shaggy’s – pass christian, MS

8/2/14

It was a Saturday, and Nikki and I were on our way back from a weekend in Louisiana. We had been meaning to do dinner with friends of ours who live in Long Beach, and this seemed like the perfect chance.

Shaggy’s has been serving locals at the Pass Christian Harbor since it opened in 2007.

The atmosphere is fun and laid back, a nice little escape from the “real world.”

The menu offers what you’d expect from any waterfront dining establishment, a heavy dose of fresh seafood. If you’re not into seafood, they also have a burger, pulled pork sandwich, chicken quesadillas, ribeye, Cobb salad, etc.

We started with an appetizer, fried green tomatoes topped with crab meat. They were good, but not the best we’ve had. (They definitely get points for the crab meat option though.)

Our friend Elijah ordered an oyster poboy. Neither of us tasted it, but he demolished it pretty quickly if that’s any indication.

Nikki went with one of our favorite things to order on any menu anywhere, fish tacos. Again… they were good, but not the best we’ve had. We always recommend Rosie’s (Daphne) and Felix’s (Spanish Fort) if you’re into fish tacos.

Elijah’s wife Macie and I both went with the “Off the Hook!” grilled fresh fish sandwich. It was very tasty and the grilled pineapple is a nice touch, but I think I still like the grouper sandwich at George’s at Alys Beach more. It’s probably what I’ll compare all fish sandwiches to, until we find a better one.

We were all pretty full, but I talked the four of us into splitting a piece of cheesecake for dessert. I wasn’t that impressed, but Nikki liked it.

Aside from the food, you have to appreciate the views of the harbor and Biloxi Bay.

When we were first seated around 6:45 I said, “Hey if we stay here long enough, we can catch the sunset.” We did, and it was totally worth it.

We even took a short stroll out to the waterfront and just hung out and talked for a while, which was heavenly. I know we’re technically not blogging about a body of water… or a sunset… but you can’t help but give a restaurant points when they provide a location that is within walking distance of shots like this.

Give Shaggy’s in Pass Christian a try. It might not be a place where you will be absolutely blown away by the food, but if you time it out to catch the sunset, it could make for a memorable experience, especially if you’re in good company.

SHAGGY’S PASS HARBOR
120 Hiern Avenue
Pass Christian, MS 39571
228-452-9939

kenner seafood – kenner, LA

8/1/14

It was a Friday, and we had spent all day at the Blue Bayou water park in Baton Rouge. We knew we wanted something good for dinner, something local, something Louisiana.

Kenner, if you’re not familiar, is a city that is northwest of New Orleans, and Kenner Seafood has been serving locals and travelers (like us) alike for 18 years.

In addition to being a restaurant, it’s also a seafood market… if you want to buy the little critters and take them home and cook them yourself.

Let me take this opportunity, right off the bat, to say how friendly and accommodating the staff is. We were walking around looking for potential photo angles and we ended up telling the hostess that we were food bloggers. Immediately she announced it to her coworkers and ushered me behind the counter and behind the glass so I could get this beautiful shot. I felt like royalty…

The space, to us, is just right… neither too big nor too small.

It can accommodate slightly larger parties, but you won’t get lost coming back from the bathroom. Also you don’t want your neighborhood seafood market to be huge; you want it to be somewhat intimate… maybe even a little, dare I say, exclusive, if you’re a borderline food snob… or full-blown food snob for that matter.

The menu offers what you’d expect from a seafood market in south Louisiana, plenty of fresh seafood. I’m not sure what you’d be doing here if you weren’t into seafood, but if that’s the case, they also have plenty of other offerings: burgers, red beans and rice, spaghetti and meatballs, eggplant parmesan, etc.

We started off with a cup of gumbo. It was pretty solid. Maybe not the absolute best we’ve ever had, but definitely worth ordering. Also let me add that it is seafood gumbo… no chicken or sausage or any of that unwanted stuff in here. On a side note, they do offer chicken andouille gumbo, if you’re into that. Anyway, this little cup was emptied quickly.

