Eloise & Earnestine Soul Food

Eloise & Earnestine isn’t the best soul food in Liberty City—it’s the best we’ve had in the whole county. People line up here after church in their Sunday best for short ribs, oxtails, chitterlings, collard greens, and mac and cheese. It’s a big takeout operation, but they have a small dining room with a wall full of clocks and a few tables. The move here is to order one of the dinner options. Each order comes with your choice of meat, rice, two sides, and a tiny piece of moist cornbread shaped like a miniature beret. We love the oxtail. It slips right off its star-shaped bones and is covered in a rich gravy that seeps into the rice (we like their pigeon pea rice). They’re open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but get there early because they run out of daily specials fast.