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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.   

“You can’t rush greatness,” is how the owners of Taste This—a postage-stamp-sized soul-food take-out spot on Harford Road—responded recently to an Instagram follower wondering when the eatery’s long-gestating second location in Charles Village was going to open. It’s also the restaurant’s foodie philosophy, as Taste This cooks all its mouth-watering proteins to order, a rarity at to-go operations where convenience is often valued over proper preparation. But since the Charles Village location finally opened in late October, more diners than ever are becoming hip to Taste This’s interpretations of slow-cooked Southern staples.

The menu, created by co-owners Craig Curbean and Dante Davis, offers an array of soul-food dishes, everything from barbecued chicken salad and smothered pork chops to barbecued ribs, wings, and baked potatoes loaded with decadent toppings. Basically, if you can picture it served at a summer picnic, it’s available.

We cut right to the chase and ordered the fried-chicken platter, which featured three fried wings served on a bed of buttery yellow rice along with two sides, all for just $7.95. (Other platter options include salmon, catfish, and spiced shrimp.) The chicken’s crispy golden skin and juicy, tender meat was addictive, so much so that we would have liked more of it! We’d happily pay an extra buck or two if it means the addition of a thigh or breast.

Out of the eight available sides—including collard greens, yams, string beans, potato salad, and garlic mashed potatoes—we opted for the mac and cheese and the more virtuous grilled asparagus. The mac and cheese was a dense hunk of gooey noodles, and the asparagus—slick with olive oil, generously peppered, and sprinkled with Parmesan—was an extravagant way to get in our daily serving of veggies.

On another visit, we tried The Canton ($14.95), a baked potato loaded with crabmeat, shrimp, butter, mac and cheese, cheddar cheese, and Old Bay. The cheesy-meaty-starchy trifecta probably took years off of our life, but it was worth it.

Speaking of over the top, Taste This serves breakfast until noon with options like red velvet pancakes and shrimp and grits, plus a house-made dessert of the month, which can range from peach cobbler to rice pudding. Whatever and whenever you order, it will likely be worth the wait.

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›› Taste This: 4915 Harford Rd., 443-388-8478 and 102 E. 25th St., 443-563-2845. Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Mon. Prices: $1.95-14.95.

Falcons at Ravens, Sunday Oct. 19, 1 p.m., M&T Bank Stadium, Fox

Has Joe Flacco stopped throwing touchdown passes yet? If so, it likely won’t be long until he starts again. Atlanta comes limping into town this week with a 2-4 record and a defense with an aptitude for folding. The Falcons are giving up an average of 277 yards passing per game, fourth worst in the NFL, and they’re surrendering 28.3 points per game, third worst in the league. They’re 0-3 on the road, which makes the Ravens a solid bet even as 7-point favorites.

What to Eat: I spent part of last weekend in suburban Atlanta hanging out with more than one native Georgian. When I asked what special food is associated with “Hotlanta,” their faces looked as dumbfounded as the Buccaneers’ defenders did last week. Soul food seems to be the city’s signature, so for lunch I’m heading to the appropriately named Georgia Soul Food (102 E. 25th St.) for some fried catfish, candied yams, collard greens, and peach cobbler.

But before that, a trip to the venerable
Miss Shirley’s Cafe (513 W. Cold Spring Lane and 750 E. Pratt St.) seems to be in order. Does it get more southern than Dixie cornbread squares, southern fried deviled eggs, chicken ‘n waffles, or the southern fried slammer sandwich, an artery-busting combination of fried green tomato, applewood-smoked bacon, smashed avocado, cheddar cheese and fried egg on pumpernickel?

If you’re staying in, this
Savannah-style crab soup recipe seems like the perfect marriage of Georgia and Maryland. (It even has Old Bay!)

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups clam juice
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1 pound lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
• 1/3 cup dry sherry

Directions:
Place flour in a cast-iron skillet; cook over medium heat 15 minutes or until brown, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add carrot and the next five ingredients (carrot through garlic), and sauté five minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add Old Bay seasoning, salt, black pepper, dried thyme, and bay leaf; cook for one minute. Sprinkle the browned flour over vegetable mixture, and cook one minute, stirring frequently. Stir in clam juice, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until mixture is slightly thick, stirring frequently.

Stir in the milk and half-and-half; cook four minutes. Stir in crabmeat and sherry; cook five minutes or until the soup is thoroughly heated. Discard bay leaf before serving.

What to Drink: Georgia, of course, is known as the Peach State, and folks down south are now using that juicy fruit to make beer. RJ Rockers is a brewery out of Spartanburg, SC, but its Son of a Peach is an unfiltered American wheat ale that’s Georgian at its core. It’s available at Total Wine in Laurel.

I was drawn to this
peach margarita recipe because of the site it’s on, ABeautifulMess.com. That’s often how I feel after drinking a few margaritas.

• 1/2 cup peach puree
• 1 lime
• 1.5 ounces tequila
• 1/5 ounce of triple sec
• 1 tablespoon simple syrup
• Sea salt and a peach slice to garnish

Directions: Skin and puree two white peaches. This should yield enough peach puree. Combine the puree, lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and simple syrup. Stir to combine. Rim your glass by placing the rim in a shallow amount of water and then dipping it into coarse sea salt. Add ice and pour the mixed drink over ice. Garnish with a peach slice.