For our entree, we decided to split a seafood platter complete with…

-Fried shrimp

-Fried fish

-Fried frog legs

-Stuffed crab

-Mac-n-cheese

-Cajun potatoes

Everything was fresh and very tasty. We loved the variety, and it was just the right amount of food.

One of my new-found favorite foods is frog legs. We seriously at first glance thought they had brought us chicken legs. Look at this thing! Nikki doesn’t care to try them, so that works out for me, as I adore them. That’s not a child’s size fork either.

Maybe you’d expect a restaurant with such solid seafood offerings to sit on its laurels when it comes to dessert… maybe sneak in a frozen cheesecake or store-bought pie… not at Kenner Seafood. This was some of the best bread pudding either of us has ever had. And the rum sauce is too good to leave any on the plate!

There’s a reason why their Urbanspoon score is so high and they earn honors like this one from the Gambit.

If you’re in the New Orleans area and are craving fresh seafood in a family-friendly setting, we highly recommend Kenner Seafood. And it’s less than half an hour from downtown! You won’t be disappointed.

KENNER SEAFOOD
3140 Loyola Drive
Kenner, LA 70065
504-466-4701

jeff’s creole grille – metairie, LA

7/26/14

It was a Saturday. Nikki was working all weekend and I knew my mom and my aunt were driving over to visit my grandmother in Metairie, so I decided to tag along… So the Pairing wasn’t really operating as a pair, but… anyway…

I had found Jeff’s on Urbanspoon, and it seemed to be getting good reviews and had a diverse enough menu to be able to satisfy all of us.

The menu offers Southern go-to’s such as shrimp poboys, fried pork chops, and pot roast as well as more delicate dishes like pasta Florentine and Cobb salad.

My mom ordered the spinach salad with shrimp ($14.95)… grilled shrimp on a bed of fresh spinach with chopped egg, tomato, mushrooms… The picture doesn’t do it justice.

I finally settled on the catfish platter ($13.95). I actually almost sent it back because the strips of fish looked so much like chicken fingers. I really enjoyed it. Very fresh, well-fried, and huge.

Also not pictured is my aunt’s shrimp poboy which, judging by the one shrimp she gave me, was pretty phenomenal.

We ordered 2 bread puddings to share for dessert. To put it bluntly, it was a waste of time and money. You’d think that being in the New Orleans area, they’d really make sure their recipe stands up to places like Mulate’s and others, but… not the case.

Overall the food at Jeff’s was good. Unfortunately the poor service tainted it. Our waiter had zero personality and really didn’t act like he cared about us at all. We had to ask for things we shouldn’t have had to ask for, he set dishes down in front of one person that were for another person… details that don’t need to be overlooked.

Now that being said, I can’t necessarily tell you to stay away from Jeff’s… If you set your service expectations low and don’t order the bread pudding, you should have a pretty enjoyable experience. I really hope managers and owners will address the problem areas, because this place has so much potential. Check out Jeff’s in Metairie and let us know what you think.

JEFF’S CREOLE GRILLE
5241 Veterans Memorial Boulevard
Metairie, LA 70006
504-889-7992

fish river grill #2 – foley, AL

7/22/14

It was a Tuesday, and I had had the idea for us to meet up after work and drive down to Gulf Shores and watch a sunset and go swimming at night… but of course we had to eat first.

Fish River Grill #2 is located in the Foley Plaza strip mall about half a mile past downtown Foley. We’ve been passing it on the way to the beach for years and finally decided to give it a try.

The menu consists primarily of seafood, burgers, and poboys. The cool thing that makes this place stand out though is the addition of some lesser known and more adventurous dishes such as Cajun pistols, frog legs, fried gator bites, and a seafood BLT.

I must’ve been hungry because everything on the menu sounded good.

