Catering professionally since 2019, Tye Pope hadn’t really been thinking about opening her own restaurant. Deeply faithful with an effervescent personality, she was happy to serve dozens of folks at a time through her company, Heaven’s Countertop.
However, her soul food suddenly got massive attention on social media and a timely business popping up led her to open Heaven’s Countertop as a restaurant on Hertel Avenue in August.
Located in the former Je Ne Sais Quoi on the ground floor of the Hertel Park Senior Apartments, Tye’s restaurant serves up soul food classics like barbecue ribs, fried chicken, and pork chops. Like Je Ne Sais Quoi before it and Loud House Buffalo down the street, Heaven’s Countertop is helping to put North Buffalo on the local soul food map.
I recently popped in unannounced, and Tye greeted me enthusiastically with a smile. She invited me to sit down for a short chat, despite the steady pace of customers coming in to pick up takeout orders or sit down for a meal. She started out by telling me that former Buffalo Common Council president and pastor Darius Pridgen helped her then-catering company get the attention needed to take the next step…