Usually, I'd have a picture of my food. I'm a phone eats first kind of girl. But I was also hungry. Hopefully my descriptions will make up for the lack of visuals.
We went to Whitfields on a late Saturday evening. We wanted sit down soul food and I'd heard positive things from a friend. A table of 5, we started with the sweet chili wings at the suggestion of our server. I've really been into dry rubs lately, but I asked so I went with it. We also ordered four plates of fried catfish with mac and cheese and greens. Yes, all four of us. Then we had an order of dry rub wings with fries. After the food went in, we were pleasantly surprised with two plates of cornbread for the table.
The cornbread was instantly a hit. It had a syrup drizzle and a gentle coating of powdered sugar. The sweetness was a little surprising, but a welcome treat after a very long day. Only one piece was left by the time dinner was over. I'd heard how good the cornbread was, and that is indeed the case.
What I really liked about the wings was the hard fry. Some places seem almost afraid to put a little crust on the wingettes, when that crunch factor is what we're looking for. The sweet chili sauce on them was nice, and having that crunch added a pleasant texture. I also snagged a dry rub wing. The seasoning on that wasn't super strong, but I think the house breading on the wings does enough that that isn't necessarily a complaint.
The catfish entrees were plentiful. We all left Whitfield's with to go bags (as is proper for a soul food restaurant!). The fry on the fish was hard, but not to the point of dryness. Let me emphasize here that I love a crunch. And this delivered. The greens were good. I don't believe I tasted pork, which I'm sure is an effort to be inclusive to all, so I won't knock them for that. Not salty and most importantly, not sweet. I don't know why people (noticeably) sugar their greens, but that's not an issue here. I'm very critical of mac and cheese, so bear that in mind. I won't offer a rating of theirs vs mine. But I will say that it was baked, it was cheesy, and it was seasoned. I would eat it again. And that's pretty much the metric when it comes to mac outside of your own home, right?
We'll be back to Whitfield's for sure. Our server was attentive without hovering. The chef came out to greet us and invite us to some of their weekday events. That was a really nice gesture and he seemed very sincere. I'm glad to have them in the neighborhood and hope they're successful. (If anyone from Whitfield's is reading this, a Friday fried whiting sandwich situation would be amazing thank you!) read more