Soul food done right

Crispy, salty fried chicken might be the last thing you would expect to be served with breakfast foods but to some this is a usual combination.

Fried chicken served on warm sweet waffles laced with maple syrup is a long-time soul food tradition, and many people consider the combination to be as common as eating french fries with a hamburger.

If anything, soul food is known for taking less than quality food products and combining them and cooking them up in a way that creates something new and delicious. Although chicken and waffles can both hold their own, the combination  of the two uses this same basic principle, and the result is outstanding.

Until recently, to get a sample of this dish in Ocala you had to make it yourself. That is until Lara B's Chicken and Waffles opened. 

Although chicken and waffles may be the star dish of the place, the restaurant being named after it and all, it is not the only meal worth sampling. Lara B's menu isn't lengthy, but it will satisfy just about anyone's craving for good southern, home-style food.

Lara B's is located on the corner of NE 25^th Avenue and 14^th Street next to an old Ocala favorite, Crunchies and Munchies, which ironically, is known for its chicken.  Lara B's, however, is different.

Crunchies and Munchies is famous around town for its wings, which come in a variety of flavors, usually served with fries and coleslaw.  And even though they may have a few more options than just wings, much more than just the style of chicken differs from its neighboring restaurant.

Lara B's serves the type of food that brings you back to grandma cooking in the kitchen; the type of food that could only come from the Deep South, and is rooted strongly in family tradition and appreciation; the type of food that leaves everything else irrelevant.

You can tell right away that the focus in the place is the food. It is not exactly a fine-dining establishment. It is small and hot inside the dining room, with little to catch your eye besides a big-screen TV and an overpowering smell of mop water crowds the room.

Once you taste the food, though, all can be forgiven. It becomes apparent that someone really wants to please people in the most primal of ways, with a warm meal. You can taste the effort and love it took to make your meal in every bite, and you can tell who cooked it has a great appreciation for genuinely good food.

The chicken is fried to the perfect degree, with a crispy breading encasing deliciously moist and steaming hot meat. The seasoning on the chicken would be perfect alone, but with the addition of maple syrup the flavor is only improved, sweet and savory all in one. The waffles are not bad either, actually they are quite good.

Perhaps the best thing I ate, though greatly rivaled by the collard greens, was the cornbread. It was not the dryed out, slightly corn flavored sponge I have been served many times before at various dining establishments.

This was the kind of cornbread you get at a family reunion, soft and fresh and full of flavor. Not only did it taste good, it was cleverly presented as a waffle and I was confused until my server explained to me that it was indeed cornbread, only it was cooked using the waffle iron. I couldn't help but think how delicious chicken and cornbread waffles would be, and I haven't stopped thinking about it yet.

The portions are large, so large that even my buffet-clearing boyfriend couldn't clean his plate, and the food is better than at any other place claiming to serve "soul-food" in town.

Even though the portions are big the prices by no means reflect it. The dishes are all under $10 and students get a 10 percent discount just by showing their student I.D. 

Most importantly, the service is good, and although the place isn't exactly a palace the owner and crew will make you feel at home.