This is my first restaurant review, and since I lack the refined culinary vocabulary of a professional gourmand, I have decided to offer my rating cookie monster style. Like cookie monster, I may not understand the intricacies of food preparation, but I know good food when I taste it.
So I am rating this in om noms, five noms being the highest, most visceral praise.
A distinctive giant chicken statue marks the site of Grits and Groceries. The building is a large white house with a covered front porch featuring shelves of fruit preserves, creating a casual country store impression.
However, don\’t be fooled by the relaxed, homey atmosphere.
Both owners have worked for the master chef Emeril Lagasse. Heidi Trull was one of his chefs and her husband Joe was his pastry chef. They applied their expertise by starting their own successful restaurant in New Orleans. Despite its flurry of glowing reviews, the couple moved to Belton, SC to raise their son.
Specializing in southern cuisine, Grits and Groceries is also a client of my husband Donnie at Six Degrees Marketing. As a result, I have gotten to eat the food there quite frequently.
The first item I ever tried was the tomato pie – a savory appetizer stuffed with sweet, roasted tomatoes and cheese, held together with a flaky pie crust.
This began a happy addiction. I would always get the tomato pies, usually with a vegetable side item too, such as a corn or cucumber salad.
The side items always surprised in some way – such as corn with an added sweetness or pleasant tartness, while still enhancing the original flavor of the vegetable, always seasonal and apparently fresh from the garden.
Though the tomato pie remains a favorite, I have moved onto other dishes. More recently I have tried the eggplant Parmesan stuffed with a bread-like ricotta cheese; a chicken Thai curry dish sweetened with coconut milk; a fried strawberry pie with a light crust, sprinkled with powdered sugar; a roasted pepper stuffed with hamburger, with a creamy tomato sauce.
My last birthday cake also from there, dense, chocolate, and moist, topped with a creamy, cheesecake-like icing.
I do not cook much and cannot evaluate the food in terms of the style of preparation. However, my opinion from the standpoint of a diner is this:
When eating food from Grits and Groceries, I forget that I am actually eating. All I know is that for the time the food lasts, I am very, very happy. I think, “You mean, you can really do this? With food? Really?” Then, for a week or so afterward, I lose my appetite for everything else.
I cannot believe that this restaurant is only a mile from my house. It is an oasis in the middle of the greasy, mediocre fast food joints that dot the town, and elevates southern comfort food to the level of a fine art.
For anyone who has not tried it, check it out. On most days it is only open in the mornings and afternoons. However, it does open at night on Thursdays now.
You can buy its cookbook on the website http://gritsandgroceries.com/. For some free sample recipes, go to the recipe section of http://andersonobserver.com/.
As for my cookie monster evaluation, and I think cookie monster himself would agree, I heartily recommend Grits and Groceries with the most coveted, prestigious, and highest stamp of approval:
Om nom nom nom nom nom!