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Kelsey and Kim’s Southern Café

American, Soul Food$-$$

Chef Kelsey Jackson’s casual cafe near Gardner's Basin has an easy neighborhood restaurant allure, boosted by a menu of soul food classics has proven to merit the hype, not to mention frequent reruns of its appearance on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. A platter of warm, moist corn bread is practically a course of its own, and it gets griddled brown and toasty if you come for breakfast. But if there's one dish here not to miss, it would be the Cajun catfish, which gets marinated overnight in a zippy oregano-cayenne spice before it's fried crisp inside a greaseless corn meal crust.

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The Inquirer aims to represent the geographic, cultural, and culinary diversity of the region in its coverage. Inquirer staffers and contributors do not accept free or comped meals — all meals are paid for by the Inquirer. All dining recommendations are made solely by the Inquirer editorial staffers and contributors based on their reporting and expertise, without input from advertisers or outside interests.