There’s a Bible propped open against the bulletproof take-out window at Turner’s Family Soul Food in Auburn Gresham, where customers waiting for their smothered pork chops or meat loaf can study the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . .”
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From the outside, Turner’s doesn’t look much different from the innumerable ramshackle independent fast-food joints and soul kitchens all over the south side. The menu is hand painted next to the door, and the sign above the awning says the place is called Johnson’s. Beyond the stark waiting area it’s a little more cheerful: a sliding-glass door leads to the low-ceilinged, fluorescent-lit dining room with a TV and a video jukebox that plays everything from gospel to Guns n’ Roses. Still, it’s no preparation for the heaping, luxurious plates that appear through a window from the kitchen.
Substantial dishes such as these, comforting as they are, tend to vary little from one place to the next, but Johnson’s cooking is something special. She says she does it with “love,” and works “by the spirit,” and if you’re not a believer, her chicken and dumplings—soft stewed meat and fat, toothy noodles—will set you straight. Fine-dining chefs everywhere have rediscovered the wonders of beef short ribs, but hers—dinosaur-size and falling off the bone in a simple, spicy gravy—are fundamentally righteous. (When you’re done reading, you can watch Johnson in action on The Food Chain blog at chicagoreader.com.)
But Johnson says she’s no pushover. “I ain’t gonna feed them every day,” she says. “I have to feel that they’re hungry. I know when somebody’s using me because I’m in the godly way.”
For more on food and drink, see our blog The Food Chain at chicagoreader.com.
8233 S. Ashland, 773-488-5700
