TIME TO DINE

Shrimp, Grits & a Little Gumption

Charleston’s chefs get creative with the classic Low Country dish.

BY ALLISON WEISS ENTREKIN

IT’S BEEN A LOW-KEY Low Country breakfast staple for as long as anyone can remember: local shrimp served with salty grits. Over the years, it gained a loyal following, with some adding a dash of hot sauce and others throwing in leftovers from the previous night’s supper. But it wasn’t until the early ’90s that Charleston’s upper-crust restaurants finally welcomed shrimp and grits onto their menus.

“For a while, nice restaurants considered shrimp and grits old fashioned, so to speak,” says Donald Barickman, chef at Magnolias in downtown Charleston, which was one of the first such establishments to serve shrimp and grits. “When it started showing up on menus as a side dish, diners welcomed it with open arms.”

Encouraged by the item’s popularity, chefs began experimenting with the recipe and quickly discovered it was the perfect canvas for any number of seasonings and sauces. And so it was, after years of toiling as a second-class dish, that shrimp and grits finally obtained bona fide entrée status. “It’s really a great base for almost anything you want to concoct,” Barickman says.

His favorite preparation is adding sea scallops, fried spinach and a buttery lobster sauce to the basic ingredients. “I was trying to think of a way to take shrimp and grits to a higher level,” he says. “These days, it’s treated with the utmost respect, and it deserves to be accompanied with the best ingredients.”

Just a few blocks away, the swanky Oak Steakhouse offers its own interpretation. The shrimp are prepared in a Hunter-style sauce, complete with vine-ripened tomatoes, veal and lobster stocks, and shiitake mushrooms; the grits are swapped for creamy polenta brimming with melted parmesan and fontina cheeses. “It’s my Italian interpretation of a classic Southern dish,” says Brett McKee, the restaurant’s founder and chef.

At 82 Queen in the French Quarter, the dish has been given a down-home makeover. The sauce is created with bacon, brown sugar, onions, peppers and ketchup, then flamed with a shot of Southern Comfort. When topped with melted cheddar cheese, apple-smoked bacon and scallions, it’s Charleston’s crustacean-infused answer to the loaded baked potato.

Nathalie Dupree, a Charleston-based chef and author of Nathalie Dupree’s Shrimp & Grits Cookbook, can’t imagine Charleston’s chefs ever running out of ways to prepare the versatile meal. “I’ve collected over 200 ways of cooking shrimp and grits now, and the number is growing,” she says. “It’s amazing.”

One thing’s for sure: The dish has definitely come out of its, er, shell. “Shrimp and grits is growing up,” Barickman says. “Those shrimp aren’t wearing old tattered shoes anymore— they’re walking around in tuxedos.”

And for a classic take
Hank’s Seafood Restaurant
www.hanksseafoodrestaurant.com; 843-723-3474
Shrimp with smoked andouille sausage and stewed with fresh tomatoes, garlic and white wine, served with creamy stone-ground grits

Get the Dish

Here are a few places to try shrimp and grits—with a twist.

82 Queen
www.82queen.com; 843-723-7591
Southern barbecued shrimp and creamy grits

Boulevard Diner
843-216-2611
Spicy sautéed shrimp over cheddar grits, garnished with two fried dill pickle spears

Magnolias
www.magnolias-blossom-cypress.com; 843-577-7771
Shrimp, sea scallops, fried spinach and lobster sauce over grits

Oak Steakhouse
www.oaksteakhouserestaurant.com; 843-722-4220
Hunter-style shrimp over creamy parmesan polenta

Swamp Fox Restaurant and Bar
(in the Francis Marion Hotel)
www.francismarioncharleston.com; 843-724-8888
Shrimp and grits in lobster-and-tasso-ham gravy over pepper-jack grits

Tristan
www.tristandining.com; 843-534-2155
Hominy and prawns served with pan gravy