Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. loved the fried catfish and lemon icebox pie
at Memphis's Four Way restaurant. Beloved nonagenarian chef Leah Chase
introduced George W. Bush to baked cheese grits and scolded Barack Obama
for putting Tabasco sauce on her gumbo at New Orleans's Dooky Chase's.
When SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael asked Ben's Chili Bowl owners Ben
and Virginia Ali to keep the restaurant open during the 1968 Washington,
DC, riots, they obliged, feeding police, firefighters, and student
activists as they worked together to quell the violence.
Celebrated former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Dave Hoekstra unearths
these stories and hundreds more as he travels, tastes, and talks his way
through twenty of America's best, liveliest, and most historically
significant soul food restaurants. Following the "soul food corridor"
from the South through northern industrial cities, The People's Place
gives voice to the remarkable chefs, workers, and small business owners
(often women) who provided sustenance and a safe haven for civil rights
pioneers, not to mention presidents and politicians; music, film, and
sports legends; and countless everyday, working-class people.
Featuring lush photos, mouth-watering recipes, and ruminations from
notable regulars such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, jazz legend Ramsey
Lewis, Little Rock Nine member Minnijean Brown, and many others, The
People's Place is an unprecedented celebration of soul food, community,
and oral history.
