Ann's Soul Food, Wings & Things

3349 Jefferson Davis Highway, Stafford, VA - (540) 288-1806

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Posted By Rick Tenney on 5/1/2008 1:37:00 PM

Located south of Washington, DC on US-1, Ann's is an unpretentious little hole-in-the-wall restaurant serving good home-style cooking to locals and those who dare to try restaurants that look like the restaurants of days gone by. As soon as you approach the open front door you are greeted by the aroma of oven-roasted turkey and Virginia baked ham. Upon entering you find yourself stepping back decades to when family-run cafes dotted the landscape and local eateries outnumbered the national fast-food chains.

The first time we stopped at Ann's the specials were smothered pork chops and ham dinner, each for $8.50, or meatloaf dinner for $4.99. We opted for the ham dinner and pork chops. Each came with two sides and corn bread. We got steamed cabbage and yams with an additional side order of baked beans with the ham, and mashed potatoes and greens with the pork.

I watched as they carved the ham off a real ham in the kitchen, not a banquet boneless ham. The meat was juicy, well-cooked and flavorful. It had a nice brown sugar glaze that was sweet but not too sweet. The yams could easily have been dessert and were clearly fresh. The cabbage was lightly seasoned, with just the right about of butter. The beans were very good although perhaps a little too sweet for a traditional New Englander.

The pork chops were about the size of your hand, lightly breaded and deep-fried and then drowned in a wonderful onion gravy. The homemade mashed potatoes had just the right amount of lumps to make them "feel right." The greens may have been the best I have ever eaten! We finished the meal off with a bowl of Ann's homemade peach cobbler and a bowl of banana pudding.

One downside: Ann's serves everything in those pesky styrofoam clamshell containers, with plastic knives and forks. On the upside, the food is so good I will overlook those pesky styrofoam containers.

Ann's is owned by an elderly African-American lady who is almost always on the premises overseeing the quality of her product. I have been back several times now and can say that her food and service are consistently high quality.

Scorecard

Overall: Excellent - Worth a Detour

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"You get four whole, crispy skinned wings in the wing dinner."
Cliff Strutz

"Meatloaf Dinner at Ann's."
Rick Tenney

"Baked ham, steamed cabbage, baked beans, corn bread, and mashed potatoes."
Rick Tenney

"From the outside, Ann's looks much more like a house than a restaurant."
Cliff Strutz

"The friendly man behind the short cafeteria line identified himself as Merritt. When we walked in, he was icing a lovely pineapple cake."
Cliff Strutz

"Flat and wide, the sweet potato pie is soulful and unmistakably homemade."
Cliff Strutz

"Of everything we tried at Ann's, the fried pork chops were our favorite. No fork necessary; the tender juicy meat easily tore away by hand."
Cliff Strutz