Suffolk Restaurant Week reconnaissance mission

Back in the early 90’s, I spent a couple of years toiling at The Pilot’s Suffolk bureau. Folks were pretty friendly out there, but I can recall only one memorable lunch spot, a place waaaaay out in western Suffolk called the Teddy Bear with the most comforting fried chicken ever.

Yesterday, I was in Suffolk doing a little reconnaissance for Suffolk’s Restaurant Week, which starts tomorrow and runs through the 27th. And just look what I found!

I planned my journey out yonder carefully. First, I checked the Suffolk Restaurant Week website, where I combed through the menus and offerings. A new spot, Grits and Gravy, looked interesting – authentic Southern cooking with a modern bent.

The eatery is in what used to a kind of seedy part of town, but is beginning to bloom with new businesses – including a couple of restaurants.

Grits and Gravy is a sunny, cheery spot with a little R&B playing in the background. The décor is upscale diner, with a long, red counter, twirly barstools and just the friendliest waitresses ever.

On weekdays, it’s a breakfast and lunch spot. On Friday and Saturdays, it’s open till 8 p.m. The menu runs the gamut from biscuits and gravy ($2.95) to pigs feet ($9.95) to a jumbo potato chip-encrusted crab cake with Granny Smith apple slaw ($8.95 – and that is not a typo!)

I devoured one of the specials, a sliced pan roasted chicken breast with sun-dried tomato-tarragon cream sauce, served with six spears of perfectly steamed asparagus and a fluffy hill of mashers. Delicious, plated up beautifully, and at $8.95, a bargain.

The guy next to me had the rib sandwich special, which came topped with a tangle of shredded fried sweet potatoes. I did not ask for a bite, but I wanted one! That’s it in the picture – for $7.95!

Chef Maurice Wilson (formerly of 456 Fish and Omar’s Carriage House in Norfolk and currently a culinary arts instructor at Tidewater Community College) opened the place around Thanksgiving. He was there yesterday working the grill behind the counter, neatly clad in a chef’s coat, a happy simle and as friendly as the rest of his crew.

In all, 16 (count ‘em 16!) Suffolk restaurants are offering Restaurant Week special prix fixe three-course menus including an appetizer, entree and dessert. Lunches are $10 or $15; dinners are $20 or $30.

Sushi, Italian, seafood – it’s all on the circuit. And just 20 miles from the downtown tunnel.

See you there!

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