Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet ... We Are Going Back!!

Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet on 38th ST in MPLS

Well, well, well.   We've driven back and forth 38th St. in Minneapolis numerous times over the last year in search of the food that you can't find in the 'burbs.   We've grown fond of the Standish, we keep missing our chances at Victor's, we tried Funky Grits--not as good as we expected, dined at Blackbird a couple of times--mostly good but not always consistent.     But tonight it was time for BBQ.

Our Benchmark for BBQ / Soul Food

John's all time favorite place for BBQ was a cement block building somewhere in rural South Carolina (I was working at a 2 bed hospital in Tennessee and this was a side trip on they way)...with no name, just a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood that was spray painted 'BBQ Thursday - Saturday'.  And for once in our lives, it was actually Thursday!    A big cement block building filled with picnic tables in long rows...and there, in the wall (that divided the 'dining room' from the kitchen) were beautiful stainless steel 'troughs' of delicious Southern favorites.   Eat your fill of collards, black-eyed peas, all kinds of BBQ meats, corned bread, mashed potatoes and gravy....I could go on and on (and we did while we were there), grab a sweet tea and a place at the tables.   When you can eat no more, you find the person taking your money and you pay the $5 per person.   John has never recovered....he's dreams of a cement block building fairly often.

 Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet:  Non-descript exterior and wonderful interior

Tonight, it's the relatively new Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet at 38th and Bloomington.   A really non-descript building (it used to be a corner store and a hardware store we think), there's a banner with the Mama Sheila's name.  No permanent sign.  Okay, let's go for it.

Whoooooaaaaaaa......the interior is not anything that you expected when you walked in.   Pay at the counter (you can get take out for $7.95 a pound) and specify your beverage....not unlike the typical Asian buffet.   But then you step into one of the gold-clad seating areas and start to take in the glitz.   Gold and mirrors and chandeliers, and rows of photos of famous Black entertainers along the ceiling; grab a booth - photos of Maya Angelou or Mae Jemison.   Classic old ceiling...but clad with gold; an aquarium with a fish mural....    I felt like I was stepping back in time to the age of glamour and glitz.

Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet:  How it works

The buffet has its own room, and it's not serve yourself.   The food is safely tucked behind glass windows to keep all those grubby hands off the serving spoons and out of the food bins.   I like this already. 

For the most part, there are tags naming each of the items (there were 2 or 3 missing...a good excuse to go back for a second plate tonight).   Mac & cheese with tons of cheese on top,  collards, red beans & rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, black-eyed peas, yams, cabbage and potatoes, meatloaf, spaghetti, BBQ chicken, smothered chicken, jerk chicken....plus, you can ask for ox tails or catfish (we're saving that for our next visit).

My, my, my......why haven't we heard about this place?   We've driven by 3-4 times, but always spotted it on the way back from somewhere (as we passed it saying 'hey, what's that place?').

Oh, My! Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet Delivers

If you want to try some Southern home cooking, this will fill the bill.   Good collards (although John tells me mine are better-- one of our Southern customers at Marianne's used to tell me mine were just like back home--I took that as a big compliment as a MN girl), oh so wonderful BBQ chicken--light, slightly sweet BBQ sauce on falling off the bone tender chicken, yams candied to sweetness but holding their texture, a most interesting smothered chicken - we couldn't get the cook to reveal even a single ingredient in the recipe, SPICY! jerk chicken with

great flavor (interestingly, the jerk chicken was next to the old fashioned sweet yams on John's plate---if you had a bite of chicken that happened to touch the yams, it was the most perfect combo of heat and sweet ever), and many, many more choices.  I liked the red beans and rice (although the Treme version I used to make at Marianne's were waaayyy good---a recipe from a little old Southern paperback cookbook about 10 pages long), but John didn't care for them as much.   I didn't try the mashed potatoes and gravy, the spaghetti, or the cornbread....just too much for one sitting.

But I did go back for a second small plate to find out what the items were that were missing the labels tonight.   Cabbage and potatoes---really well prepared with the potatoes holding their shape and texture (no small feat on a steam table line), the black-eyed peas that were creamy and tender, meatloaf--meaty and not greasy--lightly spiced....and I still passed on a few more items.  John and I shared this little plate and tried our best to make it through.

We talked to one customer in line....he comes for dinner once a week.  We had a fun conversation about our preference for this style of 'buffet'...agreeing that sometimes we can't stand the common serving spoons.  The buffet server was very good at matching my 'size' instructions--when I said a little bit of this and a medium amount of that, she was right-on.

If you could possibly make room for dessert, tonight they had strawberry cake, sweet potato pie, a third cake that now escapes my memory...but was topped with a pinky topping...maybe on chocolate.   I resisted temptation.

Conclusion:  Everyone should experience Mama Sheila's Soul Food Buffet

Everyone should experience Sheila's soul food buffet.   Transforming an old corner store into a mirrored and gold-leafed and chandeliered 'room', with classic music videos playing--not too loud--many 'smooth' classic singing groups in matching suits.   Spotlessly clean, with comfortable booths and tables with nicely padded chairs--this truly was an experience.   The owner, a smartly dressed older gentleman, was pleasant and cheerfully answered our questions.   One of the servers told us that they have been open just about a year and enthusiastically asked us to spread the word about them.

We're more than happy to oblige.   This is Southern style home cooking, served by friendly staff, in a throw-back style room bursting with personality.   The buffet is about $16.95 per person....we didn't really look at the bill for Mpls extra taxes, etc.  The drink was included.   The dessert might be, too...but who had room (on this trip at least).

Show 'em some love...and have a great experience! 

Details:
Date of Visit:  5/6/2019
Location:        Google Maps