By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Before the first customer walks through the doors of Simply Soulful, Lillian Rambus is already moving. There is cleaning to do, supplies to restock, a soda machine to put back together, and a kitchen to prepare. Tables need to be ready, condiments need to be filled, and coffee needs to be made. It is the part of running a restaurant that customers rarely see.
“It is all just about preparation and getting everything ready for the customers to come in,” said Rambus.
For Rambus, those early hours are just the beginning of a day that rarely has a clear ending. As the owner and operator of Simply Soulful, her responsibilities extend far beyond the kitchen.
“Daily runs at the grocery store. For me, I am an owner-operator. I wake up in the morning and try to respond to emails before work. And after work, I am preparing catering orders and things like that,” said Rambus. “Every Thursday, we are doing payroll and having to get the numbers done. There are times where I have to communicate with the bookkeeper just trying to make sure that our books are up to date.”
The restaurant may have set hours, but Rambus’ work does not.
“[If you followed me around for a day] you would see that I don’t stop. No breaks. There are no breaks. Yesterday I went to work, I worked all day, and then I went to a meeting in the school district. After I came home from that, I responded to emails and texts, so I didn’t get to sleep till around 11:00 at night,” said Rambus. “And then on Sunday I came back from a school board meeting at 8:30, and I didn’t go to sleep till 2:30. But I still continually have emails I need to respond to and things like that. So, it’s not like an owner clocks in and clocks out like an employee. It’s a day-consuming thing.”
That constant demand has meant that some of the most important moments outside of the restaurant have happened without her. When Rambus first started her business, her children were 2, 6 and 8 years old. Now, they are 13, 17 and 19. The years in between have been filled with the realities of building a business while raising a family.
“I have sacrificed a lot of time with my children,” said Rambus. “Missing a lot of their football games and being able to participate in school functions, like PTA and field trips. I have just given up a lot of time with my family.”
But the same business that has demanded so much from Rambus has also become something personal for the people who walk through its doors. Some customers come in after a difficult day simply looking for somewhere to sit. Some stay for hours to work. Others come because the restaurant gives them a familiar feeling, a place where they can eat, talk and temporarily step away from whatever is happening outside.
“They want to come in. They want to relax. They want to be around the people and be somewhere that feels like home to them,” said Rambus. “It’s just the fact that people come in, and they mention that it feels like home to them. It’s a place where they can come and escape whatever’s going on in the day, listen to some good music and eat some good food.”
That feeling of home is intentional. Much of what Rambus serves at Simply Soulful is connected to her grandmother and the memories she carries from childhood. Before there was a restaurant, there were family meals and memories in her grandmother’s kitchen.
“I think that’s something that young kids don’t get to experience as much as we did. But just from being at my Grandma’s house, she always had desserts, pastry cakes, baked some pies, and always had a home-cooked meal at Grandma’s house,” said Rambus. “I remember being in the kitchen, and going out to the garden and getting stuff, bringing it back in, and preparing it.”
Those memories are now woven into the restaurant, and Rambus wants customers to taste more than a good meal. She wants them to recognize something familiar, like the kind of food that reminds them of home, family and the Black experience.
That connection to home and family can be found throughout Simply Soulful’s menu, where dishes are made from scratch using family recipes. Customers can find braised oxtails served in gravy over rice with collard greens and a cornbread muffin, shrimp and grits, and chicken and waffles, along with breakfast offerings such as a biscuit sandwich with egg, cheese and bacon.
“This food is very significant to our culture, community, and having that Black experience,” said Rambus. “A lot of people have said they come to the restaurant because I make things the way that their mom or grandma used to make.”
Her grandmother’s sweet potato pie is among the dishes that carry the deepest connection to that history. Rambus describes it as the restaurant’s signature dish and part of the foundation of how Simply Soulful grew.
“I think most people realize that my grandma’s sweet potato pie is probably our signature dish, and the way we started our business,” said Rambus. “So, being able to bring that to the public, from selling at the farmers’ markets to now being able to share her recipes and the things that she passed down with us, to the public has been like an evolution.”
What began in 2014 with selling food at a local farmers market eventually became a restaurant where those recipes could be shared with the public. Now, Rambus is thinking beyond the next customer or the next day’s preparation. Simply Soulful sits in Seattle’s Central District, an area with a long history of Black businesses and culture. For Rambus, maintaining a presence there is part of the restaurant’s larger purpose.
“We are the Black culture and history in the Central District, because we’re there, especially on the corner of 23rd and Jackson,” said Rambus. “I think that we preserve the history of Black business in the Central District.”
Simply Soulful is a participating restaurant in the Pack the House campaign, a 10-week community initiative presented by The Seattle Medium, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Byrd Barr Place and the Central Area Collaborative to encourage the community to intentionally support local Black-owned restaurants. For more information about the campaign, participating restaurants and weekly schedule, visit PackTheHouseSeattle.com.
