Down-Home Delights

“I cook the food I was raised on and that’s what I serve to the people who eat here,” says LaShunn Harper, owner of Dialo’s Cafe, a cozy spot for down-home food on M-139 in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

The only soul food restaurant in the area, Dialo’s offers a full range of southern soul food options, including smothered pork chops, fried chicken, barbecued ribs and tips, and an intriguing variety of fish: Besides perch, tilapia and catfish, there’s bluegill and buffalo fish. And Harper’s not afraid to mix it up with Cajun dishes such as chicken and shrimp pasta in a cream sauce and, during wintry weather, gumbo. There’s also a touch of Italian (think Italian sausage and spaghetti with red sauce and meatballs) and several varieties of tacos. Daily offerings are listed on a white board above the cash register.

Harper honed his cooking skills from an early age, learning from his grandmother Pearlie Mae Harper, who moved to the area from down South with his grandfather in the late 1920s. Pearlie was known for her cooking, particularly her desserts, including cakes, peach cobbler and banana pudding. Generations of his family foraged and hunted to put food on the table. Harper helped tend the large garden his parents planted every year and collaborated with his father, a grill master who at one time ran a food truck. The recipe for the hickory-smoked barbecue sauce that cooks slowly in the kitchen is a family secret passed down through generations. And now Harper’s daughter La’Shunn assists in managing the front of the house and cooks alongside her dad.

“I guess you could say that cooking is part of my DNA,” says Harper, who was a chef while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. “When I was a kid, I’d take a recipe that had a photo with it and try to cook it so it looked just like the picture. So I guess I knew I always wanted to own a restaurant.”

Growing vegetables when young taught Harper an appreciation of farm-to-table fresh. In addition, his sense of community inspires him to purchase locally as much as possible. Many of the farms where he buys produce—Summerfeldt Farms in Benton Harbor and Fred Leitz Farms in Sodus—are just down the road from the restaurant.

Harper emphasizes not only “food that’s good for your soul,” but healthy dining as well. “We don’t use any processed foods and we make most everything in-house,” he says.

Soulfood Sundays are the restaurant’s busiest time. In the time-honored Southern way, there’s a set price for meat with sides, nicknamed “meat and 2” (or 3), with lots of choices—because when it comes to Southern soul food, sides rule. The list is long and includes collard greens, cornbread, mac-and-cheese, candied yams, fried green tomatoes, a bean dish of the day, cabbage, fried okra and a starch of the day.

There’s nothing fancy about Dialo’s Cafe, just good cooking and a sense of pride in Benton Harbor. Photos of the first Black residents of Benton Harbor to break barriers—mayor, bank teller, beauty salon owner, etc.—hang on the wall. This can-do spirit is reflected in a framed quote from Thomas Edison: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

For Harper, who weathered the pandemic and is willing to work 16 hours a day between his catering business, food truck and restaurant, that is a mistake he is not likely to make.

Dialo’s Cafe

1924 M-139

Benton Harbor, MI

269.757.7200

dialoscafe.com

Jane Simon Ammeson lives in Southwest Michigan. She writes about food, travel and personalities. Follow Jane at janeammeson.com.