What restaurant has outstanding view, great food?
Kara Kimbrough
Special to Mississippi Clarion Ledger – July 25, 2018
It’s 3:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, well past the lunch rush and hours before dinner. Yet, finding a prime table Shaggy’s in Biloxi is similar to vying for the corner table at a fine dining establishment.
You know you’ll have a bit of a wait, but you don’t care — it’s Shaggy’s. The food and view are that good.
When most restaurants are experiencing a post-lunch lull, a large crowd of locals and tourists are enjoying sitting near a second-floor window or even better the back deck with the wind rolling in from the water.
Alternatively clutching my paper napkin blowing in the wind while sampling bites of my crusty, New Orleans-style po’boy bun filled with crispy shrimp and added fried-green tomatoes under a drizzle of remoulade, made for an entertaining mid-afternoon meal on Shaggy’s deck overlooking the picturesque gulf.
Like its popular Pass Christian and Gulfport sisters, the Biloxi restaurant is a two-story waterfront building with a bright façade and eclectic yard art. The sprawling restaurant is composed of the second-floor dining area with wide windows open to the front and rear of the building and a spacious outdoor deck.
Water view aside, many people come to Shaggy’s for the food. In fact, Tory McPhail, executive chef of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, listed Shaggy’s in Biloxi as one of his favorite restaurants. Two of his must-have Shaggy’s items are peel-and-eat shrimp and chargrilled oysters.
Shaggy’s menu is filled with the usual assortment of fried appetizers and seafood, but despite this fact, the food is fresh, well prepared and served with a creative flair.
I’m extremely excited about the new Shaggy’s location opening later this year near the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
If you have a predisposed opinion about “bar and grill” food or anything served in a slightly gaudy, wooden restaurant, check your attitude at the bottom of the winding stairs and climb on up.
Shaggy’s Biloxi menu is filled with fresh seafood prepared a multitude of ways, including Eggplant St. Shaggy’s ($15.89), a decadent dish of fried eggplant topped with shrimp and crawfish, sautéed bell peppers and a sherry cream sauce.
Other offerings include seafood pasta dishes, seafood and meat sandwiches and po’boys and the best-selling Shaggy’s Cheeseburger.
Entering Shaggy’s for a mid-afternoon lunch, I perused the appetizers and gave seafood a nod straight away. After briefly considering the crab cakes ($13.95) and Jamaican jerked shrimp ($9.95) I decided to reprise a favorite appetizer, smoked fish dip ($8.95). Digging a cracker into the dip, I discovered generous flakes of fresh smoked tuna in the same rich and creamy sauce I remembered.
Fried green tomatoes ($8.95) were selected from the appetizer menu to add to my shrimp po’boy. I just had to reprise Shaggy’s former black and green po’boy, a delicious combination of blackened shrimp, fried green tomatoes and remoulade sauce. That’s one of the things I love about Shaggy’s. The menu is always changing to add new and creative dishes to the lineup. If, like me, your favorite disappears, you can always recreate it by combining a few things from the menu.
Other appetizers worth a try are Shaggy’s crab cakes ($13.95), gumbo ($8.50) and the aforementioned peel and eat shrimp ($10.99).
Choosing my entree proved difficult because there are so many options. The specials of the day differ from regular menu items and include a fish of the day. I’m not sure if it was the daily special, but a nearby diner’s order of grilled redfish topped with shrimp and a creamy Creole sauce almost made me regret my order of a fried shrimp po’boy. However, I wasn’t disappointed for long.
The po’boy came with a dozen or so perfectly seasoned shrimp and my addition of crispiest, lightly breaded and best fried green tomatoes I’ve ever tasted. The flavors intermingled beautifully and were bold enough to stand on its own. Nevertheless, a light drizzle of spicy remoulade sauce contrasted nicely with the diverse, yet surprisingly perfect ingredients.
Additional sandwiches on the menu are Shaggy’s cheeseburger ($10.99), buffalo chicken melt ($10.99), crab cake sandwich ($11.99), deep-fried pig ($12.99) and “off the hook” fresh fish sandwich ($13.99).
Entrees that caught my eye and that I plan to try on my next visit are royal reds ($15.99), a veritable shrimp boil on a plate courtesy of a half-pound of boiled royal red shrimp, sausage and potatoes; seafood pasta ($14.49) and captain’s seafood platter ($22.99) filled with shrimp, oysters and fish served with hush puppies and fries.
There’s also fried chicken ($11.99) and an 8-ounce hangar steak ($25.99) for those who prefer something other than seafood.
Most of the entrees come with a side, but if they don’t, or if you want more food, salads, sautéed vegetables, cole slaw and several other sides are listed between $1.25-$4.50.
After my meal, I didn’t have room for dessert, but I saw many diners enjoying thick slices of Key Lime pie ($4.99).
Kids are welcome at Shaggy’s and can choose from among smaller portions of fried shrimp or fish with fries, chicken tenders and grilled cheese.
Kara Kimbrough is a freelance writer and public speaking instructor at The University of Southern Mississippi. She can be reached at kkprco@yahoo.com.