Shirley Mae’s Cafe

They are still serving out of the window, so make sure not to make any plans to eat inside. The Mac and cheese, delicious! The dressing, baked chicken, and turkey were a little dry.
The chitterlings used to be my favorite, but they were off this day. I will definitely try it out again.

We were in town for a few days and were leaving that day.
We wanted to try something local before we flew out later in the afternoon.
We drive over to “Smoke Town” a Black neighborhood in Louisville. The cafe is walk up with a few tables in front.
It seems most people do take away.
The staff of the restaurant were awesome.
The younger of the two men had an almost freakish ability to manage names of all the customers …I was sorta jealous.
He was cool and busted my chops for not ordering any green vegetables with my lunch special (I'm not sorry though). The other patrons were very cool and we met some of the locals who go there regularly, including an older couple clad in their Sunday church duds. The only downside, the food took forever, We waited an hour or more.
The wait got more pleasant when the younger man walked across the street and put on some great music at the bottle shop. We had planned to eat there.
The weather was amazing! But, we weren’t anticipating the long wait, so we had to take it to the airport and eat there. Now, for the best part….the food was totally worth the wait.
I got the meatloaf with Mac and cheese and sweet potatoes.
My wife got the chicken wings with Mac and fried corn.
The portions were generous and everything was outstanding. The chicken wings are really fried chicken.
They’re huge and some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted.
The sides were solid and the two fried biscuits were almost like a dessert! The regulars told us the long wait that day was really unusual, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on that.
Other than that, it was a cool lunch spot.
I’d totally go back or recommend them to friends.
Definitely fits the role of what I like to call “a local gem.”

Words can't describe how good this place is.
If authentic soul food with excellent portions is what you're looking for, this is the place.
I'm originally from Louisiana and this is definitely the real deal