Amy Ruth’s
113 W. 116th Street
New York, NY 10026
As a young collegiate attending Columbia University on the Upper West Side of New York, I had practically given into the idea that I would not be able to frequent the foods of my childhood in area where Asian cuisine and pizza parlors were all the rage; especially among a community centered around such a liberal college. Of course, I was aware that Harlem wasn’t more than 10 blocks and a couple of avenues over, but even then, that didn’t guarantee me a nice home-cooked meal; and walking that distance in the bitter cold was not an amusing thought. Being from the South, I was accustomed to having easy access to black-owned restaurants serving food from black culture, but apparently, the access wasn’t so easy in Morningside Heights.
It was not long before some upperclassmen introduced me to Amy Ruth’s, a black-owned restaurant founded by Carl Redding, a former employed chef who decided to open his own restaurant when he found it apparent that getting high-end chef position was not fair game for a black chef.
Amy Ruth’s was only quick walk across Morningside Park or a $5 cab ride at worst. So when I got in, my friends took note of how I was grinning from ear to ear. When I sat down, I was immediately greeted by the most amiable of waiters. They were not dressed in some fancy uniforms, but they looked nice; they looked like me. My particular waiter on that night was very easygoing and really wanted my friends and me to enjoy our first time at Amy Ruth’s. After getting our drink orders, someone immediately returned with a couple baskets of cornbread. The cornbread was just as if my Grandmother had made it; moist and firm, yet it crumbled at the touch of my tongue. I am more of a ravenous eater, but after my first bite of that Amy Ruth’s cornbread, I decided that I was going to savor every last bite I had in that establishment.
The drinks were something you cannot get at any other restaurant. Growing up in low-income communities, I certainly had my share of kool-aid. You could even say I was something of a connoisseur. So you can only imagine my delight when I saw that Amy Ruth’s menu had an array of kool-aid flavors, including a flavor of the day for every day of the week. My friends and I jumped on this opportunity, and when the kool-aid returned we were very excited considering most of us had probably not had kool-aid in some time.
The time we spent waiting for our food, although short, was quite entertaining. Many of us were full off the unlimited refills of their delectable cornbread. That mixed with sugar-aided kool-aid combined to fill up our stomachs with relative ease. We talked and enjoyed ourselves in the mist of what was a very comfortable set-up, filled with sociable people from Harlem’s black community. There were plenty of young people, old people, singles, couples, families, and churchgoers enjoying their food and the atmosphere, for what seemed to be almost like a tradition for most of them. There were several birthday parties, celebrations and a special event up stairs during our visit. All of this made Amy Ruth’s an extremely fun place to be.
When our food arrived, the collection of Southern-style goodies was amazing. Even though it was 7 o’clock, our table was filled with an array of breakfast dishes, including chicken & waffles, waffles with fried shrimp and waffles with fried catfish. Us dinner-goers enjoyed entrees like lump meat, short ribs, salmon croquettes, smothered pork chops, and braised chitlins. The sides included string beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, collard greens, cabbage, candied yams, okra and plenty more.
All and all, my first time at Amy Ruth’s was one that has inspired me to continue making the trek up to Harlem, 2 years after I moved way south of Columbia and almost 6 years since the first time I dined in this wonderful black-owned establishment.
Popularity: 2%
Come work off some of that Thanksgiving weight with a little partying and dancing this weekend!
