By Patricia Summerfield
November 18, 2009
Taste of the South is a restaurant that specializes in home-style Southern cooking. It is located on the East side of Green Bay. They just recently opened and have not yet added their own style to the restaurant. The glass case in front was empty except for a few pieces of desserts wrapped up with plastic on some plates. The walls have a few black metal coffee cups displayed and I noticed on the upper chalkboard in the front above the glass case were special bagel sale prices written from the previous owners. There is plenty of seating with a few black tables and a long counter that faces very large picture windows that overlook Main Street. The lighting is neon bright with loud jazz playing in the background. Their menu is displayed in large print on the back chalkboard wall. They did have a cute painting of a woman chef which one of their customers gave them. They had it placed on top of a back counter.
Sarai is the owner and main cook for the restaurant and everything is made from scratch on the premises. She comes from Chicago but her recipes stem from her parents who are from Mississippi. I decided to try a few side dishes so I could sample more of a variety. The dinners are $10.00 and the sides cost $2.25 each. I ordered collard greens, Jambalaya, ribs, catfish, salmon croquettes, and corn bread. It was brought out to my table by Sarai with extra napkins and silverware. The corn bread is one of her specialties and is made with a good portion of butter and a mixture of brown and white sugar; it was very tasty with a dense texture. The collard greens had a nice light flavor with just a hint of the smoked turkey which the greens are boiled down with. 
The Jambalaya also had a nice flavor, and the rice had cooked pieces of chicken, sausage, celery, and green peppers; it had a mild spicy flavor. The catfish was fried with seasoning on the outside; it was not greasy and the fish was tender. The sauce on the ribs had a sweet flavor but I would have liked to have had more sauce on the meat. My salmon croquettes were made with fresh salmon with pieces of celery, onion, and green peppers fried in a thick batter. It was appealing but I would have preferred it if the celery, onion, and green pepper was minced instead of chopped. Taste of the South serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they are alcohol free.
