Fish-N-Grits 

Rochelle Koff8/16/2011

Married 24 years, Shironna & Jeffery Fuller opened Fish-N-Grits in November. While it’s around the corner from the Sunrise Cinema, it’s hard to find unless you’re looking for it. A reader who’s a fan of Fish-N-Grits wrote us about the place in the hopes “more people will try it.”  It’s easy to root for this family business. Jeffery, who has health issues related to a kidney transplant, supervises the small kitchen, and Shironna helps her brother, Corey Rozier, with the cooking. Their son Jeffery Jr. and her nephew Justin Bass work the front.

The menu is extensive, with barbecue, burgers, pasta, New Orleans-style fare like po-boys and crawfish boil, plus specialties like their signature fish and grits. Everything is cooked to order, so the pace can be slow, but we never felt neglected, especially with constant refills of homemade lemonade and sweet tea (they don’t have a beer and wine license).

Ambience: From the outside, Fish-N-Grits looks like a basic storefront restaurant. But step inside, and the room is warm and cheerful, filled with homey aromas. Sit down to a glass of sweet tea and heaping plates of red beans and smoked sausage or Southern-fried frog legs, and you’ll soon feel like you’re dining in the kitchen of a dear friend. On one late-night visit, when we were the last customers, my Southern husband and co-owner Shironna Fuller got into a discussion about savory vs. sweet cornbread, and she smiled proudly as we oohed and ahhed over her sweet potato soufflé (her mom’s recipe).

What Worked

• Divine conch fritters fried in light, slightly crisp patties and spiked with Cajun seasonings, a medley of bell peppers, onions, lots of conch and some “secret” ingredients
• House-made sassy, rémoulade-style “pow pow” sauce
• Deep, rich gumbo made with a whole chicken (watch out for bones) and andouille sausage, okra, corn, bell peppers, fresh and crushed tomatoes and lots of spices
• Moist and flaky fresh yellowtail snapper -lightly dusted, pan-seared, topped with a mound of onions, green peppers, andouille sausage and bacon and set upon a mound of cheesy grits.
• Shrimp and grits
• Jumbo shrimp stuffed with crabmeat
• Chicken Shironna - a medley of chicken, shrimp and crawfish
• Jambalaya - a huge, delicious serving of shrimp, chicken, andouille sausage, bell peppers and onions with lots of garlic and spices nestled in a mound of fluffy rice
• Ultra rich mac and cheese (made with five types of cheese)
• Tender, pressure-cooked collard greens
• Hot and cinnamony sweet potato soufflé
• Oh-so-decadent fried strawberry shortcake
• Peach cobbler
• Warm bread pudding a la mode