Chef Dave Thomas first came to cooking while working for an independent record company. “We brought this rapper by the name of Chubb Rock to Baltimore,” he recalls, “and part of his contract said he needed certain [foods]. I told them that I’d see if Tonya—who was my girlfriend at the time, and working as a caterer—could handle it. And she said that she could.”

Thomas was impressed by how much creativity went into Tonya’s cooking, and he was hooked. He went on to work for a caterer and eventually opened Herb & Soul, a restaurant in Parkville, in 2012. It was then that he became fascinated by soul food cuisine and, as the great grandson of a slave, the stories that it could tell.

In 2017, Dave and Tonya opened Ida B’s Table, the modern soul food spot where they worked until this spring. Now, they’ve moved beyond Ida B’s to juggle a number of new projects, from a cookbook proposal to a catering venture. We caught up with the husband-and-wife duo to talk about what’s next.

Last time we spoke, you shared that you were heading down South to do some filming with your good friend, writer and culinary historian Michael Twitty. How was your trip?
Dave Thomas: We just got back from Whitestone, Virginia. Michael is down there doing some content creation. He had a photographer and videographer and asked us to help with the cooking. We were on this property called Enon Hall, which is a former plantation right off the banks of the Rappahannock. Originally it was 600 acres, but they sold that off a long time ago. Now the family members, descendants of the original owners, own about seven acres. They refurbished the house and redid the slave kitchen that’s still existing on the property. We were cooking out of that kitchen—it was very rewarding.

What did you cook?
DT: We cooked for two days. We made beaten biscuits and yeast rolls, chicken and oysters—we steamed some crabs to make a Chesapeake gumbo. We made peanut stew, beef stew, and Carolina gold rice. We made waffles with an 18th-century waffle iron. We cooked on an open hearth. It was really like our ancestors cooked. We used pots that had been on the property and reacquired through estate and yard sales to bring back to the property.

“Most people don’t understand that Maryland is the South. It’s not the Deep South, but it is the South and there were a lot of enslaved people that came to this part of the country. There’s a lot of rich history here. I want to tap into that.” —Dave Thomas

That must have been incredibly moving.
DT: It was emotional. I got a chance to walk the grounds. I could feel the presence of my ancestors. We got there early and didn’t leave until after the sun had gone down. I felt more comfortable once it got dark. I just felt more of a calm at night than there was during the day, maybe it was the spirit of our ancestors giving us their blessing that we were recognizing the work and struggle that they had gone through. It was also interesting to be right on the banks of the Rappahannock River, which flows into the Chesapeake. There’s oysters and crabs and porgies—all of that stuff runs out of those waters. It was just amazing to be in touch with the agriculture of Maryland, Virginia, and the Chesapeake, and to be in touch with our ancestors all at the same time.

Last time we spoke, you mentioned that there was a cookbook in the works. Can you tell me more about that?
DT: We are just in the process. I signed with my literary agency, [New York-based] David Black, once I got back from a trip to Africa. Shortly after that, I signed a working agreement with my co-author, Osayi Endolyn, who is an incredible writer and has won a James Beard Award. We are developing the proposal right now. I’m focusing on soul food and how it pertains to the mid-Atlantic and Maryland. Maryland is right below the Mason-Dixon line, but most people don’t understand that Maryland is the South. It’s not the Deep South, but it is the South and there were a lot of enslaved people that came to this part of the country. There’s a lot of rich history here. I want to tap into that and make people aware of that, and create some recipes around that.

“Beaten biscuits are a Maryland thing. Maryland has its own fried chicken. Terrapin soup started here. Of course, there’s crab soup and oysters became more prevalent as a dish that would be presented on the table for those they cooked for.” —Tonya Thomas

What are some of those recipes that are distinctly from Maryland?
Tonya Thomas: Beaten biscuits are a Maryland thing. Maryland has its own fried chicken. Terrapin soup started here. Of course, there’s crab soup and oysters became more prevalent as a dish that would be presented on the table for those they cooked for. They were familiar with these foods and they knew what to do with them.

