If shrimp and grits is on the menu, it's likely going to be on my plate.
One reason is that it is, in essence, a simple dish made with few ingredients, and a good way to assess a restaurant is by how they well they prepare something basic.
Another reason is that shrimp and grits was long considered a breakfast dish, and many would agree that at times, nothing is more appealing and comforting than having "breakfast for supper."
While the origins of shrimp and grits are a bit obscure, with the earliest references found in writings of the Gullah people who lived on the islands off the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia, it wasn't until the early 1980s that this humble fare became an obsession with foodies the world over.
A 2014 article from Deep South magazine stated that a chef named Bill Neal "forever changed the status of shrimp and grits" in 1982, when he added cheddar and Parmesan cheeses to his grits and included bacon, mushrooms and other ingredients with jumbo shrimp, and put the dish on the menu of Crook’s Corner, a restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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"After Craig Claiborne of The New York Times visited the restaurant and published Neal’s recipe in 1985," the article stated, "the once humble dish started gaining widespread popularity."
Which leads to another reason I tend to seek out shrimp and grits whenever it's offered. Because it is such a simple dish, it can be elaborated on in countless ways.
The late Pat Conroy, best known for his novels "The Prince of Tides" and "The Great Santini," in his "The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes and Stories of My Life" included a recipe for what he called "Breakfast Shrimp and Grits."
Conroy's recipe uses eight simple ingredients: coarse white grits, bacon, shallots, butter, shrimp, lemon juice, salt and Tabasco sauce. But Conroy writes that "Cooking is most sublime when it is creative and playful. … A recipe is a suggestion, a field guide and a road map; it is not totalitarian in nature."
A number of restaurants in Tulsa offer their own individual versions of shrimp and grits. I make no claim about having tried them all, but I can say that of the ones I have tried in recent months, these are especially fine.
Shrimp & Grits
Isla's Southern Kitchen, 404 E. Archer St.
This is an impressive plate of food, with a huge pile of dense, extremely cheesy grits topped with five sauteed jumbo shrimp (with tails removed, thank you very much), half-moons of andouille sausage, and what is simply described as a “spicy pan sauce” that is marvelously rich and full of complex flavor.
Belle-Boil Grits
Le Belle Restaurant & Events, 400 Riverwalk Terrace, Jenks
This New Orleans-inspired restaurant includes its version of shrimp and grits on its brunch menu, and it's worth getting out early on the weekend to seek it out. Four large grilled shrimp, along with kernels of grilled corn and slices of beef smoked sausage, topped the large serving of creamy grits, augmented with sharp cheddar cheese. I couldn’t find a thing wrong with it, and I searched all the way to the bottom of the bowl.
Shrimp & Grits
Fixins Southern Kitchen, 222 N. Detroit Ave.
The version served at this restaurant owned by NBA all-star Kevin Johnson features six large shrimp and a generous portion of stone-ground grits, whose great corn flavor is boosted by some sharp cheddar cheese, covered with a thick gravy studded with tomatoes, onion and bell peppers.