What it doesn’t explain is that the emergency involves owner and operator Carol Hampton, who suffered a heart attack in late July, and has since had to close up shop.
Six days out of the hospital, Hampton said on Monday, Aug. 13 that she was doing better. However, she has plans to permanently close the restaurant at 809 Central Ave. in September.
She said the closure is not due to health reasons, but instead a lack of a full-service kitchen.
“I’m not actually closing Heart N’ Soul, but I’m closing that location,” she said. “I wanted so bad to go down and open up. I was told (by doctors) to relax and take it easy. It’s really hard to take it easy. I’m a worker bee, always been a worker bee.”
Although she enjoys the downtown atmosphere, participating in such events as the recent Tracy City Center Association car show, Tracy Downtown Plaza festivities and annual Dry Bean Festival, Hampton said she now wants a location that enables her to offer a full menu of her southern style cooking.
“I’m still going to do catering, except right now I need a physical location to place my business with a full kitchen,” she said. “A place that I can go that is reasonable and I can cook full course meals.”
Hampton opened her Central Avenue restaurant on Sept. 14, 2011, offering barbecue dishes of ribs, tri-tip, chicken and links. She augmented her business a few months later by adding specialty nights with live music, karaoke and comedy.
Hampton said her immediate goal now to focus on her health as she searches for a new location to call home for the Heart N’ Soul Cafe.
“I want to stay in Tracy,” she said. “I want to open a full, complete southern restaurant in Tracy.”
• Contact Denise Ellen Rizzo at 830-4225 or drizzo@tracypress.com
Get well soon Ms. Hampton. We miss you and your wonderful food.