Wanda McDowell and Ray Shearin enjoy the pleasure cooking brings to the lucky diners who have eaten their food. They started cooking early in life and continue today at “Wanda and Ray’s Southern Table,” a pop-up restaurant open only on Wednesday nights at Stone Soup in Landrum, S.C.

Both McDowell and Shearin have dreamed of having their own restaurant and they enjoy sharing their dream with people from the community. McDowell is known for her delicious soups. She makes them from scratch daily. Shearin is especially good at cooking and grilling meat, fish and frying chicken. Shearin is known as a “grill master” and prefers using hardwood chips and charcoal for the flavor it brings food. Their restaurant and menu is focused on providing good quality Southern comfort food. In fact McDowell’s collards are well known around town, as is Shearin’s pot roast with baby carrots, potatoes and brown gravy.
McDowell and Shearin have been married for more than 15 years and in that time both have worked at local restaurants but have found a home at Stone Soup. McDowell first worked at Stone Soup shortly after its opening in 2004 and stayed for five years. After a brief time away both McDowell and Shearin came back to Stone Soup and have enjoyed providing diners with good quality food. They wanted to have their own restaurant and Suzanne Strickland, the owner of Stone Soup, saw an opportunity to provide the community with another choice of dining venues. Thus a new restaurant was born and a dream came to fruition.
Their dream includes a love of cooking for others and a passion to provide the best possible food for their guests. McDowell and Shearin take pride and care in making their food and use local ingredients. Between them they have more than 50 years of cooking experience. McDowell and Shearin feel that if you’re going to do something, do something you love and do it well.
Stone Soup Restaurant and Wanda and Ray’s Southern Table are located at 1522 E. Rutherford St. Landrum, S.C., 29356.

-article submitted
by Suzanne Strickland