There are uptown soul food restaurants in sleek high rent districts and there are real soul food restaurants. Strick's Grill, 168 Hunt St., in downtown Marietta is the real thing - and it's the food that counts.

Serving traditional Southern fare with genuine Southern hospitality, Strick's is that meat-and-three place Marietta seems to have so few of.

"We serve soul food," said owner Winston Strickland in his melodic Southern drawl. On the lunch menu, which changes daily, you'll find comfort foods such as macaroni-and-cheese, pinto beans, black-eyed peas and collards, all seasoned to perfection.

When I visited Strick's, I enjoyed the best-fried chicken I've had in a long, long time, and it was cooked right there to order. Miss D's fried chicken is hard to beat.

Dora Collins or "Miss D," as she is called by those who frequent Strick's, is the matriarch at the helm of the kitchen. In addition to serving up fried chicken for 32 years at Strick's, she's the one cooking pork chops, baked chicken, salmon patties, barbecue ribs and oxtails.

When you visit Strick's, make sure to try the peach cobbler. "My mother's peach cobbler," said Strickland. "We have it all four days." His mother's recipes inspire the entire menu, he said.

Strick's, (770) 427-4373, open Wednesday through Saturday from 7:30 a..m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch, is not only a place to find traditional Southern fare, it's a meeting place for the community. When I was there, I encountered prominent politicians, a doctor, lawyer and businessmen.

Strickland, who opened the grill in 1977, was encouraged in his endeavor by a man named Charlie Hunter. "He (Hunter) did real well in a grill like mine," explained the father and grandfather. "I wanted to do something a little bigger."

A sharecropper's son, Strickland wanted a better life. He trained to be a barber and opened his first shop on Fairground Street. Later, he opened the complex where the grill is located along with a barber and beauty shop and laundromat.

A self-made man, Strickland says, "I've had a lot of people's help and a lot of counsel around me. When they'd see me leaning in the wrong direction, they'd put me back on the straight and narrow way."

"My mother taught me that you work hard, treat people right and when you find something's wrong you straighten it out," he said. "Do good in anything you put your hand into," he added, "And in the meantime you've got to give back to the community."

Strickland, whose philosophy has brought success in his business endeavors is quick to say, "God has been good."

"We've been around a long time."