Takeout Tuesday: Angelea’s Soul Food Kitchen in Brooklyn Park
By definition, food is something you consume to provide your body with energy. But sometimes, food can also be a source of comfort.
“Everybody loves soul food,” said Dwayne Rogers, owner of Angelea’s Soul Food Kitchen. “It’s different. It’s different from all the food that’s around here.”
The Brooklyn Park restaurant specializes in favorites such as jerk chicken, mac and cheese, turkey legs, and fried fish, just to name a few.
“When I got online and I saw the pictures and saw the menu I said, ‘oh my goodness, this is what we need, a soul food restaurant,'” said Kianna Baker, a customer from Brooklyn Park. “We don’t have one.”
Rogers and his sister opened this soul food restaurant this past January in honor of their mother, Angelea, who died in 2017 but had dreams of owning a restaurant.
Fried fish, cornbread, mac & cheese, and yams await customers at Angelea’s Soul Food Kitchen.
“We just named it after her because it’s supposed to have been hers,” Rogers said. “So Angelea’s Soul Food. That’s what we came up with.”
Rogers not only uses his mother’s name, but her old family recipes to satisfy the cravings of everyone who stops in.
“We grew up eating this food,” he said. “From our grandmother, our mother, other relatives that cooked soul food.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on the restaurant industry, but Rogers says that hasn’t been the case here. Since opening at the start of the year, the community has been supportive.
“People still wanted to eat,” he said. “Just like y’all still gotta eat. I gotta eat. We still gotta eat. What we gonna do, not eat? You gotta eat.”
It helps that they serve big portions of food that people can easily bring home to enjoy.
“With the COVID situation it’s just like, I’m thankful. We’re blessed that we’re still going,” Rogers said.
The restaurant’s growing customer base shares the sentiment.
“You can’t find it often out here,” said Baker, the customer from Brooklyn Park. “So when I saw it, I was like, today’s a good day.”
