SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Growing up, Dawn Evette Reed would watch her grandmother and mother in the kitchen, whipping up traditional soul food and including their family’s secret ingredient in every dish.
Evette divulged the secret to creating traditional soul food.
“Love, absolutely,” she said with a smile. “Always made with love, always. I take my time, I do what’s right, and believe me I’m not giving nobody nothing I wouldn’t eat.”
She said there are recipes and cooking techniques her grandma and mother passed down to her, but at its core, the way to create soul-warming food is a lot of love.
Winnie’s Soul Delicious made its debut on Marshall Street on December 9, 2020. The restaurant’s original opening was delayed from August 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Evette originally planned to open Winnie’s on her late mother’s birthday. The restaurant is named in her mother’s honor and the logo features an image of her mom.
Evette said her mother was always her biggest fan.
“She knew I had this in me, and she always supported whatever I [did],” said Reed.
Evette has been cooking and serving the Syracuse area food for years through catering, and was always encouraged to open a business. She said at first when she became the head chef, people in their community didn’t believe it was her and not Winnie behind the apron.
“Nobody for years believed it was me they always thought my mother [cooking] because so many people for years shared eating with her,” she recalled. “Thanksgiving [is] a big holiday that’s coming up, she would open her doors and cook like 3-4 turkeys and put them on the table she would have a spread, and anybody could just come to our house and eat she didn’t care who you were. No invitation was required.”
Growing up with community, love, and food going hand in hand, Evette always dreamed of starting her own business and having as many people as possible try her food.
“I was born and raised [in Syracuse] so I knew what Marshall Street could bring,” she said. “I always wanted people from all over the world to come and enjoy and at least give [my food] a try and say whether or not they like it.”
The reviews have been overwhelmingly good for one of Marshall Street’s newest dinner spots. Customer Brittany Zaehriger said traditional soul food was missing from the Marshall Street menu.
“This street does have a variety of different types of food but it didn’t have any authentic soul food so I was very happy to see it,” Zaehriger shared. “It is the food I kind of grew up eating certainly in my home, at holidays, and at special events and it is the food I cook for my own family so when I can get it and don’t have to prepare it that’s also nice.”
Evette loves that her soul food can remind others of family, because that’s a reason she cooks. Evette’s family helps out a lot around the restaurant, but none do more than her granddaughter.
“My granddaughter Dejour, she’s my manager, that’s what she says,” Evette trailed off with a laugh. “Yeah, she’s my manager.”
When Dejour arrived at Winnie’s after school, she confirmed the story. When asked what her position is, she confidently smiled and said she was the manager.
When asked what a manager does, she gave a sheepish “uh” and a shrug. Grandma “Ma” Evette just laughed from behind the cash register.
When asked if she liked cooking, the 9-year old shared she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen yet, but she loves the cash register.
Evette said she sees so much of herself in her granddaughter and loves that she gets to carry on the tradition of teaching her to cook traditional soul food and family recipes. She hopes one day the next generation of Reeds can carry on the family’s legacy.
For the near future though, Evette sees just one thing.
“Greatness,” she said. “As I go on and more people get to know me it’s just going to get greater, that’s it. It’s getting greater.”
