Sooo Delicious owners trade food truck for soul food cafe in Center City Philadelphia

Aminah McDaniel and Angel King have come in from the cold, and the heat.

The longtime friends shifted last month from their Sooo Trucking Delicious food truck outside of their commissary in Southwest Philadelphia to a Southern-style restaurant in Center City called Sooo Delicious Soul Food Cafe. The spot, at 1112 Locust St. across from Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse, previously housed Yellow Bicycle Canteen.

It’s mostly takeout, although there are several small tables. There is space out back that can be developed into outdoor seating.

King, from West Philadelphia, and McDaniel, from Germantown, met 13 years ago. King had a baking business and McDaniel was in real estate when they decided to collaborate on a food truck in early 2020, setting up at 56th and Vine Streets in West Philadelphia, near Haddington Plaza.

It turned out to be a bad time to launch a business. “A week later, they shut everything down,” King said.

Once mobile food vendors were allowed to resume two weeks later, they set up at 5200 Grays Ave., outside of their commissary, and started building a clientele. Pretty much right away, they began to consider a physical location. “We didn’t want to become stagnant,” King said.

McDaniel found the storefront, which has a sizable kitchen on one side and a small dining room and room for a menu board and cashier on the other side.

Just as they drew workers from the businesses near Grays Avenue, King and McDaniel have been attracting staff from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, two blocks away. Sooo Delicious is the lone restaurant specializing in soul food in Washington Square West.

Best-sellers so far are the flavored wings (the garlic Parm and the honey hot are particularly tasty), crab cakes, and the grilled and fried salmon.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.