Wally Kennedy: Sum'na Eat Soul Food Kitchen moves to 3025 S. Main St.

Mar. 1—A restaurant that specializes in soul food has opened on South Main Street in Joplin.

Sum'na Eat Soul Food Kitchen, in the former Krackin Cajun Seafood House at 3025 S. Main St., opened about a week ago. It was previously in a storefront on West Seventh Street for about five months before relocating to South Main. The move was prompted by better parking and other factors.

The restaurant, operated by Staci and Anne Cobb, features chicken, pork chops, wings, catfish, goulash, meatloaf and even exotic entrees like oxtail. Specials are featured daily.

From a blackboard menu, you choose the meat you want and two sides with a hunk of cornbread for $14. The sides include seasoned corn, sweet potato fries, French fries, okra, green beans, macaroni and cheese, cabbage and greens. You can also get a smashed potato with grilled cheese on top. A bean soup is offered daily.

I ordered the wings with French fries and green beans. The slightly seasoned wings — five of them in total — were large and very hot. You need to let them cool down before you take your first bite. The wings were so large that I took three of them home. The green beans were flavored with bacon and onion. The cornbread is spot on. While I was there, some customers asked for some cornbread to take home with them. It's that good.

Desserts include fried yam pies, Mississippi mud cake and ooey gooey butter cake.

Anne Cobb said she relocated to Joplin from San Diego, where she operated a barbecue food truck for 4 1/2 years. This is her first restaurant venture.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. First responders and health care workers get a 10% discount.

Krakin Cajun Seafood House, which specialized in seafood boils, opened in March 2021. Before that, the storefront was a Baskin-Robbins.

Openings

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, a fast-food chicken and seafood restaurant, opened Wednesday at 903 S. Madison St. in Webb City.

Opening Saturday will be The Human Bean at the southwest corner of Marion Street and North Main Street Road in the village of Airport Drive.

The Human Bean is a drive-thru coffee shop. It specializes in all kinds of hot, iced and blended drinks. It also has a limited menu of food items.

Popeyes offers fried chicken, seafood and sandwiches, with specialty sides like mashed potatoes with Cajun gravy, and red beans and rice. The $1.75 million restaurant has two drive-thru lanes.

(Note to motorists entering Popeyes from the left-turn lane on Madison: The entrance is steep, and there's a good chance you will scrape the front of your vehicle.)

This is the third Popeyes in the area. The first was built at 2830 S. Main St., where Hunan Garden is today. The original building featured black lava rock on the outside. Remember that? A fire destroyed that building and a new restaurant was constructed by Hunan Garden.

The Popeyes at 2130 S. Range Line Road was constructed in early 2013 on the former site of an Arby's that was destroyed by the 2011 tornado.

Let's hope the Yelp reviews for the Webb City location will be better than the ones expressed about the Joplin one. Talk about brutal reviews.

Art walk resumes

The First Thursday ArtWalk, now in its 17th season, resumes from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at five venues in downtown Joplin. Receptions are being held for some of the artists.

Natalie Avondet, of Monett, will be the featured artist at the Wall Avenue entrance to the Cornell Complex, 212 W. Seventh St. A ranger from the George Washington Carver National Monument, near Diamond, will be on hand in the lobby to introduce "Art in the Park" activities that will take place in April.

Also at the Cornell Complex will be the 2024 Small Works show in the Beshore Gallery. ArtWalk participants will get a first look at the auction inventory that has been donated by local artists. Funds raised benefit programs offered by the Spiva Center for the Arts.

The Joplin Avenue Coffee Co., 506 S. Joplin Ave., will present Eric Beezley and his abstract art. Artisan artists in the back room are Shawn Riley, Ashley Williams, Jared Cox and Valerie Ockert. Music will be by Dewyne Smith.

The Urban Art Gallery, 511 S. Main St., will feature Stacy Heydt in her first solo gallery show. Photography by Linda Teeter and works by other artists will be on display. Music will be by Tough Luck Chuck.

The colorful mixed media works of Amber Mintert will be shown at 530 Somewhere, 530 S. Main St. Club 609 will present the paintings of Brian May at 609 S. Main St.

Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.