 30

$$$$ 40+

Staff

+ Stop bothering me!

++ Anyone here?

+++ Stopped when in the area.

++++ As needed and friendly.

+++++ Invisibly perfect!

Overall

& “One visit too many!”

&& “Convince me!”

&&& “I’ll be back!”

&&&& “Same table next week!”