“W” is for Wood, Sylvia Pressley [1926-2012]. Restaurateur, author, businesswoman. Although born in Brooklyn, Wood and her mother moved to Hemingway to live with her maternal grandparents. It was here that Woods learned to cook traditional southern and African American food. In 1950 she moved to Harlem and in 1954 began waiting tables at Johnson’s Restaurant. Eight years later she purchased the restaurant with a loan from her mother who mortgaged the family farm to raise the money. Renaming the eatery Sylvia’s, it soon became one of New York’s hottest dining spots. The restaurant—that served simple southern dishes-- spawned a multi-million dollar business that included the Harlem restaurant, an Atlanta branch, cookbooks, and a successful line of packaged food products. Sylvia Pressley Woods became known as “the queen of soul food” with a worldwide reputation.
“W” is for Wood, Sylvia Pressley
