Melba Wilson likes to say she was born, bred and buttered in Harlem. And while she spent most of her years in the city, her summers took her to the South Carolina countryside, gardening and cooking alongside her grandmother. It seems as though her trajectory to the kitchen was inevitable as Sylvia Woods of the famous Sylvia's restaurant was her aunt. After years learning the business at Sylvia's, Rosa Mexicano and Windows of the World, Wilson was ready to strike out on her own. Using American comfort food as the vehicle, Woods opened her restaurant in 2005 on the corner of 114th and Frederick Douglass as a way to serve her community.
20 years in business later, Melba's has become a tried and true friend to locals and celebrities alike. Yes, the fried chicken and waffles that infamously beat Bobby Flay all those years ago are still in play here, and for good reason—the fried chicken, your choice of dark or white meat, still comes to the table steaming hot, encased in a salty, craggly crust that crunches and gives way to juicy meat inside. The fluffy eggnog waffle it sits upon served with a curl of strawberry butter makes it even sweeter. But Wilson doesn't just rely on the classics here. Infusing a bit of neo-soul into her cookery, you can find egg rolls filled with black-eyed peas and collard greens and deviled eggs dusted with cornmeal. While over the years Wilson has begun to expand her reach, with fast-casual offshoots in the Prudential Center and Grand Central Terminal, we are still so ever grateful that her home base in Harlem is still here and still shining.