Looking for scratch-made comfort food? Find it at this Cocoa restaurant

Mac and cheese aficionados, take note: The creamy, gooey version of the American classic served at the Chef's Kitchen in Cocoa is the real deal.

"I've had people cancel the whole order because we were out of mac and cheese," said chef Mike Blackwell, who runs the casual counter-service eatery with his sister, Lacy Bussey.

If it's comfort food you seek, Blackwell has you covered.

The regular menu includes an array of soul food like smothered or fried pork chops, meat loaf, candied yams, fried okra and collard greens. Visit on a Sunday, and you can get oxtail or chitterlings.

Then, there are the specials: shrimp and grits, country-fried steak with white pepper gravy, barbecue ribs and blue crabs. Follow facebook.com/FUSIONSOUL321 if you want a heads up on those.

And the desserts, oh, the desserts. Blackwell bakes traditional favorites, such as red velvet cake, sweet potato pie and peach cobbler. But he has some surprises in the display case. On Sundays, Barbara Davis, a Georgia native now living in Brevard, bakes key lime cake for the restaurant, a confection with a flavor that's as bright as its shade of green. If you're lucky, there will be a couple of slices left when Chef's Kitchen opens Wednesday after taking Monday and Tuesday off.

Blackwell also likes to riff on the restaurant's past as a Chinese takeout place. Don't say no if you can get your hands on a soul roll, pork chop or oxtail, mac and cheese and collards stuffed into an eggroll wrapper, fried and served with a side of gravy for dipping.

The road to soul

Chef's Kitchen is tucked between a beauty supply store and a Family Dollar in a Clearlake Road plaza that's seen better days.

Much of the business is takeout, though there are nine booths in the dining room for those who want to stay and eat. Meals usually come in Styrofoam clam shells, but Blackwell will put it on a china plate if you ask.

"But you're still going to get a to-go box," he said. The portions are that generous.

Blackwell's voice is as rich and smooth as the brown gravy he ladles over pork chops and mashed potatoes. He could have been a late-night DJ or an R&B singer.

Instead, he followed his heart — and nose — into the kitchen.

"I've been cooking a long time," the 47-year-old said. "I learned from my mom and grandmom in the mornings, especially on Sundays before church. I was the only kid up, because I smelled the cooking. That's where the passion came from."

As he got older, he started watching cooking shows with Julia Child and Emeril.

Entering the world of restaurants

His first restaurant job was at Burger King, then Arby's. When he was a senior in high school, Blackwell went to work at the Cocoa Beach Hilton.

"That was intense," he said. "I started out as a dishwasher and ended up on the line. I had to put everything my mom and grandmom taught me on the back burner."

At the Hilton, Blackwell learned about French cuisine and Chinese cooking techniques. He helped cater weddings and bar mitzvahs.

"I asked so many questions, I annoyed the others on the line," he said. "The chef saw it and took me off the line. He said, 'You come with me.'"

That sealed his future.

"I knew I wanted to be a chef," he said.

Blackwell went on to cook across the county. At Outback Steakhouse on Merritt Island, he learned about steaks.

"I must have made a million blooming onions," he said.

For a while, he cooked at From Scratch Cafe, a soul food restaurant on U.S. 1 in Cocoa; then he took over the kitchen at VJ's Jazz and Blues Club in Rockledge.

His resume also includes River Rocks and Mason's in Rockledge and the old Murdock's in Cocoa Village.

Blackwell learned the catering business working for Two Chicks and a Pot and finally ended up at at the VFW in West Cocoa. That gig lasted more than five years, but Blackwell wanted something that didn't require working until 2 or 3 a.m.

When David Williams, owner of From Scratch Cafe, died in 2020, Williams' family asked if Blackwell wanted to buy that restaurant, which had moved into the plaza where Chef's Kitchen is now.

As he and Bussey prepared to reopen the restaurant, the owner of the plaza offered them the recently vacated Chinese restaurant space instead.

"When we got this place finally, I fell in love," he said.

Chef's Kitchen

Blackwell and Bussey got a start-up grant from the city of Cocoa and received extensive small business mentoring from weVENTURE, the women's business center at Florida Tech.

"They were awesome," Bussey said. They received financial counseling, marketing advice and other help getting started.

"Those ladies at FIT, they do not play around," Blackwell said.

They opened Chef's Kitchen in August 2021 amid family crisis: Their grandmother, Lillie Blackwell, passed away.

"She was the inspiration for us," Blackwell said. She was proud to see her grandchildren opening a restaurant.

Blackwell also had gastric bypass surgery. He went straight from the hospital to his grandmother's funeral.

It took a lot of prayer, but they made it through, Blackwell said. And he's lost 140 pounds in the past two years.

What's next

The restaurant has gained a following, especially on Sundays, when there's often a line to get in after church., Blackwell said.

He's experimenting with yeast rolls, and may add them to the menu later this year.

In the coming months, Blackwell hopes to teach cooking classes at Emma Jewel Charter School in Cocoa, where Bussey serves on the board.

They've applied for an Impact Grant from weVENTURE and will find out in October if they will get it.

Blackwell loves his time in the kitchen. He gets in early and listens to T.D. Jakes to "give God some of the morning" while he preps for the day.

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Bussey helps with the business side of the restaurant, but the Kitchen is Blackwell's domain, and he loves feeding people.

"Every dinner comes with rice and cornbread and two sides," he said. "And you better bring an appetite."

A meatloaf or pork chop dinner at Chef's Kitchen can easily turn into two, maybe three meals.

"This is Grandmom's cooking," Blackwell said. "It's Thanksgiving every day."

Chef's Kitchen is at 1070 Clearlake Road, Cocoa. Call 321-806-4952 or visit facebook.com/FUSIONSOUL321. Hours are noon to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Get your soul food fix at Chef's Kitchen in Cocoa