Boujhetto's Soul Food Restaurant, Columbus

Boujhetto's owner Marlene Carson didn't always think she was going to own a soul-food joint; in fact, the eatery grew out of her work starting Rahab's Hideaway, a local shelter and resource center for victims of human trafficking. Carson, as she described to NBC, is herself a survivor of trafficking, and founded Rahab's Hideaway to help women put their lives back on track. Boujhetto's gives a leg up to Rahab's clients by offering training and employment cooking and serving soul food. The eatery has been lauded on Oprah.com and profiled on NBC for helping empower women to build solid new lives for themselves.

Boujhetto's menu contains plenty of Southern-style food, from breakfasts of grits, sausage, and chicken and waffles to entrees of crispy-fried pork chops. In the sandy-yellow dining room, visitors chow down on items such as burgers, fish sandwiches, chicken and waffles, Kool-Aid Pickles, and Grippo's wings. The restaurant also hosts special community enrichment events during after hours.