50 April 2022
Soul food revival
Henley's Vintage Kitchen serves Southern home cooking
with a spirit of community
BY JANET GIBSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM
Michael Henley and his wife, Marilyn, take pride in the
made-to-order, lip-smacking, hand-clapping good food
– from old-fashioned eggs and biscuits for breakfast
to the well-seasoned oxtails, rack of ribs, fried chicken
wings and more at lunch and dinner.
I
t's been a while since Murchison
Road had a soul food restaurant,"
says Michael Henley, aer cooking
up yet another big pot of collard
greens for the lunchtime crowd.
Now he's working the dining
room, chatting up a table of his minister
brothers who favor the fried catfish with
grits, salmon croquettes, hamburger steak
and chitterlings, or chitlins, if you will.
Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner
Tuesday through Saturday – and Sunday
brunch, too, for the aer-church crowds –
Henley's Vintage Kitchen, near Fayetteville
State University, has been feeding the masses
since opening its doors in September 2021.
GOOD EATS
The Rev. Raymond Henley admires a collard sandwich from the table he shares with fellow pastors Driscull Hendley, Bishop
Fredrick Hendley and Daril Hendley. Waitress Shanecia Taylor keeps the coffee flowing.