Why did the two of you decide to start a conversation series on Instagram Live?
DT: We have just met so many people in the industry, and certainly Ida B’s and Herb & Soul were catalysts for that. We wanted other people to hear their voices. We are not in this struggle alone in terms of reclaiming this narrative about our history and doing it through food. There are a lot of people around the country who are trying to talk about the struggle. We just wanted to have a place where we could bring those people in, have conversations with them, and have other people hear their stories. It’s really grown. We’ve gotten people like Michael Twitty and Howard Conyers, who is rocket scientist and a pitmaster. This week, we are talking about Black farmers.

With your winnings from Chopped in 2018, you recently traveled to Senegal and the Gambia with your family. What did you learn by going there?

DT: The biggest thing we learned is that the African people are more than resilient. They create these communities that work together. Every day we got up and were driving to a village or going to meet a chief at one of the villages. We went to Kunta Kinteh Island. We went to the National African Museum of Senegal. While we were there, we went to these outdoor markets. Once you get there, you see how well everyone works together. You find out how much this country has broken the spirit of Africa. It’s almost like we’ve been turned against each other and we are more concerned about what we have than who we have it with. That was really powerful to learn. We went to these villages and each one had a welcoming ceremony for us. There was one where we sat down with elders on this carpet and the main elder said, “Welcome home. We have been waiting for you.” And that just tore me up. These people have a sense of community. They work together and love each other and sacrifice for each other.

TT: A lot of us in this country have a big misconception of what Africa is like, until you get there. And not only that, but we had a misconception that they dislike African Americans—like, “You’re not from here.” That’s how we were told and what we were made to feel like, but it’s not the case. We were just family.

Are you thinking about opening another restaurant?
DT: I’m always thinking about my next restaurant. This is just one component of what we are doing. My business partners and I have started a company called Heirloom Food Group. The food group will have several different focuses. One is a high-end catering facility on Sinclair Lane in Northeast Baltimore. The second is a fast-casual concept. And the third is some type of catering tapas bar and restaurant. We’re also thinking about land. My partners and I have bought 10 acres of land and we are going to be growing on that land for all of our different properties and entities.

TT: Right now, the thing is learning how to pivot. We have these different concepts, but it will depend on how things are moving forward. We’re just trying to figure out what the dining experience is going to look like.

“The enslaved cooked what they had. They had no supermarkets to go to, so if you weren’t growing, catching, foraging, or hunting it, you weren’t eating it. I want people to know that we are far more than collard greens and fried chicken—that’s my purpose in life.” —Dave Thomas

Why do restaurants matter?
DT: Just from an employment aspect, restaurants employ a large swatch of the population in this country. For the Black and brown communities, they are one of the largest employers of our people, so they’re important for that aspect alone. On top of that you have restaurants that are really telling stories. You need people to be able to speak about who they are and bring their culture to the forefront—there’s no better way to do that than through food.

Would you go into hospitality again given the challenges?

DT: This is who we are. I love the business. I love and hate it at the same time. I love it because it gives me a way to express myself and it gives me a forum to speak about the things that are important to me. I hate it because it is a business and a business requires you to be focused on numbers. I’ve told everyone that Ida B’s was a social experiment as much as it was a business. What I was trying to do—and I really didn’t get my hands deep enough into it—is to show that soul food is not just fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.

Soul food is not a monolithic cuisine, much like it’s not a monolithic race of people who created it. Soul food is an extension of Southern food. Southern food is an extension of barbecue, creole, and Cajun. All of these things were created by the hands of the enslaved. The enslaved cooked what they had. They had no supermarkets to go to, so if you weren’t growing, catching, foraging, or hunting it, you weren’t eating it. I want people to know that we are far more than collard greens and fried chicken—that’s my purpose in life. There’s a lot more to this cuisine than those items that are stereotyped and put in the front. That’s the one thing that I regret about Ida B’s. I was not able to stretch out as much as I wanted to.

RegionAle: Hearty sandwiches are enough to win us over. But pairing a classic Nashville hot chicken or Wisconsin grilled cheese with local beer, wine, and pre-mixed cocktails from a wall of self-serve taps? Now we’re really all in. This aptly named cafe has been charming Ellicott City diners with its all-American sandwiches and regional beers ever since it opened in 2016. But next month, Baltimore diners won’t have to travel west to get their fill. RegionAle will debut its second location—complete with what is projected to be the city’s largest self-pour beverage wall—in the American Can Building in Canton on Tuesday, February 18. Swing by to get your hands on geographically-inspired eats—including a New York-style Italian hero, pressed Florida cubano, Oregon tuna steak, and, of course, a Maryland crab cake—while downing the DIY beverages.

