When it’s hot and all the shades...

When it’s hot and all the shades are drawn to keep the heat out, you might drive right past the Yukon Square Shopping Center in Torrance without noticing Flossie’s restaurant, specializing in Southern Down Home Cooking.

Even when you look inside, it doesn’t seem like a very remarkable place--there are about 10 tables

that could have come out of any coffee shop in America, and in the rear is a cafeteria-style serving counter. There are no waitresses, and you stand in line to choose from the daily specials and extras.

But when you walk in the door, the unmistakable aroma of Southern cooking wafts over you, and it is then that you know this place is different, offering a touch of home-style Southern cooking not unlike that served in Alabama or Mississippi.

Depending on what day it is, you can choose from two or three entrees, which could include country fried chicken, smothered pork chops, country meatloaf or beef short ribs.

The country fried catfish is crispy and deliciously fresh, tasting as if it were pulled out of the water and thrown in a little cornmeal and then right into the frying pan. It comes with spicy hush puppies and, like all the other entrees, rice and gravy or macaroni and cheese, two vegetables, and corn bread muffins.

Whether you choose the tart collard greens, black-eyed peas, red beans, or a mixture of okra, tomatoes and corn, you have the perfect accompaniment to Flossie’s entrees. A lunch or dinner plate that includes a meat, two vegetables, one starch and bread goes for $6.44, including tax. The popular vegetable plate (all fresh) runs $5.36, including tax.

For $1.50, you can get a side order of candied yams, which are creamy and rich. Or you can save your sweet tooth for dessert, which features peach cobbler, bread pudding, sweet potato pie and other daily special desserts.

Born in 1928, Flossie Vence got her start watching her grandmother cooking in a boarding house in Cleveland, Miss. In 1946, she began working in her first restaurant and has been cooking ever since.

No matter where she has lived, she has found Southern cooking popular. Nothing fancy--just plain, good food.

“This is a one of my purposes in life,” she said, “to bring joy to others with a good meal.”

Flossie’s, 3566 Redondo Beach Blvd., Torrance. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. Closed Monday. (310) 352-4037