Last updated: December 5, 2023

In the Weeds

If you take Brookshire Boulevard just past I-485, you will find yourself in a part of Charlotte that has transformed in the span of twenty years from a sedate farming community to a busy suburb littered with chain stores. With the interstate came the people, and with them, the strip malls. In one such strip mall off of Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road, there’s an unassuming restaurant serving up some of the best soul food in the city. I say unassuming because Londa’s Place already has a loyal customer base of locals who can’t seem to get enough of the hearty Southern cooking being served from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Roll up for lunch or dinner and you will find a consistent stream of folks coming and going with steaming plastic bags filled with food and styrofoam tumblers sloshing with sweet tea. 

My grandparents came of age during the Great Depression. As a result, their relationship with food was always complicated. They were never ones to splurge or over-indulge on a meal. Their idea of a night out at a fancy restaurant was a trip to the K & W Cafeteria in Pineville. I loved these trips to the cafeteria with them. I could order whatever I wanted, with little mountains of multi-colored jello cubes for dessert. Before the pandemic, Londa’s place was cafeteria-style, taking me back to those old dinners with my Pawpaw and Grammy at the K & W. I delighted in the pageantry of it, the warm communal feel, and the last-minute decisions on what you were going to order, not to mention the cheerfulness of being called honey, baby, and sugar by the ladies serving up your food as you made your way down the line. 

Covid has changed all that. Londa’s is currently takeout only until things can get back to some semblance of normal. The interior is now just a counter for ordering and a room with spaced out chairs where you can wait for your order to be assembled and boxed. It’s a letdown for sure, not having the warmth and camaraderie front and center. However, you can hardly blame them for wanting to keep you and their workers safe. And I’m happy to report that the virus has done nothing to diminish the quality of the food. 

Depending on your mood and how much you’ve eaten that day, there are several meals that will satisfy as only a classic meat and three can. If you’re feeling especially peckish, go with the country-style steak or smothered pork chop. The fried chicken meal isn’t overly greasy and won’t sit heavy for a moderate appetite. If you just aren’t that hungry, you might want to come back later, or you can order a veggie plate, made up of three of their outstanding sides. Sweet tea is a must order to go with any meal. If you’re one of those Yankees who doesn’t like sweet tea, well, bless your heart, and order a fountain drink. I’m not saying their sweet tea is hummingbird food, but if you put some of it in your backyard feeder, I doubt the birds would know the difference. It’s sweet enough to curl your lips and reminds me of the stuff I used to drink by the pitcherful at fish camps when I was young — before the country became more health-conscious. 

Country-style steak has always been a comforting meal for me, and Londa’s take on the Southern classic delivers on the dish’s signature range of flavors and textures. Generous amounts of  salt and pepper are added to cube steak, which is then powdered with fistfuls of flour and pan fried, before being drowned in a sea of thick gravy and served atop a large bed of rice. Your sides can go anyway you like, but I tend to stick to their lima beans, fried okra, collards, and mac and cheese. Lima beans suffer from their association with the bland, canned version you were served in elementary school. In reality, they have a robust, creamy flavor when cooked right, and Londa’s definitely cooks them right, studding theirs with bits of pork like you would do with collards. Londa’s mac and cheese is the epitome of the Southern dish you would find at any Sunday church picnic: crusted, buttery,  and spackled with clumps of neon orange cheese. 

Surprisingly for a place that serves fried croaker and swai, there aren’t any hushpuppies on the menu, something I sorely miss with each visit. Instead, they have dinner rolls and cornbread, the latter being a great addition to any meal. Their cornbread resemble miniature pound cakes and are the type that can crumble when you look at it the wrong way. The cornbread has a light airiness and touch of sugar that contrasts well with such a rich and savory menu. 

The smothered pork chop is decadent, satisfying, and more than enough food for even the most famished eater. Similar to its country-style cousin, it’s a thick cut of well-seasoned meat seared to lock in the flavor before it gets a gravy bath and is put to bed on a pile of rice. Unlike, say, your Dad’s pork chops cooked to dry pulp on the grill, these chops are tender enough to be easily cut by the plastic cutlery that comes with your meal.

As the fried chicken sandwich wars rage among the nation’s fast food chains, Black Southerners quietly continue to serve the best — and Londa’s is among them. Londa’s keeps that tradition going with fried chicken meals that taste as good as any you would get at Grandma’s on a Sunday after church. Though I consider myself a thigh man — with the modern American chicken breast approaching the size of a suckling pig — when it comes to fried chicken, I gravitate towards the breast. Being cooked in oil that seals in the juices takes away the advantage that the tastier and fattier thigh would have if cooked any other way. 

For some diners, dessert will be unnecessary after the small feast they’ve just consumed; for the gluttonous freaks like myself, that banana pudding will be looking really good. Banana pudding is almost comically old-fashioned, the sort of recipe cribbed from a magazine and served by the Southern version of Betty Draper when neighbors come over for dinner. Yet it still retains nearly magical qualities with its lightness, contrasting textures, subtle sweetness, and fruity exuberance. It would make a great Ben & Jerry’s flavor. 

Londa’s Place is the sort of restaurant that used to be commonplace in Charlotte and throughout the American South. Times change, of course, and so do tastes, yet it’s nice to know there are people committed to keeping alive the foodways of their ancestors. Londa’s even has pig’s feet on the menu, and you know that any restaurant willing to put pig’s feet on their menu is the real deal. I can’t wait for the cafeteria format to return. Until then, I will happily sit in my car and eat my meals as I watch all the happy customers come and go with a smile. 

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