The Manor Restaurant & Ultralounge: Next week, the famed Mt. Vernon mansion that formerly housed The Brass Elephant—and its most recent iteration, The Elephant—will once again come back to life as a restaurant. But this time around, the concept will also be part-dance lounge. Robert Gay and Josh Persing, the duo who previously operated GAY Lounge just down North Charles Street, are set to officially unveil The Manor Restuarant & Ultralounge on Friday, February 7. Executed by former Baltimore Country Club chef Parker Greene, the menu will offer oven-fired pizzas, chicken sandwiches, and more fine-tuned dishes such as smoked duck with preserved cherries. Veteran bartender Melissa Ray will spearhead the beverage program with a focus on snack-and-cocktail pairings, and the lounge will feature live DJ entertainment on weekends and frequent drag performances throughout the week.

OPEN

&pizza: North Baltimore diners no longer need to venture to Federal Hill to chow down on the more-than-a-foot-long personal pies at this Washington, D.C.-based chain—which appointed Erik Bruner-Yang of Maketto fame as its executive chef last summer. The artsy pizza brand launched its second Baltimore shop on St. Paul Street in Charles Village this week. Decorated with stark red and white walls, the hangout near the Johns Hopkins University campus tops its dough with everything from pepperoni and ricotta to mushrooms and fig balsamic. During the grand opening celebration on February 4, &pizza will offer $5 pies to all customers, as well as free pizza for a year for the first 37 people through the door in celebration of the brand’s 37th shop.

NEWS

True Chesapeake Oyster Co. Launches Brunch: Now that this newbie inside Hampden’s historic Whitehall Mill has had a few months to find its footing, the team is ready to roll out brunch service. Starting on February 9 and continuing every Sunday from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., executive chef Zack Mills and his team will churn out mid-morning meals including fried chicken and French toast drizzled in bourbon maple syrup, a crab cake benedict with roasted squash, buttermilk biscuits with ham gravy, and, of course, spicy baked oysters sourced from the True Chesapeake farm in Southern Maryland. No brunch is complete without boozy beverages, and—in addition to the requisite mimosas and Bloody Marys—the bar team will be pouring drinks from their brand new winter cocktail menu. Highlights include the vodka and vermouth-infused “Saint Jerome,” (a nod to the St. Mary’s County creek where the farm resides) and the non-alcoholic “Jicaro” made with housemade horchata and allspice.

David Thomas Crowned Chopped Champion Again: A familiar face graced our screens earlier this week when Ida B’s Table chef/owner David Thomas competed on Chopped Champions. The soul food specialist won a match of Food Network’s famed cooking show in 2018, and took home the top prize yet again on an episode that aired Tuesday. His most recent win advanced him to the Grand Champions competition, which will air on Tuesday, February 18. “This journey is extremely humbling, and it’s not over yet,” reads an Instagram post from Thomas, who will be screening the finale at the restaurant for diners looking for a place to tune in. “Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey and who continues to support me every day.”

SHUT

Bar Louie: Three of five Maryland locations were victims of Bar Louie’s bankruptcy claims that made headlines earlier this week. The cocktail bar known for its happy hour specials and gastropub fare closed sites in Owings Mills, Wheaton, and Rockville—three of 38 underperforming locations that the were closed across the country. Luckily, the bars in Hunt Valley and White Marsh are still going strong, and the chain is hoping to emerge from bankruptcy within 90 days.

Uncle Wiggly’s Deli & Ice Cream: Towson natives are reeling from the loss of this York Road staple, which has closed its doors. For nearly 20 years, Uncle Wiggly’s has been a go-to for nostalgic desserts, overstuffed sandwiches (like the fan-favorite “Ravenette” that layered turkey with bacon and roasted red peppers), and catching up with friends and neighbors over drippy ice cream cones. A notice posted to the front door of the shop indicates that it was evicted last month. Uncle Wiggly’s closure marks the end of an era for the shopping center on the 6900 block of York Road, which also said goodbye to neighboring consignment shop The Lily Pad last weekend.

Chef Dave Thomas, owner of the modern soul food spot Ida B’s Table in downtown Baltimore wowed judges Ted Allen, Martha Stewart, et al for a Thanksgiving-themed episode of Chopped on The Food Network, while chef Johntay Bedingfield of Pikesville’s La Food Marketa bested the competition for a recent tailgate-inspired episode.

