She may be known as the ''Queen of Soul Food,'' but Sylvia Woods was the princess of woe when she first faced a stove. She was eight when her mother showed her how to cook rice, then left her in charge of a pot while she ran some errands.Her Mama returned to find the rice burned. What's worse, Sylvia fibbed about what had happened. She wanted to play with a cousin, so she left the rice on high and boiled it too quickly. ''My mother whipped me,'' she recalls, ''not because I burned the rice, but because I lied.'' The moral? Always be honest - especially in the kitchen.
SYLVIA'S -- This 35-year-old Harlem soul-food institution, crowned "The Queen of Soul Food" by New York Magazine, serves dishes of traditional Southern cuisine and is New York's most acclaimed African-American dining establishment. What started as a dream and a one-room diner has grown into a multi-million dollar food-and-dining enterprise, owned and operated by Sylvia and Herbert Woods. The Harlem landmark has become a world-famous soul food haven to which food lovers, celebrities and politicians flock for the outstanding chicken and ribs, greens and beans -- and a bit of Southern hospitality. Sylvia's head chef, her daughter, Bedalia Woods, honed her craft under the watchful eye of her mother and acquired the same flair for Southern cuisine that Sylvia made famous years earlier. ''Going to Sylvia's in Harlem is like eating at your grandmother's.'' says Tim Patridge.
Sylvia's makes a full line of soul food items available in local stores, and we now offer them to you.
