atlanta good eats tagged interest

Darrell Kelley's Soul Delicious is the name of a new restaurant opening in place of the former Legends Cafe.

The new eatery will occupy the iconic Tiki-inspired building that once ran as a tourism welcome center. It will open Nov. 1.

Growing up, cooking soul food was a family affair for Kelley as much as his faith. Big Sunday dinners after church were a tradition, and Kelley says he's strived to bring that warm and welcoming family meal atmosphere to his former restaurant and hopes to do the same in Lake County.

The Atlanta-area restaurant offered a soul food buffet, including chicken, collard greens, cornbread and other staples, and stayed in operation as Soul Delicious until 2019.

A Chinese buffet occupied it before Kelley took over and rebranded it as Soul Delicious. This confused some patrons because he kept some Asian favorites like eggrolls and served catfish and other soul food staples.

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"I called it 'Blackenese,'" Kelley said with a laugh. Eventually, the restaurant evolved into an all-soul food destination, and Kelley, also a singer, would perform there with his gospel band.

"Everybody loved it," Kelley told the Daily Commercial. "People would come and enjoy themselves."

By the looks of the Georgia spot's reviews on Yelp, Kelley has a shot of making the Soul Delicious, version 2.0, work if he can stay on top of the day-to-day business and hire reliable servers. His knowledge of soul food seems to be on point.

Along with being an entrepreneur and performer, he's a bishop and has written a book about his faith in God. It's named after his ministry, UWGEAM, which stands for "God of the Universe, God of the World, God of all gods, God of everything, and God of anything including me."

Outside of operating a restaurant and providing spiritual inspiration, Kelley has sung RandB pop tunes with attention-getting names like "Big Woman" and has spoken out against injustices.

Now 58, Kelley misses serving soul food to the public and fell in love with the kitschy Tiki-like building on U.S. 441 in Fruitland Park. He saw it on a road trip to The Villages.

"I saw this wonderful, beautiful building and it had a sign for a lease," Kelley told the Daily Commercial. "So, I called the gentleman who owned it and decided to put a restaurant in there. He (Barry Light) was very great to work with. And we came on with some good terms."

Lake County residents have posted concerns about the building being in disrepair, but Kelley insisted that the owner has worked on extensive improvements. He also said he's open to ideas about events and community involvement.

"Darrell Kelley is not your normal church bishop," The Source said of Kelley in 2019.

"The full-time pastor of a church in Atlanta is also an author, entrepreneur and singer/songwriter, and it’s his most recent single that has those within the conservative religious community scratching their heads. But Bishop Kelley loves the attention," the magazine said of his single, "I'm So High."

Kelley advocates for social justice and human rights. He has written and performed songs about the school mass shootings and the war in the Ukraine ("Insane in the Ukraine").

"My goal is to help stop police brutality and racism through the use of socially conscious music that directly addresses the injustices that continue to happen in the Black community," said Kelley in a PR Newswire release, speaking as the founder of the UWGEAM Ministry.

"I am very concerned that too many of our supposed national leaders are not as impactful or relevant as they should be and I believe using music to affect positive change, is as effective in today's society, as it has been historically," he said.

For now, Kelley is focused on his new venture in Fruitland Park.

"We're gonna have a very friendly environment," he said. "We're gonna go ahead and try to serve the community as best as we can and give them quality and cleanliness."