Soul Food Restaurants in Gainesville, Florida

• The soul food restaurants in Gainesville, Florida offer items such as fried chicken, pork chops and meatloaf, as well as side items, including okra, sweet potatoes and cornbread. In addition to the handful of regular restaurants, every spring Gainesville is host of the Fifth Avenue Arts Festival. It's a music and arts event that also features soul food vendors.

The Clock Restaurant

• The Clock Restaurant is a southern-style dining establishment on Main Street, less than a five-minute drive south of the Northside Shopping Center. This restaurant was founded in 1979, and is open for 24 hours. Soul food entrees on the menu include golden-fried fish fillets and country-fried steak, while the side items menu features baked sweet potatoes. Reservations are not required.

Ruby's

• Ruby's is in the heart of the Gainesville's historic Fifth Avenue District. The soul food items at Ruby's includes smoked chicken, fried pork chop, okra and lima beans. The menu also features Ruby's Blueberry Delight, an dessert item with cream cheese, blueberry and nuts. As of 2010, the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner on Mondays through Saturdays, but is closed Sundays.

Green Plantains Restaurant

• Green Plantains is a Caribbean-influenced restaurant chain with soul food items such as fried pork chops, fried fish and rice appetizers on the menu. Common traits between Caribbean and soul food restaurants can be attributed to similar culinary experiences Africans had in the southern United States and the West Indies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Green Plantains is in the Shoppes of Williston Road mall in southern Gainesville.

Junior's

• Located in downtown Gainesville, Junior's offers soul food entrees such as fried chicken, liver and onions fried pork chops, collard greens, candied yams and black-eyed peas. The dessert menu has sweet potato pie and 7-Up Cake. Cornbread and made-from-scratch biscuits are also on the menu. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, and is closed Mondays. The restaurant has countertop seating and a back dining room with a buffet station.

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