DUBLIN, Ga. — February is Black History Month and we are celebrating a few of the amazing Black Businesses across Central Georgia.
One of the hallmarks of the South is hospitality and good food. Soul food is known not only to feed your belly but to feed your spirit too. One place in Dublin wants to make sure its customers feel right at home when they walk in.
"We bring a lot of people into Dublin that didn't know about Dublin until they saw us on Facebook and read about us. Every day we get somebody from the interstate, new and I like that. I like meeting people. I like talking to people and making friends and that's what it's all about," owner Nadine Miller Hunt said.
Millers Soul Food is located in downtown Dublin.
Inside, you'll find all the staples of traditional Southern food like collard greens, pork chops, pigs feet cubed steak and rice, fried chicken and more. You have to be on the lookout when you come to Miller's because they have a weekly rotating menu.
It's a family-owned restaurant and has been open since 1955. Hunt says it was the place to be for Black folks during segregation.
"All the Blacks mostly ate here. My mother had a book she kept and she charged people by the week. They would come in and pay in Friday and start back Monday eating again," she said.
Today, the restaurant brings in people from all walks of life via the interstate. Hunt's daughter, Shenita, says it's the place to go if you want home-cooked soul food that reminds you of your family.
"When they come here, they say this is as close to down-home cooking as you can get. They always say 'This is food that my grandparents cooked, my grandmother cooked this, my mother used to make this kind of food' so they feel like they are really back home in their own kitchen when they have our food," she said.
Shenita says throughout the restaurant's history, it has been a popular meeting place for community members to feel truly welcomed. She says she didn't realize when she was small but she truly appreciates the variety of people who walked through the restaurant's doors.
"When I went off and realized that in other places of these United States, you don't see these businesses among our culture so I started to have a lot of pride in being able to tell people 'We have a restaurant back home. It's been there since 1955,'" she said.
She said all the recipes they use in the restaurant have been passed down through their family.
They pride themselves on never using canned goods and using fresh ingredients. Shenita says her mom used to farm a lot of the raw ingredients herself but now they buy items fresh from local sellers.
"If it suits my taste I know it's good. We don't do too much with canned goods. All our foods are fresh or frozen. Fresh collards, fresh peas or frozen peas, we don't do canned goods and I think that's really what keeps us going," Nadine said.
Shenita says Miller's Soul Food is like a family heirloom. She says traditional soul food is a dying art and Miller's is one of the places that keep tradition alive.
"If people want to continue to have this kind of food, Miller's Soul Food needs to continue to exist. "You know you can go somewhere and get a pizza or an Italian dish or a burger, fries, hot dog, somewhere else but if you really want garden fresh food I think Miller's need to continue," she said.
You can visit Miller's Soul Food in downtown Dublin at 115 S Lawrence Street. For more about them and to check out their menu, visit their Facebook page.