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Soul = Southern pretty much. Most white people in the pre-Civil War South did NOT have slaves cooking for them. After the war, most folks in the South were poor. Most regional food seems (to me, anyway) the food the poorest folks - black OR white - prepared from what was readily available.

All Frank did was give the place more publicity:

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2009/04/charles_owner.html

Am I the only one who believes that food reviewing is extremely difficult? When I consider how large and important food is in our lives, I'm impressed with how few adjectives there are to describe food. It's not an easy job.
I think that Bruni does an outstanding job. Almost as good as Melissa Clark, who is unmatched when it comes to food writing.
Give Frank a break. Yes, today was off note for me. But his columns and his blog are articulate, entertaining and useful more than 99.9% of the time.

Here is Frank's bio:

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/dining/bruni-bio.html

It's quite clear that he never should have been appointed Food Critic (that he was a movie critic once before is a dead giveaway). And, yes, I got all the references, and it's still a poor piece, as is most of his stuff.

Ruth Reichl was completely immersed in the food industry for at least 10 - 15 years before becoming the LA Times and then the NY Times Food Critic. She knows, loves and appreciates the industry; she is one of them.

After his non-food journalism career, it seems that Frank wanted a cushy job and an ego boost, and had an inside connection. Why would the NYT, with its incredible reputation, give their readers this guy???

Also, how fiscally responsible is it for the NYT to pay for dinner for 2 - 8 people 6-7 nights a week, mostly at hugely expensive restaurants? Fire him, and save that money for real reporting (or at least real food reporting!).

You gotta check out: You look nice today. It's not food related, but it will be a comic relief to your NPR drag-on-athons.

yes and no.
"soul food" is a blanket term--to different people it means different things.
a lot of the time, it refers to a sort of "home cooked" style found in a lot of Southern USA regional dishes.
another way of saying it might be to say that a lot of southern food is comfort food, but they are not the same thing at all.
It's also interesting to note that a wide variety of "Southern" food styles exist outside of the cliche "fried chicken and greens" type dishes a lot of people associate with the South. I've had the honor to work at both La Jolla and Garrett's, two Montgomery, Ala. restaurants specializing in "new" southern food--gourmet interpretations of all kinds of stuff, from fish to pasta to...yes, fried chicken(La Jolla had fried chicken for lunch for about two months before we decided it was just too embarassing).

@1stmakearoux, the only place I can think of is Cafe Habana, which is the only Cuban restaurant close to the river...their tres leches is awesome as well.

@bitter I was in Philly last summer and went to a fabulous Cuban restaurant down by the river. Of course I can't recall the name, but it was truly like walking into a restaurant in Havana! Beautiful decor, great Cuban food (I had ropa vieja), reasonable prices, and attentive servers and manager.

My gf makes great picadillo when I can talk her into it!

I also happen to be part Cuban too, 1stmakearoux and make a mean picadillo!!!

Right now, I'm craving some shrimp and grits. My bad back has me out from work today, but I can stand at the stove for a l'il bit. I've got some shrimp and andouille (sp?) in the fridge. So tempting.

One thing I miss is fatback. My maternal grands were from Saluda, South Carolina and they used to fry fatback on the weekends. My mom was their only girl, and they were devoted to her. We were their favorites. As soon as Mom parked the car, I'd run up the steps, into the house, kiss them, and then run into the kitchen to eat a piece of crispy, salty fatback. Fatback went into EVERYTHING -- oil for frying chicken, greens - even ice cream. LOL, just kidding.

Right now I reside in Center City Philly - pretty much lily-white, which I hardly have a problem with, except I always have to catch the bus and go to North Philly or West Philly to get the things I miss. I don't have a car, which makes getting the food I crave something of a challenge.

It's a bit like Cajun and Creole. Both are very similar but they are, indeed, different. Soul food is more likely to involve pork in the cooking process - be it through the use of bacon, ham hocks, or chitterlings.

Southern food is light as air biscuits, grillades and grits, squash blossoms, bread pudding, catfish with pecan butter, Hummingbird cake, ambrosia, fresh veggies straight from the garden (Francis I - the sterling pattern- even makes a tomato server), freshly made lemonade and ice tea, juleps, chess pie... those are all southern foods. Just my humble, Mississippi and Alabama raised opinion. :-)

@yayajac--I grew up in Virginia (Hampton, Harrisonburg, and Richmond). Recently became a resident of the Hoosier state. I am a Korean American.

Now you can vote: Anthony Bourdain or Hezbollah Tofu
http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2008/04/08/who-cooked-it-better-tony-bourdain-vs-hezbollah-tofu/