BALTIMORE — After spending 25 years serving our country, a Navy veteran is now serving in a different way.
Chef Que is serving up a true taste of the south at her restaurant Creole Soul.
"We cook from a ancestral place, from the heart to feed the soul," Chef Que said.
Offering a signature gumbo, along with other heightened dishes, Shunquita Neal started Creole Soul as a catering company back in 2018. But as word of mouth grew, so did her business.
"To have something that was really authentic and would really hit Baltimore and give them that New Orleans southern experience," said Chef Que.
But her time serving hasn't always been in the restaurant.
"I served 25 years as a logistics specialist in the military," Chef Que said.
Stationed at Andrews Air force Base, Neal retired from the military in 2021 and decided to set roots in Baltimore.
"My children have been with me the whole time," she said. "During my military travels, I was able to shadow some of the chefs over in France, shadow some of the chefs over in Spain. So when I got back they were surprised to see how expanded my culinary skills had become and they just encouraged me to start this restaurant."
Even though she started the restaurant business later in life, her culinary skills started at a young age, cooking with her grandma down in Georgia.
"It was just an amazement to see that the way she cooked transferred into a love language," she said.
And this was a language she had to learn.
"The dishes that we grew, that I grew to learn to cook were from her and it just started a really big passion in me," said Chef Que. "Just remembering those Sunday dinners with her, getting up cleaning in the morning, cooking and bringing all the family to the dinner table."
Also having roots in New Orleans makes for the perfect recipe.
"Just kinda having that mixture of Georgia and Louisiana, just having that perfect fusion of what southern really is, has just been amazing," Chef Que said.
While she can't pick one favorite dish, there is a top three.
"Kitchen sink gumbo," she said. "And then we also have our shrimp and grits, and you can never go wrong when shrimp and grits are made right. And then I can't forget our red velvet cornbread."
Chef Que says to keep an eye out as negotiations are underway to expand to another location.
