BEST SOUL FOOD
Clay’s Popeye’s Barbecue 1121 South Grand Ave., 522-0386 There’s something about Clay’s Popeye’s Barbecue that makes BOS voters feel good deep down in their soul. Perhaps it’s the 100-year-old sauce recipe passed down from generation to generation. But whether you choose ribs, beef, pork, chicken or hot link sandwich, you can believe that it will have you licking your fingers and looking around for more. Now, we’re told that Clay’s is a place where “friends and families meet”; however, we couldn’t seem to take our mind off of our scrumptious rib sandwich long enough to enjoy the company of other diners. We recommend you try Clay’s $6 daily lunch specials, featuring beef, pork, or rib tips and your choice of baked beans, cole slaw, and potato salad or a combination plate with tips and beef or pork, plus a side. But we will issue a warning. Clay’s sauce is so good that you just might want to order your meal drenched in it, which doesn’t always bode well for your clothing.
BEST SOUP
The Feed Store 516 East Adams St., 528-3355 Last year, after The Feed Store won top honors in the best soup category, we stopped in to try a bowl. With seven cream, four broth, one seafood, and four chilled soups, we decided to mix the Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese – the restaurant’s best seller – and cream of broccoli. The result was a very tasty bowl of soup. Like many of our voters, we fell in love with The Feed Store during our initial visit, but we were dying to try the chilled strawberry soup. Unfortunately at that time, strawberries were not in season, so we were out of luck. Once we approached the strawberry season, we called a couple of times to see if they had the soup, but hung up disappointed. Finally, we heard, “Yes, we have strawberry soup.” We couldn’t get there fast enough. Strawberry soup – made with fresh pureed strawberries, simmered in red wine cinnamon, and lemon, finished with whip and sour cream – is now our new favorite soup. We conclude that The Feed Store is more than deserving of this year’s best soup honor.
