We were on the way to a meeting in Brooklyn’s Red Hook when we decided to have a late lunch at Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen on the border where Carroll Gardens meets Red Hook. The Nashville, Tennessee–style hot fried chicken was so good but what was even more of a treat was entering the restaurant and nearly bumping into Carla Hall of ABC’s The Chew!
Pat and Carla looked at each other, and raised their hands to compare their heights. #WeTallGals! What followed was a hug of instant six–foot sisterhood and no words spoken yet!
Pat complimented her on her good posture. Carla said that her mother used to press a thumb down her spine to encourage her to stand straight. “When I got to college, some of the girls thought I was snooty, but I was just walking the way my mother taught me,” Carla said. Pat told her about how she was teased as a teen for being very tall and slender, but she gained confidence through chorus and sports, showing them all when she participated in two Junior Olympics games and received a college athletic scholarship. Carla says she loves being tall, and she loves her graying hair as well.
Asked how she got into food and catering, Carla said it wasn’t a lifelong plan. She earned a degree in Accounting from Howard University in Washington, DC, the town she calls home even though she spends so much time in New York. But after starting her career, her interests wandered. She spent time in France and London and discovered the love of cooking.
Europe is where Pat and Carla may have actually met before! Pat was a cosmetics representative on three continents and in between assignments she found herself in Europe, too. Both spent time as models there and did shows for the late great Patrick Kelly. Patrick Kelly (see photo with Pat in Paris) was one of the first major African–American fashion designers, known for imaginatively placing decorative buttons on his creations. His studio was always full of friends and Black models — like Pat Cleveland, Mounia and Alva Chinn — and there was always someone cooking for the crowd at his place. Pat and Carla didn’t determine if they worked in the same show, but they had a long talk about the famous Patrick Kelly buttons that were gifted to them by Kelly. A tall gal from Nashville and a tall gal from Miami may have previously crossed paths in France. It is definitely a small world.
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| Buttons gifted to Pat by Kelly… | Pat in Paris in front of Kelly’s famous sign |
The Chew sets itself apart from cooking shows by doing segments on food for the skin, inside and out. When told about how Pat’s SkinSmarts program uses ingredients from the kitchen in teaching children and adults how to make beauty remedies, Carla finished the sentence. “Like Daphne!”, she said, referring to her co–host Daphne Oz. Another thing in common! Pat began teaching her SkinSmarts program at least ten years before the show’s debut.
It was great that Carla took the time to swap stories. She is so open and enthusiastic in person. Her restaurant is so new at this point in writing; it’s important to be receptive.
Carla opened her restaurant in late Spring 2016. Many of us had been watching the space for months, mouths watering, as it was renovated. It opened in an area that is trendy but has no food from the southern US at all. Needless to say, her restaurant is always busy when anyone goes by.
A small, informal homey place with a few tables and high–stool seating inside, the restaurant also has a few al fresco tables, which is a relief for those who want to eat at the restaurant but all the indoor seating is taken. (Another option is to get it to–go and take it to the nearby waterfront). Order and pay at the counter, find a seat, and food is brought to you. Very casual and easy. Pictures of Carla’s family are on the walls, along with her cookbooks on shelves for sale. That’s all very nice, but we were there for the chicken!
Carla’s Nashville hot chicken begins with pieces being soaked in a pickle juice brine and then follows the traditional southern way of flour–dredging the pieces and dropping them into the frying pan. This is not a thick, heavily crumb–coated egg–batter fried chicken. Next comes a choice of oil–based sauce coatings of various heat levels with Carla’s signature witty descriptions: from the mild “Hoot & Honey” to the “Hoot”, to the “Hootie Hot”, to the “Hoot–n–Nannie” and finally to Level 6: “Boomshakalaka”. (There’s also “Southern” Level 1, which means it’s just simply southern fried chicken.) The chicken is dipped in the hot sauce of choice, topped with pickle slices and placed on a thick slice of white bread to absorb those good drippings. It can be bought by the piece ($2.50 – $5.50) or in a platter with two sides ($13.25 – $15.50).
From @CarlaHallSK Instagram
If you order your chicken at Boomshakalaka heat Level 6 (bless your heart), they’ll ring a bell and shout “Boomshakalaka!” so that everyone can stop and watch you eat… the delicious mac and cheese and the fluffy biscuits will probably not help calm your mouth at that level. Try sipping some of the “Pot Likker” from the collard greens side dish (at least the deep complexity of the greens’ juices will take your mind off of Boomshakalaka), or have a little of the restaurant’s own cold Sweet Tea Soda. Or take a swig from a bottle of Hibiscus–Lemon Soda from Pure Sodaworks; it’s the only place outside of Tennessee that this soda brand can be found.
It’s great to know that Carla Hall is more involved than in–name–only. When she’s in New York and not taping The Chew episodes, she works at her restaurant, fetching supplies from storage and interacting with the employees and patrons. She listens to feedback and was quick to apologize about the Nana Pudding with Vanilla Shortbread not setting correctly. The banana pudding, while mostly thick liquid, was still tasty, but Carla was on to something when she–herself suggested that she should make milkshakes out of it. The section of the bread pudding that Pat received was over–salted, but despite the glitches in dessert, it should not deter people from being repeat customers for the chicken and sides.
And when Carla Hall is not there, the chicken becomes the focus. That “Hootie Hot” flavor was addictive. Yum.
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