Both chefs took home $10,000 in prize money and plan to travel with their winnings—Thomas and his wife, Ida B’s co-owner Tonya, are hoping to taste test their way through Africa this fall; chef Bedingfield is making plans to take his soon-to-be-wife, Alexa Pancza, on a honeymoon to Italy in May.

The wins were well deserved, as both “cheftestants” trained in their own way for the competition. “I did two training sessions here in my restaurant,” says Thomas, whose dishes included mac-and-cheese with fried turkey liver, deep-fried turkey breast with kouign-amann pastry and spoonbread stuffing, and spoonbread hand pie with port and cranberry reduction.

Thomas invited Ekiben’s Steve Chu (who himself recently won $16,000 on the Food Network’s Guy Grocery Games) to two “training sessions” at Ida B’s. “We did a head-to-head to get ready,” says Thomas. “We brought in some local judges and did a whole competition. For me, the cooking wasn’t the problem, it was the clock. I was more concerned about time constraints than not knowing the ingredients. But practicing certainly helped.”

Thomas also heeded to the advice of Tonya. “She said to me, ‘When you go up there, don’t be anyone other than yourself.’ Often, what seals the fate of some of the chefs who go on is that they try to go above and beyond to impress the judges—and they lose their souls while they are doing it.” Inspired by his grandmother’s soul-food cooking, Thomas kept it real by invoking his ancestry. “I found my calling in southern food,” he told the judges. “You take that first bite and you can taste the history. My grandmother had a 13-acre farm. I grew up watching her cook. I’m chasing her recipes to this day.”

Chef Bedingfield took a different tact. Instead of cooking on the clock, he prepped for the competition by watching episodes of the show. “The night before I went to New York for the competition, I binge-watched a few episodes to see if there was anything that the chefs were doing wrong,” says Bedingfield. “I knew to stay away from the ice-cream machine, for instance—that’s one thing I caught on to right away. Things go really well or really horribly at the ice-cream machine.”

Bedingfield’s father, a fan of the show, also warned him about kumquats—ironically, an ingredient that ended up in his dessert basket. “When I told my father that I was going to New York to be on Chopped, he said, ‘Watch out for the kumquats.’”

Each of three courses presented different challenges for the chefs. “The first round was the most intimidating,” says Bedingfield, whose dishes included potato chip nachos, a red cabbage taco, and soft pretzels stuffed with mascarpone cheesecake. “As soon as I opened the basket, I saw pickled avocado, cheesecake, nachos, and wagyu beef and I assumed that the wagyu was a whole piece of steak, but instead it was ground beef. I wasn’t anticipating having to render it down and the time on that round is only 20 minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes on the second and third rounds—I wasn’t trying to win the first round, I was just trying to get on four ingredients on the plate and not be last.”

The dessert course was particularly taxing for Thomas. “I was struggling with this puff pastry,” says Thomas. “When I went to remove it from the paper, it just stuck. It was warm, but it should have been refrigerated.”

For both cooks, their star turns on the show have left them with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.

“Being on the show made me unafraid to take risks,” says Thomas. “If you’re able to cook on the fly with a bunch of ingredients that you didn’t see before you started cooking, and you’re able to cook a dish with these great chefs from around the country tasting your food and judging you while you’re on national TV, it feels like there’s no risk you can’t take.”

Bedingfield, similarly, says that the experience was a major confidence booster. “I’ve always been fairly confident anyway,” he says. “But it has been heightened. To compete and have a stint on The Food Network, which I’ve watched as a kid, was just so cool.”

Even before you bite into your octopus po’ boy slider or a take of sip of the rummy Promised Land, you get a good sense of the story Ida B’s Table is trying to tell. There’s the hostess who oozes Southern hospitality as she greets you at the door, an indoor wrought iron “fence” that evokes the porches of the Deep South, and Baltimore artist Ernest Shaw’s portrait of the restaurant’s titular heroine and triple threat—newspaperwoman/suffragist/co-founder of the NAACP Ida B. Wells—presiding over the place. Next to her portrait is an inscription that reads: “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” 

While shining a light on soul food, Ida B’s is also redefining the genre. Owner/chef David Thomas (formerly of Parkville’s Herb & Soul) and his wife, Tonya, offer up a new, modern take on a complicated cuisine, whose origins go back to slavery, when heavy seasoning and spices helped extract the flavor from the scraps and rations slaves received. 

