Walk up window of Soul Food goodness

I have lived in the south two times. And I never had any inclination to get into the whole chicken and waffles thing. The few times I had grits, it left something to be desired and while I had tasty soul food, it was never something I have ever craved. Until that is, I stumbled upon the Little Skillet menu.Little Skillet is a off shoot of Farmer Brown’s Restaurant in SF, which is farm fresh, organic soul food. Little Skillet is farm fresh, organic soul food TO GO. Little Skillet is a window operation down the small side street Ritch in the SOMA area.

Waffles and chicken (as above) are what beckoned me. After picking up that it is a personal favorite of someone, I suggested we check out Little Skillet for a brunch-ish bite on Monday morning. Little Skillet delivered. We ordered a 2 pc chicken+ waffle, biscuit with jam and grits with andouille sausage and cheddar. I expected a large bill with that kind of order, but instead had to stifle a laugh when she said the total was $15. Really $15!!! Nice.

The flavor delivered. The chicken was light and crisp (and topped with Crystal Hot Sauce), perfectly spicy. The waffle with maple syrup was a balanced counter point. The sweet, spicy, crisp, doughy nature of the combo was perfect for me. I only managed to get a few bites away from my cohort. Ok, like one, but it was a perfect bite.

The biscuits were light and buttery, even more buttery when I topped with butter and chunky berry jam. I love chunky jam and butter. Simple pleasures.

The grits nearly caused a riot. I have never ever liked grits. These changed my mind. And when I shared them, the hearty portion came back nearly gone. That is why you never share food with someone who has just run a long ways. Ok, it was a great idea actually so we could try numerous items on the menu. But I was ready with my fork to stab someone in the hand if the andouille started to be gobbled too quick. Needlesstosay, I may be a convert.

I had expected to feel weighed down and stuffed after this meal, but walked away feeling surprisingly light. Sharing helped with that, fresh, quality, flavorful ingredients also helped. It was totally fun to walk up to the window on a quiet side street and nestle down on a sunny bench to share some Southern soul food best I’ve found outside of the South and better than most I found in the South. Check it out! I can’t wait to go back and try a Po’Boy, more waffles and DEFINITELY more biscuits!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks to one of my sponsors, Psoas Massage. They deserve a great deal of thanks from me because they actually physically contribute to my running success through the work that they do. Over the past 8 weeks, I have gone for a weekly sports massage session with one of the co-owners of Psoas Massage, Scott Schwartz. We have working on keeping me running injury free, reducing recovery time and generally increasing the healthy and flexibility of my muscles. I have also seen another of their therapists, Rodney McBride to help me develop a fantastic stretching routine and another, Jason Garcia for Feldenkrais Method and also for massage. It is awesome to have a team of therapists working on me and addressing the every changing needs of my very active body. Working with Scott and the other therapists, I work on both my immediate needs (i.e. massage for recovery and any tweaks) as well as my long term health and improvement. In the weeks I have been seeing Scott for my weekly sports massage sessions, the health of my muscles has increased immensely. I have little soreness after even huge mileage weeks or months (for instance running 440+ miles in October) and being able to race top speed in a 50 miler without any muscle soreness during or after the race.

On Monday when I saw Scott, he said he could line me up with someone who’d run 5k, another who’d run a marathon and me, who’d just run 50 milers and bring in any of the other therapists and have them guess who’d run what and they’d never guess who’s who (unless of course we’d all be massaged by Psoas and then we’d all feel phenomenal).

And if any issue arises, Scott who is the lead on my case, dispatches me to the best therapist in their cadre of therapists to get the problem fixed. Several of the therapists are certified in Active Release (ART) which saved my butt, well actually my foot, at the beginning of the year!

Truly, like my healthy diet and getting good sleep, massage and the work that Psoas Massage and Bodywork do for me is an integral part of my success. I am so thankful to have they as a sponsor and I highly highly recommend them to you.

Check out more information about Psoas on the website HERE.

Or better yet, try them out! Tell them I sent you!
Psoas Contact:415-227-0331
Psoas Address: 333 Third Street, Suite 205, San Francisco CA 94107