The scene on the broad, cracked sidewalk outside Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem looked like the opening of a department store sale, as tourists from around the world, in sneakers, shorts and T-shirts, along with other diners in waiting, some in their Sunday best, anticipated the moment when they could surge inside.

When the door opened at 12:30 p.m., about 100 customers pressed foward, eager for fried chicken, salmon croquettes, collard greens, candied yams, black-eyed peas and the live music of Sylvia’s Sunday gospel brunch.

For those for whom soul food has a literal meaning, the weekly four-hour feast, in which hundreds gather, was a reaffirming evocation of down home. For other toe-tapping diners, it was a plateful of black culture, a taste of church suppers, backyard cookouts and old-fashioned, black hospitality.

The only thing missing was the queen of soul food herself, the owner, Sylvia Woods. She doesn’t work on Sundays anymore. After 35 years of 15- and 16-hour days to establish her restaurant, on Lenox Avenue near 127th Street, as a temple of black Southern dining up North, Woods, 71, and husband Herbert, 72, are taking it a little easier.

They may need the energy: From modest beginnings in rural South Carolina, they are on the cusp of national success.

Woods’ mother mortgaged the family farm so that her daughter, then a waitress, and son-in-law, then a cabdriver, could open the restaurant in 1962. But now, investors led by the J.P. Morgan Community Development Corp. are helping to take the Woodses’ vision of a cozy place to break cornbread and transplant it across the country.

Woods, a round-faced woman with outsize eyeglasses and a generous smile, finds that prospect pleasing.

“We’ve come such a long ways, but in a sense it feels like it was just yesterday,” Woods says, with her husband at her side. “I put my life in this restaurant.”

Her regulars enjoy the couple’s success.

“I have watched their development,” says Percy Sutton, a leading Harlem businessman and former Manhattan borough president. “I know of no two more deserving and gracious people than the two of them. I am deliriously happy for them.”

The expansion began last February, when the first Sylvia’s branch opened in downtown Atlanta. Others are planned for Brooklyn, St. Louis and Baltimore.

Another arm of this food empire is being masterminded by their eldest son, Van DeWard Woods, 52: a Sylvia’s line of bottled spices, sauces, dressings and canned seasoned beans, greens and peas _ with Mrs. Woods’ smiling face on the front. The products are appearing on the shelves of specialty shops and supermarkets chains in New York and nationally, including D’Agostino, Pathmark and A&P; Food Emporium.

In recent years, Woods has given a nod to the calorie-conscious by offering a few items on her menu that are baked and grilled, not fried. She also seasons her collard greens with smoked turkey, rather than the traditional ham hocks, after some customers asked if they could get their greens sans pig.

Even with these accommodations, it’s still the same restaurant that has become world renowned.

Its very walls pronounce its fame. The central element of the decor, which Woods describes as “comfortable, decent and clean,” are photographs of many notable visitors.

The former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, media mogul Quincy Jones and actor Denzel Washington are among scores of those whose pictures are on display in the three cobbled-together rooms that make up Sylvia’s.

Winnie Mandela dined there three times. Diana Ross asked for seconds of Sylvia’s Sassy Rice. Muhammad Ali used to roam along the steam tables fetching his own biscuits. Spike Lee filmed a scene of his 1991 film Jungle Fever in a corner of the restaurant now memorialized with a huge autographed poster for the movie.

It has long been a favorite haunt for uptown’s power elite. Sutton remembered how over the years he held meetings at Sylvia’s with figures like Robert F. Kennedy and Jesse Jackson.

But whenever one of her customers asks Woods who was the most famous star to dine there, she responds with a rhetorical question and then answers it.

“Who’s the most famous star to come into the restaurant?” she asks warmly. “You.”

BREAD

BISCUIT DOUGH

If using this dough to make the Peach Cobbler (recipe given) do not roll, cut or bake as instructed here. Instead, follow cobbler instructions.