Chef Thomas, whose Greensboro-born grandmother, Anna Poole Thomas, was the daughter of a slave, grew up watching her toil in the kitchen as she ground her own salt, spices, and cornmeal. In many ways, this spot is built on the memories of his grandmother’s soulful cooking. 

Have a conversation with the chef and you’re likely to get a history lesson. He will tell you that the term “soul food” is most commonly used when describing the foods from the Deep South and was coined in the ’60s, when “soul” was commonly used to define anything affiliated with Black-American culture. And while his restaurant is on a mission, Thomas’ goal is to provide a narrative that doesn’t, in his words, “hit people over the head.” 

Melding the traditions of Africa, Europe, and the Americas, soul food is one of the original fusion cuisines, but Thomas takes it a step further with his own interpretations. 

Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch, the menus—compact, but wide-ranging—cleverly carry through a newspaper theme not only to honor Ida “B” Bell Wells-Barnett, but as a nod to the partnership between the Thomases and The Real News Network (with which it shares a building). On the dinner menu, appetizers are “Leads,” entrees are “Features,” sides are “Sidebars,” and desserts are “Final Edits.” (Sure, it could be hokey, but it makes the menu a fun read.)

Over several visits, I was most impressed with the intensity of flavor in each and every dish—Thomas does his grandmother proud. In the Leads section of the menu, we enjoyed the clever take on Buffalo wings—crispy curry wings with sweet and spicy curry glaze. Another hit was the Herb and Soul Rolls (pulled jerk chicken paired with Liberian greens, candied yams, and house-made barbecue sauce tucked inside a deep-fried spring roll wrap). Within minutes, the plate was completely clean.

We also enjoyed the inventive so-called Southern sushi, a concoction of rice, blackened chicken, and pickled vegetables rolled in a collard exterior and perfect for the non-red meat eater at the table. In the Features section, the fried chicken, dredged in flour, Old Bay, and garlic powder, was exactly what we’d hoped for—velvety on the inside and crackly on the outside. The dish (offering excellent value at $12 for two pieces) arrived with Tonya’s buttery house-made buttermilk biscuit and a choice of sides. Our server suggested we pair it with the mac and cheese with penne and aged cheddar and the Liberian greens (spiced collards), and she did not steer us wrong.

THE COCKTAILS
Technically they’re not a “dish,” but don’t skip the well-crafted (and cleverly named) cocktails by Chelsea Gregoire including The Seventh Son with gin, lemon, lavender, and berries.

Seafood offerings included a beautifully plated piece of local blue catfish that is served on a bed of stewed tomatoes and nicely offset by a rich cheddar faro risotto. The seared scallop special—five fat pieces of shellfish bathed in brown butter and burrowed into a bed of red quinoa—was also fantastically fresh and flavorful.

A visit at lunchtime revealed other gifts from the kitchen. Among them, a Southern spun kale Caesar salad dotted with cornbread croutons and heads-on blackened shrimp. The ultimate fusion dish was the Southern Seoul Reuben. Thick slices of pastrami were piled between two slices of marble rye and slathered with mustard aioli, then topped with crunchy collard kimchi.  It was a playful soul-food-meets-Korea-meets-Jewish-deli take on the classic Reuben.  

If you want to end on a sweet note, keep in mind that Tonya turns out all of the house-made desserts, so it’s best to save the diet for another day. The coffee-cake bread pudding drizzled with crème Anglaise and topped with sorghum whipped cream was possibly the most delectable dessert we’ve eaten all year. 

Adding to the exceptional experience, service was impeccable without feeling intrusive. On our lunch visit, we particularly enjoyed meeting Dave and Tonya’s server son, Brendan. Despite the lunchtime rush, he remained attentive, informed, and effortlessly amiable. Above all, the restaurant succeeds in its mission to serve as a much-needed gathering spot. Somewhere out there, Ida B. is smiling. 

IDA B’S TABLE 235 Holliday St., 410-844-0444. HOURS Sun. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tues.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; 4-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; 4-10 p.m. PRICES Appetizers/salads: $5-10; entrees: $12-32; desserts: $2-9. AMBIANCE Artsy industrial.