Cuisine Review

Oftentimes I lament the fact there is hardly any place to get good grilled seafood, especially fish. Many fried seafood houses abound in the area, and I guess business caters to demand.

Someone (cannot remember who) had raved to me about grilled grouper at Ed’s Shed. Now to me, Ed’s brings to mind fried seafood. I love the setting and the food, but try to limit my fried food consumption. My mother came in town, and she does not have many chances to eat fresh, local seafood so off the family went to Ed’s.

Ed’s was one of the first, if not the very first, restaurant to open after Katrina. When I was writing my column on post-Katrina damage, Ed’s had workers out cleaning up and rebuilding the week after the storm. Everything is just as it was – the wide and large outside deck space and a new covered porch off back, the gift shop/bar inside and the inside dining room is the same. What we could not figure out is either how all of the knick-knacks and photos on the wall were not ruined, or who the hell managed to take them all down prior to the storm.

For a Tuesday night, Ed’s was busy as always. We were seated right away, drink orders taken and greeted with a large bowl of cole slaw. The menu is extensive. For lunch, Ed’s has fried and grilled platters – shrimp, oysters, fried grouper, crawfish, scallops and even a charbroiled chicken platter. The fried platters are served with fries and hushpuppies, the grilled with seasoned rice and garlic bread. There are also shrimp, grouper or chicken tender sandwiches served with fries or a cup of gumbo.

The dinner menu is much, much larger. For starters, there is calamari; some delicious, crispy fried onion rings ($5.50, quite a stack); crab claws ($7.95, fourth pound, $11.95, half); peel-and-eat or buffalo shrimp, oysters on the half shell or their famous Creole gumbo (cup, $3.50, and crammed with shrimp, crabmeat, okra and tomatoes, just a bit spicy).

We ordered something rather pedestrian, “prezarella” cheese sticks, where mozzarella cheese is rolled in crushed pretzels ($5.50) and they were quite entertaining and fresh tasting.

For dinner, you have the same fried and grilled platters found at lunch, only larger, with some other choices. Monday’s are “mullet Mondays” with all-you-can-eat fried mullet served with fries and garlic cheese grits (sublime) for $9.95. Other fried platters are two soft shell crabs ($16.95), three crab cakes or a combo of any items (crawfish, crab cakes, shrimp, oysters, grouper, and even chicken fingers – $17.95).

If you are absolutely starving you can get the Yo Mama’s platter, which is literally almost every thing on the menu along with a desert for $34.95, which would be a huge undertaking. The grilled platters add a shrimp and scallop, ribeye steak, broiled stuffed grouper ($14.95, stuffed with crabmeat dressing) or tuna steak. I could go on about the menu – others are a sautéed shrimp or sautéed combo. There are salads of every type and po-boys. The sides to choose are either the garlic cheese grits ($1.75) or turnip greens ($1.75).

My son recently tried fried oysters and is hooked. He wanted to get the adult fried oyster platter, but after some talking he decided, like his sister, to order popcorn shrimp off the kid’s menu. My mother ordered the shrimp and oyster combo platter ($17.95). My wife chose the grilled shrimp platter ($16.95), with a dozen jumbo sized shrimp grilled with secret spices and served with garlic butter. I chose the grilled grouper platter ($16.95), which is an 11-ounce grouper fillet seasoned with those secret spices and served with Ed’s special sauce.

As we just began biting into the gooey cheese sticks, our food arrived. Ed’s piles the food on the platters, and while you might be concerned about the prices, you get your money’s worth. My fish was tremendous and lightly dusted with a Cajun spice and served with a light in taste but likely mayo-based sauce.

I skipped the sauce, which was not needed for my juicy fish. It had been delicately grilled, was mild in taste and not overpowered by the spices. It was one of the best and largest pieces of grilled fish I have had in some time. And the seasoned rice was similar to dirty rice, and was more than passable. I was concerned it would not be good, but it more than made up for fries. My children had heaping piles of small popcorn shrimp, which they ate just like popcorn.

Ed’s uses a cornmeal batter rather than flour-based, which imparts a crunchy-yet-gritty texture with down home flavor. My mother’s oysters were almost all snatched up by my son, who commented that they were crispy and salty. The shrimp were large and in abundance. My only disappointment with Ed’s is that their hushpuppies are not very flavorful and contain more cornmeal than other items found in hushpuppies. My wife’s shrimp were just as tasty as my fish – she could not eat them all. I highly recommend the grilled items. The grits were rich, and the turnips full of ham.

Believe it or not, we ended with desserts and actually finished them off. Ed’s makes their desserts, and we ate a tart, sweet mango pie that was custard like, a typical, but tasty banana pudding and yo mama’s dessert, which is devil’s food cake with hot fudge sauce, strawberry topping, whipped cream and cherries.

My stomach hurts just recanting all we ate. Go with an empty stomach and a full wallet to Ed’s – both will be more than satisfied.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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