5 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

4 large eggs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine 5 cups flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Make a well in the center and add the milk, shortening, and eggs. Mix the wet ingredients by hand, and slowly work in the dry ingredients. The finished dough should be soft but not sticky. Adjust the amount of flour as necessary.

Set aside two greased 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pans. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 3-inch rounds. Place, sides touching, in the pans. Cover the biscuits lightly and allow to rest 10 to 15 minutes in a warm place.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the biscuits are a deep golden brown. Rotate the pan during cooking, if necessary, for even browning. Makes about 24 biscuits.

Per biscuit: 170 calories, 4 grams protein, 6 grams fat, 24 grams carbohydrates, 55 milligrams cholesterol, 331 milligrams sodium, 33 percent calories from fat.

SIDE DISH

COLLARD GREENS

Water

1 1/2 pounds smoked turkey wings

2 pounds collard greens, trimmed of thick stems, thoroughly washed, and chopped

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup rendered chicken fat*

In a 5- or 6-quart pot, place 4 cups water and the smoked turkey wings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 45 minutes. Skim foam from the broth once or twice, as needed. Stir the collard greens into the pot and add the salt, pepper and sugar. Drizzle with the chicken fat. Cook, covered, at a lively simmer, about 20 minutes or until the collard greens are tender. Check the seasonings, and allow the collard greens to sit for a few minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings. *To render chicken fat, remove the yellow fat from a chicken, place in a skillet over low heat and cook, turning, until fat melts.

Per serving: 250 calories, 17 grams protein, 15 grams fat, 13 grams carbohydrates, 50 milligrams cholesterol, 1,091 milligrams sodium, 54 percent calories from fat.

ENTREE

FRIED CATFISH

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

2 cups cracker meal or coarsely crushed unsalted crackers

2 pounds catfish fillets, about 1/2 inch thick, trimmed of skin and membrane

1 cup vegetable oil

In a small mixing bowl, combine garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of the fillets.

In a wide shallow dish, spread the cracker meal. Dredge the fillets in the meal, pressing gently so that the meal adheres to both sides. Shake off the excess, and set the fillets aside.

In a large heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until a bit of cracker meal in the oil gives off a lively sizzle. Fry the fillets, turning once, for about 4 minutes a side, until they are cooked through and golden brown. Drain on paper towels, and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 542 calories, 40 grams protein, 30 grams fat, 25 grams carbohydrates, 132 milligrams cholesterol, 608 milligrams sodium, 50 percent calories from fat.

DESSERT

PEACH COBBLER

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 (29-ounce) cans cling peach halves, drained

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup all-purpose flour plus more for rolling biscuit dough

3/4 cup water Unbaked Biscuit Dough (recipe given)

In a heavy 4-quart pot over low heat, melt 3/4 cup butter. Add the peach halves, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and vanilla. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook 1 minute. In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup flour with water; stir until smooth. Add to the peaches, and stir well. Simmer about 3 minutes or until the peach liquid is thickened and smooth.

Cool the peaches to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly, at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish. Flour a work surface, and roll out two-thirds of the Biscuit Dough into a 15-by-19-inch rectangle. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and fold the rectangle into thirds. Place the dough in the baking dish and unfold. Allow a 1-inch overhang around the edge of the pan, and trim off any excess. Spoon the chilled peach filling evenly onto the dough. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Roll out the remaining dough into a 9-by-13-inch rectangle. Place it over the peach filling, and press or crimp edges to seal them. Pierce top of dough several times with a fork.

Bake about 1 1/2 hours, or until crust is a deep golden brown and filling is set (it will barely jiggle when the pan is tapped). If necessary, rotate the dish during cooking to brown the crust evenly. Serve at room temperature. Makes 12 servings.

Per serving: 633 calories, 10 grams protein, 24 grams fat, 95 grams carbohydrates, 120 milligrams cholesterol, 571 milligrams sodium, 34 percent calories from fat.