Some like it hot. Others like it soulful. However you prefer your favorite Southern foods, you’ll find it on the menu at Ann’s Best Creole and Soul Food Café.

The restaurant opened recently at the Richland Airport and it offers breakfast and lunch six days a week.

Ann Lockhart is owner, general manager and chief cook. At 5 a.m. she’s in the kitchen making gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya and her family’s other Southern specialties. Her husband, Willie, takes over the kitchen later in the morning making the wings and waffles, omelets and French toast for breakfast and the po boy sandwiches, burgers and wraps for lunch. Lockhart’s been in the restaurant business for more than two decades at various places in the Tri-Cities.

“But where people will remember me from is the food truck,” she said.

The food truck — Also Ann’s Best Creole & Soul Food — has been parked for the winter, but you’ll see it at various wineries and special events come spring.

Angela Lockhart said making a decision to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant was a fairly easy.

“This way our customers can have a place to come all the time,” Lockhart said. “We were taking the truck to Hanford to a place where we had to be badged and so did our customers. It was an inconvenience and we lost our customer base. With a brick and mortar they can come in six days a week.”

Having a restaurant has also allowed the Lockharts to expand the menu at Ann’s Best Creole & Soul Food Café.

In addition to traditional Louisiana gumbo, etouffee and jambalaya Willie Lockhart also whips up his signature wings-n-waffles, buttermilk biscuits with creole sausage gravy, Po’ Boy Sandwiches, smothered liver and grits, Southern-infused wings and burgers.

The recipes are all family favorites handed down from Angela Lockhart’s Louisiana grandmother.

Ann’s Best Creole & Soul Food Café can seat 65 and is a place the whole family can enjoy. They don’t serve any alcohol but have a wide variety of soft drinks, coffee and tea.

“And this time of year, hot chocolate’s always good,” she said.

Prices range from $5-$10.50 for breakfast and $6-$14 for lunch.

Ann's Best Creole & Soul Food Cafe is open from 6:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 1901 Terminal Dr. in Richland. For more information call 509-947-3011 or find the business on Facebook. Check the Facebook page frequently for updates on any specials and for holiday/bad weather closures.