Cooking
with Soul

Although many of the offerings at Corinne’s Place are cornerstones of southern cooking, Bradley-Powers was born and raised in Camden. “Often times when people come in, they ask me ‘What part of the South are you from?’ I say, ‘South Jersey.’ They say, ‘Where is your mother from?’ I say, ‘South Jersey.’”

But her family tree is rooted in the Deep South. Her grandparents are from Waycross, in the southernmost part of Georgia near the Okefenokee Swamp. “I’ve never been there,” she said.

After graduating from Camden High School, Bradley-Powers worked for several years as a bookkeeper for the Camden County probation office. She enrolled at Rutgers–Camden in 1975, one year after her daughter was born. While studying, she worked on campus in the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) office as a counselor, and later as a peer counselor on campus. “I had a very pleasant experience at Rutgers,” she said, although she noted it wasn’t all smoothing sailing. “There weren’t a lot of minorities at that time,” she said. “I did experience some racism.” In one class, for example, she felt that the papers she wrote were graded unfairly. To prove it, a fellow EOF counselor who was white and who had very good grades wrote a paper and Bradley-Powers submitted it as hers. That paper earned another bad grade. Bradley-Powers took her case to dean, who supported her and was very helpful. “It almost broke my spirit for a second,” she said, “but I wasn’t going to quit.”

With the exception of that class, Bradley-Powers enjoyed most of her courses and professors, particularly one English teacher who told her, “You are the kind of student who makes my job worthwhile.”

When she completed her bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1979, it was a memorable day. “Graduation was wonderful,” she said. “My mom was there. My daughter was there. It was almost like winning this James Beard Award.”

Her connection to Rutgers extends to another generation in her family. She is proud that her grandsons Kiandre and KaRon Davis have followed her in her footsteps: Kiandre is a junior art major at Rutgers University–Camden; KaRon recently earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Rutgers University–Newark.

After earning her degree, she went back to the probation office, working as a counselor for the Juvenile Resource Center, where she considered the young people she helped as “my kids.” She explained to each one her plans for them. “I sat my kids down and said, ‘Let me tell you this. When you leave this office, you can’t say nobody cared.’ Cause a lot of kids, they grow up and nobody cared. You won’t be able to say that here. If you are my baby, I care.’”

She often went above the call of duty, pulling young people out of rough situations, including once going into a motorcycle gang’s clubhouse to the aid of a young woman. She often showed support at court hearings to help them get back on their feet, and often would take young people out to dinner and teach them about food and table manners.

Although she left the probation office after seven years, she continued her efforts with youth, hiring and mentoring hundreds who have worked at Corinne’s Place over the years. Many young people she hired came to her after dropping out of school, and she guided them back to earn high school diplomas. “Children are my ministry,” she said. “I draw from their energy.”

Bradley-Powers always loved to cook and learned much from her mother, whom she said was an excellent cook. “Cooking was my hobby,” she said, adding she enjoyed it while working for the probation office. “I could go and work with my kids and then I would come home and unwind cooking.”

In the ’70s, while studying at Rutgers–Camden and later working for the probation office she began a catering business on the side. After her catering business grew and she left the probation office, she bought the building at 1254 Haddon Avenue and opened the restaurant in 1989.

In the early going, earning a prestigious award seemed unlikely for Corinne’s Place. When she told her husband, mother, and daughter after the first week in business that they had taken in only $150, they suggested she close down. She rolled her eyes at them. The next week they took in $175, enough to buy more food. With each week earnings grew until the restaurant was a success. “They say when you open a business you should have backup money,” she said. “I didn’t have any backup money. I had crazy faith. I never even thought about failing.”

Even though she sold the business in 2019 and now serves as a consultant, she remains the primary driver of the franchise that bears her name. Her food has long earned rave reviews, particularly her fried chicken, which customers often ask about. “People ask me, ‘What is your seasoning? What do you do?’” she said. “A lot of people dip it in egg. I don’t do anything like that. I wash it really good and put on seasoning, salt, and black pepper. And I rub it in and put love in it. I put love and a prayer in it.”

Another favorite is Cajun turkey wings, which with fried chicken are the foundation of a menu that also includes fried catfish and pig feet. Are all the recipes hers? “Every last one,” she said.

But there’s more to Corinne’s Place than her recipes. The conversations she has had from table to table for three decades have resulted in deep relationships that have sustained her and the restaurant she founded. “It’s not just a food thing,” Bradley-Powers said. “Customers talk. They share with me about their families or about their problems, and we embrace them.”

Her longevity as a caterer and restaurant owner has connected her to thousands in the city of Camden and beyond, including the famous (Danny Glover has been there several times, as well as many well-known athletes) and not-so-famous.

At its heart, Corinne’s Place is a hometown treasure. Her customers form an enormous extended family of those she has fed, those who have worked for her, and those she has mentored. She has touched more people in Camden than she can ever count. “I believe that’s one of the reasons why God favored me with this award,” she said.