Soul Food

For the purist, the thought of "healthy" soul food is the culinary equivalent of Aretha Franklin singing "Muskrat Love" or James Brown waltzing. The two just don't fit together. Let's face it. The soul food that for generations has been so good to us, is not exactly good for us. In these health-, heart- and cholesterol-conscious times, we've been bombarded with so much negative rap on the cardio-vascular consequences of partaking of favorites like pork ribs, fried chicken, ham hocks, neck bones, black-eyed peas, collard greens, corn bread and - sigh - sweet potato pie, that we could almost give them up. After all, folks yammering incessantly about high blood pressure and heart disease can really take all the pleasure out of a hearty mound of grits smothered in onion gravy.

Don't pass on Soul Food, a tender and tasty family comedy set in Chicago. Equally important, don't make the mistake of seeing this heartwarming and cholesterol-elevating film on an empty stomach. Sure, George Tillman Jr.'s movie - a hugely accomplished urban fairy tale with an all-star cast including Vanessa L. Williams and Vivica A. Fox - nourishes the spirit. But the bountiful pans across supper tables groaning with greens, brimming with baked ham, steaming of cornbread and crackling with catfish aggravate hunger pangs, while the story feeds spiritual appetites.

CHICAGO - Duct tape covers a large crack in the premier booth at Hard Time Josephine's Cooking, where waitresses call you "sweetie" and customers come for the steaming shrimp bisque and homemade peach cobbler that leaves a hint of cinnamon on the tongue. Not long ago, such an eyesore at one of Chicago's top soul-food restaurants would have been unthinkable. Despite the name, times were good: Chicago was a bustling center of black America, and people in the neighborhoods savored Southern-style cooking.

Don't go to see "Soul Food" hungry. If you do, after seeing all the catfish, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas and peach cobbler lovingly photographed on the big screen, you'll probably have to leave abruptly and run to the nearest soul-food restaurant. And you'd miss a feel-good film that does something very rare - shows African-American characters with heart and compassion going about their everyday lives. "Soul Food" is an unabashedly sentimental family drama that will leave your stomach growling and require some tissues for the tears you'll shed.

Randall Cunningham - author, co-host of his own television show, commercial pitchman - says he wants to get into the restaurant business next. The Eagles quarterback, who is out with a broken leg, said he is interested in starting a soul food restaurant, "like the Hard Rock Cafe, but with soul food," in either Philadelphia or Las Vegas. "It would be a good place for people to go down and get homecooked meals," Cunningham said in an interview played last night on WHWH-AM in Princeton.

Soul Food, the longest-running predominantly African American drama on TV, will have its series finale tonight at 10. Now what? "Oh wow. What am I going to do now?" lamented Lydia Peace, 32, a University City filmmaker who has been an avid viewer of the award-winning series since its 2000 debut on Showtime. "Everything was wrapped around Soul Food on Wednesday nights. " Based on the 1997 movie of the same name starring Vivica A. Fox and Mekhi Phifer, Soul Food recounted the ups and downs of the three Joseph sisters in Chicago.

During February, which is Black History Month, soul food gets a lot of attention. But some folks pass up traditional African American cooking, thinking it's automatically high in fat and calories: greasy fried chicken, collard greens laced with fatback, and dense, rich desserts. But there's a new generation of at-home cooks and professional chefs who whip up tasty, low-fat versions of such beloved foods. They take what Grandma made and improve on it, using different fats (replacing lard or shortening, for example, with olive oil or canola oil)

The video business wakes up from its holiday hangover this week, with a great batch of new movies on video. Topping the list is a funny and sad tale of two college friends. Career Girls 1/2 (1997) (Fox) 95 minutes. Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman. Director Mike Leigh's wistful, minor-key rumination about friendship and the passing of years, as two college roommates from the mid-'80s (the terrific Steadman and Cartlidge) meet six years later for a weekend of reminiscing and reflection.

SOUL FOOD carries a certain connotation of deep fryers, heavy cream, lard and tastiness at the expense of arterial clogging. It doesn't have to be that way. Vegan food also carries a certain connotation - of tasteless but sensible cuisine dependent on faux tofu meats and processed fake cheeses. That's not always the case, either. Chef and self-proclaimed food activist Bryant Terry wants to set the record straight: Soul food can be fresh and even healthy; vegan cooking can have soul.

