Soufside is sitting in, thank the heavens above, cause I am so whupped from work. Now that I have obtained a “Blanket Release For All Soufside Maunderings” (BRFASM) I can post his words and, aaaaah, rest.

We are on a pork jag.

Back to sandwiches. There used to be another place (other than Crown Candy Kitchen in St Louis) near here. They are not related, just had the
same name.

A lot of the Crown’s Candy posters talk about how bad of a neighborhood it is in, well Crown’s Southern Kitchen was much worse. The Crown’s Candy (CC) area was/is mostly junkies and abandoned buildings, Park’s Drug was famous for filling any and all prescriptions (at about triple the going rate.) Have a ‘scrip with “Take 2 Aspirins and call me in the morning” written on it? Well just cross that out and write “lots of morphine” on it (crayon is OK) and they would fill it. Eventually got them closed down, sent to prison, etc…

Anyway, Crown’s Southern Kitchen (CSK) was located on Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue. Chris Rock has a routine about “if you are on a street named after a Black hero, you are in trouble” this was very true about Crown’s. It was also located across the street from a police station, you would think that would make it safe. Well they had a pay-phone on the wall, and, back before the evil cell phone takeover of the world, there would be a steady stream of felons, near-felons and folks who had just escaped custody waiting in line to use it.

They had a great juke box though, lots of gospel music, and on Thursday Pig Ear Sandwiches (Listener Sandwiches).Pig Ears on Wonder Bread with Yellow Mustard – that’s living!! (Well not really – kinda chewy.) There was always a long line for them on Thursday. They made them assembly line style. Lay out some bread, slap some mustard on it, then come by with a big tray of listeners, sometimes there would be 10-15 sandwiches lying there. They look just like pig ears on a piece of bread. Even with all your food skills I don’t think you could make that look appetizing. (Case you don’t know, I’m a food stylist. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having at a pig’s ear.) Something about a sows’ ear into a silk purse…

(This ear is on Niecie’s in Kansas City, Missouri.)

All the side dishes were cooked with pork, you could get more pork in the greens and black-eyed peas than most places give you as the main dish. All the ladies behind the counter were great, on slow days we would put on some Mighty Clouds of Joy and have a gospel sing-along.

Some fools bought the place, re-modeled and expanded, cut the portion
sizes and killed it.