Authentic old style Florida - Kenansville

[kbjesq]

Griffis Cafe

955 S.  Kenansville Rd. 

Kenansville, Florida 34739

 

Serving real old style Florida food to mostly cowboys and sheriffs! Frog legs, Turtle, Swamp Cabbage, Fried Green Tomatoes, hush puppies, cheese grits, catfish Etc.  Off the beaten path but worth a diversion from I95 or the turnpike heading north or south. 

[Okanagancook]

OMG, my gall bladder is straining!Neah a green in sight save for a salad somewhere in the menu.

each to his own.

thank you for sharing and no harm intended' just my take.

[blue_dolphin]

That menu was a fun read - thanks for sharing!  

 

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

OMG, my gall bladder is straining ...

 I know !  But with a menu like that, I like to share the burden with my liver and wash it down with a beer or some wine but I don't see anything alcoholic listed under "Beverages"

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

Neah a green in sight save for a salad....

Well, you might spy a little green on the fried okra if there was a gap in the batter or breading, not to mention the jalapeño popper 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@kbjesq,

 

I sure would have been proud to join you for a meal there! It would be hard to choose, but I think I'd order the combo dinner with frog legs and turtle with hash browns and salad the first time out. I'd also have to sample the swamp cabbage (palm hearts?) I think. I wish that place was close to me. It sounds like just my kind of place. I'd be back for clam strips, shrimp, catfish, okra, fried green tomatoes, ... Mmmmm!

 

I've had frog legs before, but not in a looong time. One time, during an exceptionally lean spell, we even cooked up the frog bodies. There's not a whole lot of meat, and it takes a long time to glean what there is off the bone, but as my dear departed grandma used to say, "It sure beats nothin'". 

 

I've never had turtle or anything but canned palm hearts. I found a video on harvesting swamp cabbage, but haven't watched it yet. Never heard it called that before. Hearts of palm has a foodie cachet; swamp cabbage, not so much. 

 

I made some good gator tail from one my husband's crew accidentally ran over on the way back from a job in Florida. They kept it on ice all the way back and gave it to him, because they knew I could cook. I occasionally send treats for them with my husband to the job site. It turned out quite tasty when I cooked it, but the few times I've had gator in restaurants, it's been pretty disappointing.

 

Is that a bowl of collard greens I spy in the first photo of your meals? I think @Okanagancook is just jealous because she's on a diet.  Lord knows dieting makes me crankier than a wet hen. 

[Okanagancook]

What in god's name is 'wet hen'?

and the diet is not going so well at the moment...we have a 50 th wedding anniversary on Sunday and then the following week visitors for a few days,. Grrrrr"......but after that I can get back at it and drop a few pounds.  Sheesssh.  It is tough the older one gets and for me, being less active the problem..back to the gym.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

A wet hen is angry, it's an idiom apparently from the old Southern US, but still in wide use today, at least in these parts.

 

God speed on your weight loss journey. I know how hard it is.

 

[rotuts]

'gator tail !

 

what on the second plate ?     there seem to be three roundish items   and  then all those other fried items  

 

how is the turtle served ?

 

Id love a place like this.    not too often  , but from time to time

 

 

[kbjesq]

The roundish things are called hush puppies and the other fried squiggly looking things are fried oysters which was a special of the day. On the other plate is a combo special with frog legs, catfish and Gator tail. They had run out of turtle by the time we got there.

We've made Swamp Cabbage from scratch and let me tell you,  it is a whole lot of work. Although the homemade version is obviously so much better than the canned version that is served in a few places around here! There are several YouTube videos that show the process required to make Swamp Cabbage which starts with cutting down a cabbage palm tree. I also learned yesterday that the Cabbage Palm is the state tree of Florida. And yes you saw collard greens because that is a true staple around here.

I'm from New England originally and it's hard for me to adjust to the fact that vegetables here are cooked to within an inch of their life. The collards, for example, are cooked for so long that you hardly have to chew them.  But for people that were born and raised here this is how they typically cook their food (often boiled forever and seasoned with bacon fat). The juice that's left over is called potlikker and they drink that too! 

I have to say that my favorite part of the meal was observing other patrons. I can't remember the last time I sat down in a restaurant with real live Cowboys - boots and spurs and great big, well-worn cowboy hats complete with visible sweat rings around the perimeter.  I'm surprised I didn't see a Hitching Post out in front of the establishment. LOL 

[kbjesq]

PS The Instant Pot is great for making collards!  Cuts the cooking time down from many hours to just 45 minutes at high pressure for melt-in-your-mouth Style southern greens. If you like that sort of thing. Served with a side of spicy hot vinegar to be used as a condiment at the table. Haha! 

[rotuts]

@kbjesq  

 

thanks !

 

as you  are from N.E. :  I bet you noticed that the Fried Clams don't have any bellies .

 

so the place an't perfect.

[kbjesq]

Very true @rotuts! A clam without a belly ain't worth eating 

[rotuts]

You Betchs'   and the clam has to come from Ipswich  :

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ipswith+clams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=ipswich+clams

 

many years ago   I used to frequent  Rt 133 :

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ipswith+clams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=ipswich clams&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=42694266,-70859038,655&tbm=lcl&tbs=lf_msr:-1,lf_od:-1,lf_oh:-1,lf:1,lf_ui:9&fll=42.67006576236172,-70.75813754514161&fspn=0.2916047742437087,0.319680531861934&fz=12&oll=42.819642099999996,-71.1576794&ospn=0.33851226988366534,0.7197275785776469&oz=10&qop=1&rlfi=hd:;si:

 

nothing like it !   sometimes I brought my own tartar sauce , and at several ' lesser known ' places on 133 I used to bring a bottle of ice cold Chablis

 

in a paper bag.   drank it out of ' dixie cups '  which were provided.

 

still tasty in Dixie Cups Id say.

[rotuts]

BTW  a quick P.S. :

 

the Chablis  back then came from a fine  , now lost , winery in California :  Almaden

 

on the back of the bottles there were ' dancing ' Pigs , Chickens , turkeys and Fish and Lambs   ( if not goats  I forget ) 

 

who were raising a glass of wine  , being a bit Under the Sauce.

 

true story.  think about being 3 or 4 and looking on the back of that Almaden bottle of Grenache Rose   having been given a small taste !

[kbjesq]

@rotuts -  I remember Almaden wine being in the house when I was a kid in New England. Ipswich clams are A+ but last year we took a trip to Apalachicola and had really good clams there. They are small, not like New England clams but tasty none the less. Have not been there recently as it is near the Panhandle quite far from where I live but I heard the area was devastated by recent storms. Which is a shame because it's a really nice historical fishing village - these have become far and few between as developers purchase waterfront property and turn it into high-priced vacation homes for the wealthy. 

Edited September 18, 2016 by kbjesq
Typo (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

16 minutes ago, kbjesq said:

They are small, not like New England clams but tasty none the less.

 

The smaller, the better, IMO. I wish I could find the smaller variety around here more frequently. When I do, I glom onto them. They are the very best for serving in their shells with a white clam sauce with pasta and for clams casino.