Cleveland, OHSouthern

Soho has moved to Lorain Avenue with a renewed focus on New Southern cooking. Fried chicken remains central, joined by collard greens, grits, seasonal vegetables and a tightly edited whiskey program. The room gives those familiar forms a contemporary neighborhood setting, with the bar and kitchen carrying equal weight through dinner.

Zanzibar is a casual Southern restaurant with a rich history: some of its recipes date to 1985, when Angie of Angie's Soul Café created them, and the menu gathers those dishes alongside specialties of its own. The jerk wing entree comes with house Cajun corn and a side such as mac and cheese, grits or collard greens. This downtown room on Prospect Avenue has a sibling at Shaker Square.

Angie's Soul Cafe serves scratch-made soul food rooted in Angie Jeter's cooking. The fried chicken sandwich, made with a choice of white or dark meat and served with fries, is a place to start. Jeter opened the first of several family kitchens in 1986; this pick is the Carnegie Avenue location.

Beckham's B&M Bar B Que makes barbecue and Southern dishes from family recipes. Its two-wing, two-rib meal with fries brings both sides of the kitchen together. The North Randall restaurant on Miles Road is the location featured here; the family also has a second Cleveland-area shop.

Real Smoq’ed BBQ brings slow-smoked meats and Southern dishes to a counter-service room on Lorain Avenue. The wood smoker uses hickory, oak, cherry and apple, and the mac and cheese topped with brisket draws together two staples of the menu. The kitchen’s Memphis inspiration gives this Ohio City barbecue spot its Southern thread.