Amy Ruth’s Home-Style Southern Cuisine

113 West 116th Street between Lenox and Adam Clayton
212/280.8779
about $60 for two, without drinks, without tip

Chef Carl Redding opened the restaurant a year after his grandmother, Amy Ruth, passed away. They’re not kidding when they say that they offer home-style cooking because you can taste the love in their collard greens and in the gravy of their mashed potatoes. The honey-dipped fried chicken was to die for, flavorful both inside and out. I couldn’t have enough of the crispy skin and even the white meat was tasty.

I looked forward to ordering the spareribs but they were overdone; swimming in sauce and mushy like bad soup. I like my meat when they easily fall off the bone but I also like gnawing on some actual ribs, not softened bones.

They ran out of macaroni and cheese when we visited so we ordered a side of string beans instead which were so overcooked they weren’t crunchy nor buttery. Their fried okra was excellent but as soon as they cooled down, the batter became chewy and inedible. I had two slices of the corn bread and somehow, they made up for the restaurant’s shortcomings.