It is hard to miss Deborah's Kitchen on the faded 2600 block of Girard Avenue, its awning aglow like a lantern in the dark, the door wide open, a clutch of men hanging by the counter waiting for their fried chicken and turkey chops, for chopped collard greens and Sunday picnic potato salad, and - with a quiet, easy patience born of waiting for cooked-to-order soul food - for the bread pudding, pink-stained strawberry cake, or tub of banana pudding to...

The chicken fryers are cold and the signs are dark at Delilah's, the signature soul-food stands at Reading Terminal Market since 1984 and at 30th Street Station since 1993. The stands are closed, apparently as a result of a bankruptcy case in New Jersey, where founder Delilah Winder lives and bases her business. Winder did not return messages left at her office and on her cell phone Tuesday. Her attorneys indicate in court filings that her rents had been paid through March.

Menu: Major home-cooked meals with a Caribbean kick. (Miss out on Denise's jerk chicken, and you'll be the jerk.) Look for: A hot-pink-on-white truck parked on 30th Street between Market and Chestnut. Open: Daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Phone? Website? Nope. Owner: Haiti native Denise Severe, since 1996. What to order: A small platter (most are $7) comes with two sides and is big enough for two meals. (A large costs $2 more)

What does family dinner look like at your house? The Cosby Show or Leave It to Beaver but with texting teens? A scene from Modern Family ? Or The Simpsons , but with better food? The ritual of gathering for a meal may look a bit like any of these. Or not. That's the beauty of family dinner: It may bring together a mom, dad, preteen, and toddler - or a trio of fresh-out-of-college roommates for pizza, or a quartet of friends for a potluck - sharing different stories and different foods.

CHICAGO - Duct tape covers a large crack in the premier booth at Hard Time Josephine's Cooking, where waitresses call you "sweetie" and customers come for the steaming shrimp bisque and homemade peach cobbler that leaves a hint of cinnamon on the tongue. Not long ago, such an eyesore at one of Chicago's top soul-food restaurants would have been unthinkable. Despite the name, times were good: Chicago was a bustling center of black America, and people in the neighborhoods savored Southern-style cooking.

Vera Lee Amerson brought her love of Southern soul food from her roots in Georgia and enjoyed serving it to her clients in a nursing home and fellow workers. As an employee of the Children and Adult Disability and Educational Services (CADES), she took care of three men at the Norwinden Home. And they were lucky enough to savor her soul food. "Vera enjoyed caring for and spending quality time with her clients," her family said. "She looked forward to preparing a spread at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

GIVEN Atlantic City's rich African-American history and culture, the city should be a destination for Southern-style comfort cuisine. Among those surprised to find that that wasn't the case was Carl Redding, who late last year opened Redding's Restaurant on the northwest corner of Pacific and Kentucky avenues. "What I saw was an opportunity to open up my style of restaurant," explained Redding. "There were no other restaurants [in Atlantic City] that do what I do - comfort cuisine, soul food.

FRIED CHICKEN, collard greens, barbecued ribs, macaroni and cheese . . . these are just a few of the down-home dishes associated with the African-American table. While Philadelphia isn't as famous for its soul-food restaurant scene as cities like Memphis, Tenn., Detroit and Kansas City, the roots of this vibrant culinary heritage run deep in a city that is home to some 44 percent African-American residents. A tradition that continues to thrive on Sunday supper tables all around Philadelphia, soul food is also served at stylish restaurants and small take-out joints around town.

If comfort food is on your radar - and with the Eagles out of the Super Bowl and recent weather events, who isn't looking for comfort - consider Roxborough's Sole II Soul. The highlight is Sunday's all-you-can-eat soul food menu for $19.99, which could go a long way to comfort. The name may be a Google goof, but it also reflects the menu that manager Fauq Ghaffar said emphasizes fish and soul food. It's also a nod to principal owner Mark Knox's former 4th Street restaurant, Piece of Sole.

IT'S THE TIME for resolutions, and no doubt eating healthier and sticking to a budget top many lists. Chef Ken's Caf? on Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy might help you take baby steps in the right direction. Soul food is often considered a nutritional minefield, and while Chef Ken's cuisine is anything but austere, it does make healthier substitutions to lower saturated fat while offering a value priced meal. Owner and executive chef Ken Roberts says, "It's not what you cook, but how you cook it. " His menu includes standard dishes such as BBQ chicken, collard greens and fried whiting, however, he eschews animal fats in cooking and substitutes canola or olive oil. He cooks all of his vegetables without meat or animal fat so that they are appropriate for vegetarians and also eliminates all pork from the dishes in order to avoid any dietary restrictions.