Thomas’ Promises

Dining at Thomas’ Promises is a rare experience. I don’t say that just because it is currently a pop-up operation, open only every other Sunday. It’s rare because it is so homespun — a three-generations family operation — and so downright delicious.

The menu is meat-and-two, the meats being chicken and pork chops that can be had fried, smothered, herb-baked, or grilled. Fried chicken comes encased in a crisp coat radiant with herbs: a masterpiece. Baked chicken is another herbed wonder, ridiculously tender and quite literally dripping flavor. For St. Patrick’s Day, the kitchen offered distinctive take on corned beef & cabbage in which shreds of briny beef and cabbage intertwined with carrots and potatoes in a swirly medley.

Vegetables include collard greens that are cooked with intensely flavorful smoked turkey rather than pork, earthy black-eyed peas, rice & gravy, string beans, sweet corn, and secret-recipe mac & cheese that is butter-rich and vividly cheesy. All meals come with a dinner roll or sweet cornbread muffin.

For dessert, layer cakes made by Aikenite Sherod Sockwell include citrus-bright Key lime and ethereal coconut.

The Thomas family, who cook, host, and wait tables in this industrious Sunday-supper enterprise, include Traci Thomas, the self-proclaimed “cook without a book,” chef Tia Thomas, and 14-year-old Nazyia Thomas, who diligently takes care of customers.

First responders, military service members, and people with a church bulletin get 10% off the cost of a meal.

If you plan on going, check the Facebook page of Traci Thomas to find out which Sunday Thomas’ Promises will be open and exactly where it will be serving. Most recently, starting in June, 2019, it is serving from the Disabled American Veterans hall at 2194 Columbia Highway N. in Aiken, SC.