Soul Flavors

[MCA™]

In the kitchen: Soul Flavors in Jersey City warm, welcoming like dinner at a friend's
Published: Friday, July 13, 2012, 3:03 AM
Celeste Little/The Jersey Journal

The art, awards and candles that decorate the cantaloupe-colored walls and wooden shelves in Soul Flavors restaurant make it feel like dinner at a friend’s a friend who is an award-winning chef and impeccable decorator.

The owner and head chef at the cozy Grove Street restaurant, Wayne B. Lyons, 52, of the Food Network’s “Chopped” fame, could easily be that friend and he’s in the kitchen cooking every night the eatery is open.

Background: Lyons grew up in Queens, NY and was raised by a mother who he calls wonderful, but not a good cook. So, when he was about 8-years-old, he began experimenting with food.

Lyons studied cook books and would try to replicate meals that he ate. His first dish was crepe suzettes for his third grade class’ international food fair. Cooking remained a hobby until the then-architect decided to make a career change. He’d won a battle with drugs and was rebuilding his life.

Lyons got in touch with a friend who had always loved his cooking and with the friend’s help, started as a sous chef at a NY Marriott. By the time he left, he had worked his way up to executive chef. Lyons went on to work at several other restaurants and then started Melange Caterers.

One of Lyons’ more notable recent accomplishments is winning season seven of Food Network show, “Chopped.”

Environment: Warm, welcoming, family-oriented those words best describe the chef and the atmosphere at Soul Flavors, a restaurant that much like its title, and it’s owner, is soul food with a twist.

Lyons wanted to open a restaurant where customers would be able to bring their children and could eat delicious, unpretentious but also untraditional soul food.

“It’s family-oriented. It’s not uptight. People can come in shorts and sandals,” said Lyons.

Clientele: After winning “Chopped,” Lyons’ outreach grew considerably. The restaurant has seen diners from Japan and Australia who connected with Lyons on Facebook in addition to his Jersey City area fans.

Philosophy: Lyons creates each of the dishes on the menu and works with a small team of people to execute them. All of the sauces and main dishes at the restaurant are made by Lyons or his partner, Shawn Santana.

Food: “It’s food that warms the soul. It’s not fancy,” said Lyons. One of his favorite dishes is vegetable gumbo topped with puff pastry. He also serves a grilled, smoked pork rib with scotch-spiked barbecue sauce that he considers a favorite.

Biggest Kitchen Nightmare: Lyons once catered an event with a team of cooks he was supervising. He said one of those cooks put a sheet of bacon into the oven without a rack and the bacon grease dripped down into the oven and started a fire.

There was no fire suppression equipment in the kitchen, so the fire department had to be called and the event was called off.

“No, we did not get paid for that event,” said Lyons, laughing.

Tips for Cooks: “Cook books are a great vehicle. Find a good, basic cookbook. I like Betty Crocker,” said Lyons. “I was a voracious reader. I was still using it when I was catering,” said Lyons.

[Quabiz]

http:\\soulflavors.quabiz.com

Owner and Head Chef of Melange Caterers, Wayne B. Lyons has always dreamed of owning his own restaurant.

He has been running the extraordinary Melange Caterers now for over 18 years, catering to the corporate, celebrity and private sector producing his wonderful menus for a wide variety of events and occasions.

As from Spring 2007, his restaurant located at 354 Grove St. Jersey City, NJ will be open where Wayne and his Sous-Chef Shawn look foward to welcoming you and personally preparing dishes for your enjoyment that will astound your palate.

[grovester]

My favorite soul/southern food is Chicken Fried Steak.  Not gourmet, I know, but I love it.  You can buy a box of a dozen or so at Sam's Club.  My boyfriend cooked up  those with biscuits and gravy last night... delicious.  I wish I had brought leftovers for lunch today.  Probably cost a fraction of Soul Flavors. 

[VV]

I've been twice (for brunch and dinner).  Personally, I was indifferent (wasn't disappointed nor pleased).  What I did find obnoxious was the a la carte aspect and side fees.  My friend bought a bottle of wine and we were charged 5.00 corkage fee (and it was a screw cap no less) and a bread basket at brunch was like an additional $4.00.  You want to entice customers, not alienate them.  For upscale Caribbean food, try Tillmans or Bamboo in the City (first one is open, not sure as to the second).

[skwirrlking]

went by on Friday night and it was closed. the sign read on vacation until 1/21.


hhhmmmm?

[skwirrlking]

Ate at Soul Flavors on Saturday night and was pleasantly surprised, albeit on low expectations given previous comments.

Service was attentive and prompt. Braised ribs, cuban chicken and mac&cheese were all good. although, was not a big fan of their fried chicken style. seems like they have definitely lowered prices and BYOB always helps subsidize the check. will definitely give it another shot.

[MCA™]

Still haven't eaten here, but I was perusing the menu in their window.  Have they tweaked their dinner offerings? It seemed different somehow but I can't put my finger on it - lower prices? more detail in the descriptions? Any insight is appreciated.

[bdlaw]

Apparently now serving brunch, according to the 867,124,023 leaflets they plastered my stoop with the other day.

[jc_insomniac]

Forget Soul Flavor! The next time you crave soul food, just head over to Soul Fixins in the city! Better yet, PM me, and Imma go witchu!

Fried chicken, mashed potaters, and corn


Stewed oxtail, sweet potaters, mac & cheese and a side of corn bread

Regardless of whether or not food costs constitute a large portion of the blah blah bah...

