Nellie's, Oakland

Fried chicken, kale, and macaroni and cheese (only available Fridays).


Fried pork chops, kale, and black-eyed peas.


French fries, yams, and a bit of kale in the corner.


Cornbread muffins.
These are absolutely delicious. I'm neither a cornbread connoiseur nor do I have a very good memory, but this is the best cornbread I can remember eating.


Mary put in a good effort!


Success . . . ALL GONE!

Why would I write about Nellie's when it seems every damn newspaper in the Bay Area already has it covered? Because Alyssa made me.

This was my second visit to Nellie's. My first time, I went with Mary and her friend Gary, who graciously gave us a ride in his fancy car equipped with leather seats and i-Pod (on its equally fancy own stand). Mary and I both ordered the 2-piece fried chicken (all-white meat) with sides of candied yams, collard greens, and mashed potatoes. I don't care if they come from a can, the yams are sweet & soft and really offset the greasy chicken well. Mashed potatoes were lukewarm; I think I still prefer KFC's. Collard greens were bitter, which also complemented the grease. The chicken was great, as expected. Crispy, golden brown, and surprisingly juicy inside. Gary decided to be different and ordered chopped liver & onions. I forget his sides. Liver was good (and full of iron, I'm sure), but it doesn't seem like something most could manage to gobble down an entire plate of for dinner.

This time, Mary joined us again, along with Susan. Mike, Allison, & Erica came too (but were meeting up with us a little later; they also had to leave early to pick up a present for Jenn Bai in the city). We chose Friday because it's Mac & Cheese (which got rave reviews on Chowhound) Day. All I have to say is, what's the hype? It tasted like there were scrambled eggs in it! Maybe I am biased because I prefer the kind with bechamel sauce and a crumbly top, with bacon, but this was bland.

This time, we got more sides such as black-eyed peas (very, very tasty) and french fries (too soggy for Alyssa's taste. However, for me, it brought back fond memories of the buckets of hot chips with tomato sauce I ate in Australia). The corn bread muffins were popular, as usual. Perfect cupcake sized portions of mealy moist bread, served with slabs of the softest butter! Alyssa and I also shared fried pork chops, which were too fatty for my taste. Because they were cooked so simply & plainly, they were a little "smelly" too. The chops were very thick so, believe me, this was enough meat for three to four people.

There was a little service drama. It started out when one server asked me if we were waiting for people. I said yes, hoping she would give me time to say that we wanted to order for them. Unfortunately, she walked away immediately, and it took us forever to get a server to come back to our table to take our order. By that time, Allison, Mike, and Erica had arrived, starving, and expecting their food to be ready. No such luck.

It must've really been an off night since our server came back 5 seconds after handing Mike and Allison their fried chicken. She asked them to cut apart the flesh to check doneness because she was afraid they were undercooked. Sure enough, they were still very pink inside. She apologized, and took them back in for a re-fry.

Mistakes aren't always bad. I got an extra piece of chicken, and extra sides. Not that I needed to eat anymore. I was very, very full but I wish I had been just a little more satisfied.