Higher Ground still vacant, Sandra’s is gone
Bishop Richard Hall announced a plan in March to convert the Higher Ground Tabernacle into a coffee shop. It now looks like the property is up for auction… We’ve also heard that Sandra’s Home Cooked on 29th Street has moved out.
Is this the same Sandra’s as Sandra’s Soul Food off of Mosby and Fairmount? That location was fairly recently painted and had a large outdoor cookout so it seems to be going strong around the 4th. Has anyone eaten there?
Eric
They need to demolish it and put some homes up on that block.
I wouldn’t mind seeing it stay commercial, the area could use some local business and I’d rather see commercial activity on the more traveled streets than farther in. There’s a lot of residential development going on behind it and next to it but there are too many vacacnt lots nearby that might get used for business.
I would guess that “Sandra’s” is the place next to what should be Church Hill Market.
Right… the one John mentioned that closed is on 29th behind the old Church Hill Market (what is the latest on that anyway???).
Was just wondering if the two different “Sandra’s” businesses are owned by the same person?
Eric
it should be a Lee’s Chicken
I second the Lee’s Chicken. It would make a fortune. Ever been to Lee’s at lunchtime on Broad Street. Its the melting pot of Richmond. Good food is good food.
Eric, Sandra’s Soul Food at Mosby and Fairmont kicks butt! If you haven’t made the trip yet, please do. You have to call the order in and then go pick it up (no seating), but it’s totally worth it. My husband says it’s the best fried porkchop he’s ever had; I am a sucker for their yams!
any vegan stuff on their menu?
Sandra’s on 29 St. left because the property owner would not fix the AC.
“any vegan stuff on their menu?”
Is there anything without meat?
Yes, possibly the meatloaf….
Yeah…you’re not going to see any vegan items on a menu at Sandra’s Southern Soul food…did you expect to? It will however, be the very best fried in lard and sprinkled with bacon fat item you’ve ever had!
Cruelty free? No.
Tasty? Good God, yeah!
If you’re cooking at high temperatures, lard is the safest bet. Healthy oils, such as olive oil, release carcinogens at higher temperatures.
I love a little lard or bacon fat grease in my greens.
Guilty Mom… Though I am white, I did grow up on Soul Food as my grandmother was Mulatto – she born in Georgia, lived in North Carolina and worked in the tobacco fields. My weekends at her house as a child was filled with these memories and the “flavor” is from the fat! Can’t be beat! Health food… NO. Good food… YES!
Eric
Eric, I thought you grew up in a bar? Was it a farm with good cooking or a bar.
Re-read my post. I said my “grandmother” grew up working in the tobacco fields and came from Georgia/North Carolina. I didn’t say she stayed there. She moved to Newport News in 1946 and it was her house there that I stayed as a kid growing up on weekends. My “first” home was above a bar in the 1950s and my mother worked in them up until the 1970s so yes, I essentually grew up in one (in Newport News by the shipyard).
Eric
A love the additional insight into our most lovable curmudgeon on the site.
edg… I wasn’t making an issue of anything so why antagonize me to do so? I was clarifying what Jason said as he was implying something – that I was a liar so I clarified myself.
Eric
I’m sorry. I truly did not mean that as an insult. Please accept my apology.
Apologies accepted. Now… pass the collard greens (with hot sauce) please :-)
I’ll have to stop in to Sandra’s Soul food and check them out.
I have seen the church building before which obviously was built as a a fast food place. Not sure if another Chicken Shack will work but wonder if the resturant fixtures are still there for easy conversion into a food place again?
Eric
I appologize. I missread it. seemed odd based on prior posts. Sorry about that. makes sense now.
Would have been nice if people had been a little kinder to Eric BEFORE they found out that his grandmother was mixed-race, and he grew up on soul food..
hillkid, you crack me up!
The Higher Ground building has an interesting past. Back in the late 70′s, early 80′s it was a KFC restaurant and was always busy. That and the Church’s up Mechanicsville Turnpike had the best fried chicken on the east end.
I can see the building design being a KFC. Unfortunately KFC is not as good as it use to be years ago – at least to me. The last time I ate Churches’ chicken was probably 20 years ago in Norfolk while I was working there. They gave a jalapeño pepper with your order, had great homemade biscuits and fried okra. Not sure what it is like now?
My concern about another chicken place is noting the New York chicken / seafood that changed hands a couple of times close by.
Eric
hillkid,
I don’t think people care about Eric’s race or diet. They care that he is disagreeable, judgmental and tends to voice opinions (repeatedly) that are often in contrast to what many think and feel. Maybe not in this thread, but in general. That’s probably why it’s so easy to jump on the lambaste Eric bandwagon when the chance presents itself. Just my opinion though.
I am told the building occupied by Sandra’s Home Cooking on 29th is actually owned by someone in the Asbury Methodist Church on the corner and it only leases it to businesses owned by members of the church.
Kristin
And you know what they about opinions… they are like assholes – everyone has one.
Eric
Maybe some should stop sharing theirs so frequently.
Chilli peppers from KFC? Maybe that was a local offering in VA Beach because I don’t remember getting them here in Richmond… or maybe I was just entirely too young to recall?
Church’s had the jalapenos.
Church’s chicken was a real treat when I was little– when my family visited my grandparents in the summer (25 years ago) we would often pick up something to take to their house–the corn came on a stick in a little bag…
Subjects in posts #28-31: opinions, a-holes, hot peppers, and corn on a stick…gotta be a joke in there somewhere.