Missing the real issue here. The fact that the restaurant is not very good, and that the food is a bad value.

I went here for the first time last Friday. I had been a bit put off by the reviews I read, but I figure I'll give everything a try, at least once, and I am willing to pay good money for soul food, if it is good. Granted, at home in Tennessee its super good and super cheap, but this ain't Tennessee, and you Yankees don't know any better. Apparently, the owners of Soul Flavor are counting on that.

Problems:

#1- this is not actually a soul food restaurant.

It is a caribbean restaurant with fried chicken. "mango" is not an element of soul food cooking, nor is ox tail. I like both these things, but they aren't soul food.

#2- The food comes without anything extra.

Not even rice, food costs nothwithstanding, which would be an extra $0.17. Since I paid $18 for the entree alone, I think they could throw me a bone.

#3- The food is cooked with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Oxtail in port wine sauce. Oxtail that had essentially been boiled to death, and then had a crapload of salty ass sauce ladled over it. Like they tried to do bourguignon, but f-ed it up.

#4 The Mac and Cheese is awful.

Truly awful. The fact that it came in a dixie cup sized saucer was actually a blessing, despite the fact that it costs $6, because it was AWFUL. This immediately disqualifies this as a soul food restaurant. Who ever heard of soul food with bad mac and cheese? WTF?


#5 The staff are incompetent, and they don't care.

The place was half full, and we ordered two dishes off the regular menu. Ox tail and blackened catfish. I've blackened fish myself, it take a max of ten minutes. Instead, with only three other tables occupied, it took us 50 minutes to get our food.

During that 50 minutes, would you like to know how many times the waiter visited our table? You would htink it would be hard to avoid a customer in a restaurant that is 15"x20", with only three tables occupied, but it took me over 45 minutes to get a glass of water.

When the food arrived, the guy said "sorry about the delay, a big order came in just before yours." When we arrived, there where about 6 people in the restaurant. What sort of big order would that be?



Conclusion: Another bunch of folks who think you have to show up and be disinterested to run a succesful restaurant. At least comfort Bistro had good food.

Still, they will probabyl survive, because their admin skills exceed Comfort Bistro, and they have no competition. What a shame.

[justiceiro]

Regardless of whether or not food costs constitute a large portion of the blah blah bah...

Missing the real issue here. The fact that the restaurant is not very good, and that the food is a bad value.

I went here for the first time last Friday. I had been a bit put off by the reviews I read, but I figure I'll give everything a try, at least once, and I am willing to pay good money for soul food, if it is good. Granted, at home in Tennessee its super good and super cheap, but this ain't Tennessee, and you Yankees don't know any better. Apparently, the owners of Soul Flavor are counting on that.

Problems:

#1- this is not actually a soul food restaurant.

It is a caribbean restaurant with fried chicken. "mango" is not an element of soul food cooking, nor is ox tail. I like both these things, but they aren't soul food.

#2- The food comes without anything extra.

Not even rice, food costs nothwithstanding, which would be an extra $0.17. Since I paid $18 for the entree alone, I think they could throw me a bone.

#3- The food is cooked with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Oxtail in port wine sauce. Oxtail that had essentially been boiled to death, and then had a crapload of salty ass sauce ladled over it. Like they tried to do bourguignon, but f-ed it up.

#4 The Mac and Cheese is awful.

Truly awful. The fact that it came in a dixie cup sized saucer was actually a blessing, despite the fact that it costs $6, because it was AWFUL. This immediately disqualifies this as a soul food restaurant. Who ever heard of soul food with bad mac and cheese? WTF?


#5 The staff are incompetent, and they don't care.

The place was half full, and we ordered two dishes off the regular menu. Ox tail and blackened catfish. I've blackened fish myself, it take a max of ten minutes. Instead, with only three other tables occupied, it took us 50 minutes to get our food.

During that 50 minutes, would you like to know how many times the waiter visited our table? You would htink it would be hard to avoid a customer in a restaurant that is 15"x20", with only three tables occupied, but it took me over 45 minutes to get a glass of water.

When the food arrived, the guy said "sorry about the delay, a big order came in just before yours." When we arrived, there where about 6 people in the restaurant. What sort of big order would that be?



Conclusion: Another bunch of folks who think you have to show up and be disinterested to run a succesful restaurant. At least comfort Bistro had good food.

Still, they will probabyl survive, because their admin skills exceed Comfort Bistro, and they have no competition. What a shame.

[missa]

our alleged #1 fancy pants place m&p does and edward's steak house, and madame claude (i am talking JC fancy pants, not NYC fancy pants)...


on their websites and here http://www.menupix.com/jerseycity/

[elgoodo]

they also have a website http://www.soulflavors.com/

note that there are no prices listed.
i find this amusing because even "fancy-pants" restaurants have their prices listed on their websites and online menu services.....

In my experience, at least some fancy-pants places don't.  But obviously I would not consider Soul Flavors to be a fancy-pants place, even if the prices suggest otherwise.

Anyways one thing is certain: they *clearly* took public relations lessons from NYCRobert.

[missa]

they also have a website http://www.soulflavors.com/

note that there are no prices listed.
i find this amusing because even "fancy-pants" restaurants have their prices listed on their websites and online menu services.....

[MCA™]

Soul Flavors
354 Grove St.
Jersey City, NJ 07302
(201) 217-3004

From the website: Soul food like you've never tasted before.

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