They start you off with a cup of complimentary Swamp Soup. I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but our waitress described it as “greens and beans.” It makes sense once you taste it. I enjoyed it. Nikki wasn’t really into it, so I may or may not have eaten both mine and hers. It tastes better than it looks… or sounds.

It took a long time to decide what we wanted, but Nikki ultimately decided on grilled white fish with fries and fried okra.

It was good… which is fine, but not when you’re expecting great… not when the restaurant is part of Alabama’s top 100 places to eat before you die.

After way too much deliberation, I decided to play it safe and go with a classic, a shrimp poboy. The shrimp were pretty fresh and cooked well, but I found myself cheating on this poboy with thoughts of other poboys… namely the shrimp poboy at Market by the Bay in Daphne and the one at Roshell’s in Mobile.

I had a really good feeling initially, but we both felt that the food didn’t quite live up to the hype. That being said, I would like to go again and try something different, perhaps a burger or some frog legs. Next time we’re in the area though and we want burgers and seafood, we’ll probably just hit GooRoo’s Grill in Robertsdale.

And if you’re wondering about our plans to catch the sunset and go night-swimming in the Gulf, none of that worked out like we planned. We were in the restaurant the entire time the sun was setting, and when we got down to Gulf Shores to put our feet in the water, we realized it was so dark we couldn’t see at all. We couldn’t even find the moon, which was extremely creepy… So we walked over to the Hangout and caught the latter part of Banditos’ set. It wasn’t what we had planned, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Good live band from Birmingham if you get a chance to see them.

FISH RIVER GRILL #2
608 S. McKenzie Street
Foley, AL 36535
251-952-3474

lap’s grocery & grill – spanish fort, AL

6/21/14

It was a Saturday, and I had promised to take Nikki to the beach. We’re both early risers these days, so we had a hunch we weren’t going to make it all the way to the beach before getting hungry. We hadn’t been to Lap’s on the Causeway yet, and we knew they served breakfast, so we decided to check it out.

Lap’s is located on Battleship Parkway, commonly known as the Causeway, which connects Mobile and Baldwin Counties. It’s been garnering mixed reviews since it opened in 2013. The amount of time, effort, and money that’s been poured into the location is impressive, but we wanted to know if the food stood up to the rest of the Lap’s experience.

We spent about 15 minutes exploring before getting a table, but more on that in a minute…

The space is very nautically themed, decorated with fishing poles and whatnot. I really like it. They’ve achieved a good balance of upscale feel and coastal grit.

It was still morning, so we did end up ordering off the breakfast menu. All breakfast plates are served with your choice of:

-Hashbrowns or grits

-Biscuits or toast

Nikki ordered the Rise N’Shine ($7.99). It’s two eggs served as you like with your choice of bacon or sausage. She ordered her eggs scrambled with bacon, grits, and toast.

I went with the seafood omelette with grits and a biscuit. I was impressed with the freshness of the chopped peppers in particular. They didn’t get lost in all the other flavors and complimented the dish very well. I do wish they had maybe chopped the shrimp a little finer. As you can see, they fold whole shrimp into the omelette. No big deal, just not what I was expecting. I’m not sure about the species of shrimp or where they were caught or anything like that, but I would hope and assume they’re local.

Lap’s also is the only restaurant in the area that we know of that offers Cafe Du Monde beignets… Well let me rephrase that. Laps’s offers beignets made with Cafe Du Monde mix. They’re certainly not bad, but I have family in Louisiana, and there’s just nothing like being in the Big Easy and eating fresh beignets. You can’t judge beignets until you’ve had them at an actual Cafe Du Monde location. So, like I said, these were not bad but certainly not worth the $5 they charge… and now we know for next time.

So in addition to (for the most part) great tasting food, Lap’s also offers a downstairs party area…

…seafood market (to the left)…

…grocery area…

…bait shop…

…and our personal favorite, alligators! And there is a ramp that the gators can walk up and a slide they can go down, if they’re in the mood. I haven’t seen it in person, but on video it’s pretty entertaining. Check out Lap’s being featured on Studio 10.

