The recently opened SOUTH kitchen and jazz bar, 600 N. Broad St., is injecting a healthy dose of southern charm into our northern metropolis.
Considering a few other well-known local chefs and restaurants are doing the same, that is quite the undertaking. But SOUTH is distinguishing itself from the pack with its expansive space, inviting décor and live jazz music to make diners feel at home.
SOUTH does an admirable job of keeping the menu traditionally southern but at the same time peppering it with some interesting twists. The staff is especially friendly and knowledgeable about every nuance of the menu as well. SOUTH also has a cocktail menu loaded with whiskey and row after row of shelves packed with jars of their house-cured and house-made pickles, jams and hot sauces.
You absolutely, positively have to try the pimento cheese ($10). The spicy, creamy spread is served up with SOUTH’s excellent pocket bread and had a home-style (read: thick and unpretentious) consistency, like someone in your family (who knows what they are doing) made it that very day. The chicken and smoked-ham gumbo ($13) is also the real deal, hearty with smoky, authentic flavor.
Other small plates at SOUTH really won us over. The blue crab toast ($13) was bright and creamy with avocado and perfect rounds of toast. The crispy rock shrimp ($14) was probably the best fried-shrimp appetizer we’ve had the pleasure of sampling in the city: The shrimp were uncommonly plump, juicy and spicy with an excellent crust and a lovely tomato relish.
The entrees at SOUTH don’t stray too far from southern tradition — and they don’t have to.
The Carolina shrimp ($28), served with lobster grits of course, was a buttery comfort dish. The grilled kingfish ($28) was perfectly cooked and rounded out nicely with beans, beets, peppers and a crawfish fricassee. But the side dishes were the real treasure, especially the crispy potato dumplings ($6), which were impossibly light and crispy. You have to try the hush puppies ($6) with cream-cheese honey butter.
Dessert lives up to southern expectations. The bourbon pecan pie ($8) was generous with the bourbon in the best way possible: just enough to be pleasantly excessive but still complimenting the seductive sweetness of the pie.
If SOUTH stays true to its roots, it should be quite a feast for Philly’s eyes and ears, as well as its appetite.