I drove past Sweet Georgia Brown on East Flamingo several times before I discovered it was the latest incarnation of the terrific soul-food joint, H & H Barbecue. Then one day, I noticed an H & H trailer in the parking lot, and bingo, the dawn broke.
H & H, you might recall, perished in a fire a little less than two years ago and its fans were crushed. They needn't be anymore. If anything, this new restaurant is even better than the original, thanks to a lush décor and top-notch cooking.
Once home to a swank Italian restaurant called Manhattan, this has to be the plushest of the plush in the soul-food genre, a category generally not known for its ambience. When you smell the catfish and black-eyed peas, SGB's over-the-top décor might make you think of the old South. To me, it summons up Northern New Jersey, as if Tony Soprano had taken on an inner-city partner.
The sunken main dining room is surrounded by a mezzanine level furnished with richly upholstered booths and a brace of windows latticed with white wood. Doric columns, a red carpet and a floral centerpiece add grandeur, while a trio of ornate chandeliers with teardrop light fixtures adds that crowning touch of elegance.
So when corn bread arrives instead of caviar, there is a momentary disconnect, as your glob of honey butter is spread onto the corn bread's golden, steamy interior. Next comes a round of drinks, not fine wine, but sweet peach tea or fresh-squeezed lemonade in a tall, sugar-rimmed glass.
The menu reads like an Edna Lewis cookbook, a list of Southern cooking's greatest hits. One of the best ways to start a meal here is by sharing a dish of barbecued shrimp, around 10 shrimp sitting in a dish bubbling with a spicy red sauce fairly brimming with pieces of finely minced fresh garlic. Another appetizer option is the red beans, smoked sausage and rice, although I'm not sure I understand a cuisine that considers this an appetizer.
Entrées come fried, smothered or barbecued—you'll start the diet tomorrow. Most of the fried dishes sport a light, crunchy breading, and whoever is in the kitchen understands the frying concept better than is reasonable to expect.
Fried catfish comes battered in cornmeal, long skinny pieces bursting with steam when broken, the flesh white and sweet. Fried chicken is dredged in flour and flaxen colored, a moist, juicy version with a little more pepper than your mouth expects. There is also fried red snapper when available, and fried pork chops—probably not a good idea if you want a life expectancy of more than your average Third World cobra handler. But they are good.
Me, I like the smothered stuff. Heading the list is the towering smothered turkey wings, which when I ordered it, was one bionic wing. Call in advance to see if it is on the menu, because it is, day to day, the biggest turkey wing you've ever seen: braised, drenched in a tasty brown gravy rich with pan juices and fork tender, and served over a bed of rice. When I started eating it, my resolve just melted. I ate it all, far too much for a normal person.
I'm also big on the oxtails, the smothered chicken, and the liver and onions with bacon, a dish you hardly can find anywhere nowadays. From the barbecued entrées, try ribs, the zesty hot links, or the nicely burnished chicken. I didn't try beef brisket, but when the restaurant was H & H, I remember it being on the tough side.
Entrées come with a choice of two sides, and you can hardly go wrong. I love both the collard greens and the mustard greens, and you'll need some low-cal chlorophyll to cut all the richness of the main courses, anyway. Ranch-style beans are a bit too sweet for my taste, while the steak fries are a delight, made from fresh, not frozen, potatoes. Better is red beans and rice, or best of all, green beans, in a proper butter sauce.
When it comes time for dessert, you can hardly miss. Pineapple-coconut cake is yellow layer cake with a thick frosting that resembles the coconut pecan frosting on German chocolate cake, when they have it (with pineapple standing in for the pecans). We got lucky one night and were served hot peach cobbler right out of the oven, and creamy banana pudding, laced with 'Nilla Wafers, just off the stove. Occasionally, there will be lemon Bundt cake, 7-Up cake, and when you're very, very good, sweet potato pie.
If you want to scope the place out, come for lunch, when the restaurant features one of the city's best buffets, a lavish affair of rib tips, fried chicken and catfish, barbecued chicken, four or five side dishes, corn muffins and dessert. That Georgia Brown, she sure is sweet, alright.