Mama Joan's Soul Food (San Pedro)
Known simply as "food" in cafes/diners across the South, it's a rare species out here. So I was thrilled to find this place along that dismal stretch of Gaffey south of the 110 Fwy. on/off-ramp. I had short ribs last week, served with a choice of two sides (had yams and greens). Comes with two small corn muffins (no hush puppies, unf.) for around $10. Also had 'real' sweet tea. All the standards are on offer, fried chicken, oxtail, meatloaf. This isn't a place to order a salad, and (of course), it's not bbq though they had it on the menu. I'm not sure I've had as good a "Southern" meal in L.A. before, and I hope this place lasts. Also, if it matters, the place was super clean, with a very friendly staff. Unlike at a few BBQ joints, I definitely didn't get that "what are you doing here?" vibe. They've been open around 2 years. Go and enjoy.
(Sorry if there's an existing thread - couldn't find one)
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We just came from eating at Mama Joan's. We live close by, so it's not really about whether it's worth the drive or not. We ordered short ribs smothered in gravy, fried chicken, and pork chops again smothered in gravy. Gravy is their strong suit, you pretty much cannot go wrong with anything smothered. For side dishes, we got mashed potatoes (it was OMG delicious), red beans and rice (again, I don't like red beans too much but this was so awesome) and collard greens. I'd say, if you are eating just fried chicken, go to Porky's (get muggies) but if you love gravy...... one of the best gravy place. Again I completely regret not saving space for their famous peach cobbler.
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re: NerdyEater
Good shit, ain't it?
I actually ate waaay too much this past weekend. Had Porky's BBQ on Saturday and Mama Joan's on Sunday...to compare the 2.
If you want BBQ in Pedro, Porky's is where to go. I also think Porky's has the better collard greens over Mama Joan's. But if you want some good southern soul, Mama's is the place.
I got the smothered fried chicken with candied yams, collard greens, and cornbread dressing, with banana pudding (excellent BTW) for dessert. $16.45 out the door (cornbread muffins also given). Even after eating everything, I still wanted to keep tasting that thick rich gravy flavor from Mama's, but I was soooo full!
Sinfully good....the kind that'll make you hate yourself in the morning. LOL
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I really do like this place. I hit it up every couple of weeks as it's in my neighborhood.
Their smothered fried chicken and porkchops are ridiculously good. Their sides could use a little work, but they're still good, comforting, and homey.Everytime I call in an order, I get "Ok honey, I'm throwing your chicken into the fryer now, so be here in 20-25 minutes."
Very gracious service.
EDIT: Man, now I'm thinking of smothered fried chicken for dinner tonite!
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TonyC
May 30, 2012 10:00 AM
How's this place compared to say... Soul Food Kitchen or Carolyn's?
Thanks for the reporting!
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re: Jase
Servorg
May 31, 2012 10:31 AM
Jase, it's funny how one post/mention of a place (as with the find/recommendation by "can't talk" here for Mama Jone's - which is now high on my SP list) leads to another. While looking at your recommendation over on the "Y" site I noticed a place that served food from Belize and then found Pleasure Palate's review here on CH: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/814598 which sort of came and went way too quickly to be noticed. In any case this is all serendipity (I trust) and no one, least of all "can't talk" feels like their thread was hijacked as Mama Jone's deserves her time here.
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re: TonyC
Yeah, sorry about the hijack.
Bummer about Cheers. I hit them once, liked them and was going to revist to flesh out my thoughts but got distracted. I was doing a bunch of explorations in South Central. That's when I ran into Randolph's originally. After a meal at Carolyn's.
I need to pick that back up again and do some writeups. Cheers was solid and I liked their fried chicken, thought it was better than Carolyn's. Liked their homemade desserts.
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re: TonyC
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