Miss your grandma’s cooking? Check out the ‘old school Sunday dinner’ in Mallard Creek
If you want to enjoy a home-cooked meal while meeting new people, look no further than Mattie’s Front Porch, a monthly pop-up dining experience in the Mallard Creek area.
The dinner serves Southern meals that tell a story while allowing total strangers to come together. The events were created by Charlotte-native chef Lisa Brooks, the creator of Heart & Soul Personal Chef Service.
The theme of the dinner
“I just wanted to bring people back to that place,” Brooks said. “The old school Sunday dinner.” This month’s dinner is themed “Sunday Dinner” and will feature five to seven dishes, including Deviled Eggs, Beef Stew and Rice, and Blackberry Cobbler. It’s so popular that a second seating was added after the first seating sold out.
“Every theme is chosen or just kind of imagined from something that is near me,” Brooks said. “Usually it’s something from my own experience, my own story.”
The first seating of the dinner (which sold out just prior to publication) will be held on Sunday, Aug. 14 from 3:30-6:30 p.m. The second seating will be on August 14 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Reservations for each dinner is limited to 24 people, creating an intimate experience.
Chef Lisa Brooks on ‘Chopped’
If you are a “Chopped” fan, Brooks might be familiar. She was one of the competing chefs on the Black History Month episode of the popular Food Network cooking competition show. Brooks became a finalist but was eliminated in the final round.
This episode was the first in the show’s history to have all-Black judges and contestants. “It was such a life-changing experience for me,” she said.
Before judging, she was terrified of going on the show. It was exciting to see herself on screen, though, Brooks said.
One show Brooks does want to go on is Gordon Ramsay’s FOX show “Next Level Chef.” “I love the fact that they mentor you throughout the show,” she said. “And it’s less of a cutthroat thing.” She told us she would love to meet Gordon Ramsay (who recently opened the first Gordon Ramsay Food Market in the United States at the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina).
How Brooks learned to cook
Brooks’ cooking skills and love for food began at Sunday dinners at her grandmother’s house. She said the pop-ups are preserving those Southern food traditions like Sunday dinners, Lowcountry boils, cookouts and crab feasts.
Her favorite signature dishes are shrimp and grits, collard greens and fried chicken. “I’ve had shrimp and grits everywhere, and I think that I’m the best,” she said.
The dishes that resonate with Brooks are those that make people feel confident, at home and at their grandmother’s house. Brooks started her personal chef service “Heart & Soul” in 2010. She knew how to cook her entire life and learned from her great grandmother, grandmother and mother.
“I didn’t realize it was a gift at all or anything special until people just started telling me you should really do this for a living,” she said.
[RELATED: Get to know these 8 Black personal chefs in Charlotte]
Before starting her cooking businesses, Brooks graduated from UNC Chapel Hill to study interpersonal communications. After graduating, she stayed in Chapel Hill to work for a healthcare IT company as a receptionist.
Without education directly related to the field, she later moved her way up in the company and became the manager of technical support. She left the corporate world due to the stress she was experiencing. “I was having migraines and back spasms and panic attacks,” she said. “And I had insomnia for three years or so.”
She earned an associates degree in culinary arts from Central Piedmont Community College after moving back to Charlotte. She later opened Heart & Soul, which now employs 31 people, including 10 female chefs.
Mattie’s Front Porch
Location: Heart & Soul Personal Chef Service, 10818 Tavernay Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28262
Next dinner: Aug. 14 from 3:30-6:30 p.m.
Price: $85 per person, plus service fees. Tips are not included.
Tickets: Purchase online
