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There’s a new restaurant in the Dallas neighborhood of Joppa, and it smells like home.
Nana B’s Soul Food Kitchen has dishes that may make you think of your mom or grandmother.
You won’t find a menu on a website, nor will you see one on a permanent display on a wall, written on a chalk board or displayed on screens. You find out what they’re serving when you ask. Maybe it’s a fried pork chop, maybe it’s turkey tetrazzini or pigs feet.
Call ahead — on our recent visit, we ordered in person and waited more than 20 minutes — as meals are cooked-to-order. There’s no indoor seating, and there doesn’t appear to be room even if we weren’t in a pandemic, but there’s room to space out generously if you’re waiting for your food. The hardest part about that is smelling all the food cooking while you wait.
On our visit, there was Salisbury steak, turkey tetrazzini, fried pork chops and fried chicken. The chicken offered was wings. The batter was perfectly seasoned, and the meat juicy.
The fried pork chop was something else, something more people should offer if they could do it as well as Nana B’s. The seasoning is rather perfect: You’ll wonder why you get two thick, fried pork chops in an order, then realize it’s because they’re so good, you’ll want to keep eating.
A friend says if there are liver and onions on the menu, get them.
Sides also vary, but they’re the likes of greens, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and corn. The macaroni and cheese is creamy even after a 20-minute drive home and peppery, and the corn is sweet and bright.
Going in to this space, you’ll be greeted by a friendly face behind a clear divider. We’re told business is going well, which comes as no surprise.
Not only is this excellent comfort food, but it’s in a part of town that absolutely needs more restaurants for residents of Joppa, which sits about five miles southeast downtown Dallas, close to the Trinity River.
It’s beautiful to see a locally owned and operated restaurant fulfilling a need by providing such great meals.
While waiting for our order, a customer asked if there would be peach cobbler Sunday. Yes, there would be, along with meatballs with spinach-cream sauce and turkey legs, stuffed however you want them.
Nana B's Soul Food Kitchen, 4705 Yancy St. (Joppa). 214-238-0300. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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