Originally from Detroit, Jade moved to the Butler County area 10 years ago, and started her business in 2018 on Yankee Road, where she set up tents and cooked outside to serve the Middletown community with her homemade meals. “Growing up with my Grandmother, she taught me everything. I still remember her recipes, but as I got older, I started making my own recipes,” Jade says. “I still use her recipes daily because she was the best.” Mz. Jade’s Soul Food Cafe then moved to the Middletown’s Pendleton Art Center and then to Murphy’s Landing.

Now she’s moved the business again to its new home in the former Gracie’s at 1131 Central Ave. Mz. Jade says she’s “excited to finally have a fully loaded soul food restaurant and a liquor license.” The business is indeed a family business with her sister serving as the bar manager and her son and fiancee in the kitchen. The menu is packed with soul food favorites including greens, smothered pork chops, catfish and oxtails. But if you can only try one thing, Mz Jade say’s “don’t miss the meatloaf. You can have it smothered in gravy, bbq sauce or plain, but like everything else on her menu it’s made with love. She says she learned that from her grandmother and she’s proud of the comfort food she’s serving, just like she got growing up at her grandmother’s table.

On the weekend Mz. Jade offers a special extensive seafood menu, but she shared with us you can get their three seafood boils any night of the week when you dine in.

Once she settles into the new space she’s also thinking of adding a Southern brunch on Sunday that will feature fish and grits, salmon patties and more.