We’ve been hesitant to visit Lap’s because, like I said, it’s received mixed reviews, but our experience was very positive. And aside from good food, there is beautiful scenery and plenty of space to explore. It’s certainly no Felix’s Fish Camp food-wise, but check out Lap’s if you’re in the mood for something new on the Causeway.

LAP’S GROCERY AND GRILL
1595 Battleship Parkway
Spanish Fort, AL 36527
251-626-0045

gooroo’s grill – robertsdale, AL

6/7/14

We had picked up Nikki’s mom, Nikki’s 4-year-old cousin, and our 2-year-old niece for a fun day in the sun. The toddler was out cold after screaming for 10 minutes, so we took a roundabout way from Spanish Fort and let her sleep in the car a little while before going in. We’re not parents yet, but we’ve learned that many situations can be remedied with food or sleep… and a combination of both is even better.

GooRoo’s is on Highway 59 on the way to the beaches in Baldwin County. We had been once before and knew it could please everyone, seeing as it has some of the best burgers, seafood, and gumbo in Baldwin County.

GooRoo’s offers indoor and outdoor seating. The space is just the right size… big enough to accommodate a few of your friends, but not so big that you’ll get lost on the way back from the bathroom.

The menu offers a variety of appetizers, seafood baskets, sandwiches, wings, etc. Just the just the right number of options to satisfy everyone without anyone feeling overwhelmed.

We decided to each get something and share. Nikki went with the fish tacos ($9.49). They were good, we enjoyed them… but unfortunately there are 2 others places in Baldwin County that do them better, Rosie’s Grill and Felix’s. I can’t order fish tacos anywhere without comparing them to Rosie’s or Felix’s… but that won’t stop me from ordering them anywhere and everywhere.

I got the 1/2 lb. GooRoo burger ($8.49) with grilled veggies. I highly recommend the burger. It’s not fancy at all, no imported cheese or truffle oil, just really good grilled flavor. It makes you remember that there is a difference between a burger and a good burger.

GooRoo’s continues to deliver as one of the most consistent spots in Baldwin County. We usually like to discover new places, but it’s hard when you know that places like this are just there, waiting for you to give them another visit. There’s a reason their Urbanspoon score is so high. Check them out.

GOOROO’S GRILL
22175 Highway 59
Robertsdale, AL 36567
251-947-3478

down by the bay cafe – fairhope, AL

4/26/14

So we had been to Meat Boss, Alligator Alley, and the Wharf, and we were starting to get hungry again. It was about 6:00 and we knew that a sunset at the Fairhope pier would be spectacular, so we thought of Down by the Bay Cafe. We’ve spent so much time in Fairhope, but surprisingly we had never been… Probably because it’s a little disconnected from the rest of downtown.

Down by the Bay is just that, down by the bay… in the parking lot of the pier area, between the bluffs and the pier.

This is the view from our table. So the restaurant isn’t literally on the bay like the Yardarm, but it’s close enough to enjoy the scenery.

The menu is fairly extensive for a small place. It offers chicken salad, gumbo, fried seafood, broiled seafood, burgers, etc., so you should be able to find something you like.

We both opted for a sandwich. Nikki got the fried shrimp poboy ($9.95)…

…and I got a burger ($9.95). We cut both in half and shared. I think we both agreed that the burger was slightly better than the poboy.

I thought we’d be paying for the view, but the food was surprisingly good after all.

I should point out that the service was a little lacking. There was only one server, and he seemed kind of indifferent, like he didn’t care if we were there or not. (Every server should make their guests feel wanted, special, and comfortable!) But ultimately the food was solid, and you can’t beat the view. We’ll be back, eventually.

DOWN BY THE BAY CAFE
4 Beach Drive
Fairhope, AL 36532
251-928-4363