Chicken and dressing is our most popular item on the menu,” says Charles Cavallo, who owns the The Cupboard restaurant with his sons, Jeremy and Andrew.
They used to serve chicken and dressing only on Sundays and Thursdays. “They were our best days of the week three or four years ago,” he says, “but I started thinking, ‘If this is so popular, we should run this dish every day.’”
What makes it so good? “It all starts with the basics,” says Cavallo. “We have some of the finest cornbread in the world. The base for the dressing is the cornbread.”
They also use the stock from the boiled chicken in the dressing as well as the giblet gravy that goes on top of the chicken.
The Cupboard began serving chicken and dressing about two years after it opened in 1943, Cavallo says. “I saw some menus from that time. It dates back to that era.”
The Cupboard also offers the cornbread dressing as a side item.
The chicken and dressing has some competition for favorite dish, including beef tips and noodles and the grilled or fried catfish, not to mention the vegetable plate.
“Side dishes — I would say Italian spinach and our fried green tomatoes — are on the top of the vegetable dishes,” Cavallo says. “Fresh eggplant casserole is a top seller, and corn pudding. We have 20 different vegetables every day on the menu.”
And don’t forget the “homegrown Ripley tomatoes” in the summer.
Customers know they can enjoy vegetables just about any time they want at The Cupboard: “We do lunch and dinner every day, seven days a week.”
Cavallo was in the produce business before he bought the restaurant in 1992. “The Cupboard was one of my first stops every morning.”
At the time, the restaurant “was a very small operation,” he says. “Just 40 seats back then at 1495 Union. I noticed their business was always consistent. Other restaurants would have a real good month or slow month.”
Cavallo says he really “had no intention” of buying a restaurant, but he thought if he ever did, it would be The Cupboard. “It so happened that dream came true.”
The Cupboard is located at 1400 Union Ave.
