The Fried Green Tomato

If you’re looking for a place serving affordable homemade cooking, with great service and a cozy atmosphere, look no further than The Fried Green Tomato.

A hidden gem located in D’Iberville, The Fried Green Tomato is one of the best places on the Coast to get traditional Southern cooking with a Cajun accent.

Owned and operated by Bert and Sherry Fletcher and their son, Brandon, The Fried Green Tomato recently celebrated 12 years of serving fine Southern comfort food in a building that housed their former tanning salon. Deciding to go a different direction and follow their love of cooking, they tore out the walls and turned the space into a restaurant. It’s been a favorite for locals and tourists alike ever since.

The inside is decorated to resemble the outside of an old wooden building, with random tools Bert collected hung on the walls along with authentic World War I and World War II memorabilia donated by some of the regulars. While this makes for a cool, one-of-a-kind atmosphere, the primary reason to visit is the mouth-watering cuisine.

The Fried Green Tomato has a delightful breakfast menu, with a variety of breakfast plates, omelets, French toast, pancakes, biscuits and an assortment of delicious sides. You can’t go wrong with the popular country-fried steak and gravy — and be sure to try the pancakes.

“Our pancakes are a special recipe,” Brandon says. “They are a sweet cream type of pancake. You almost don’t even need syrup to eat them they are so sweet.”

The breakfast po-boys or the breakfast burrito come in various sizes, depending on your appetite. If you’re really hungry, order Bert’s special, which consists of three eggs cooked any style, two pieces of sausage, two bacon strips, grits, hash browns, a biscuit or toast and two pancakes.

The Fried Green Tomato also is a great place for lunch, offering a large selection of po-boys. The restaurant’s impressive buffet is filled with Southern favorites each day, with daily specials like chicken spaghetti, liver and onions, grilled and fried pork chops, country-fried steak and fried catfish and grits that are mixed in to add variety. Staples such as mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed cabbage, green beans, sweet corn, red beans and rice, cole slaw, and fried chicken livers and gizzards are sure to please, along with Bert’s famous chicken and sausage gumbo.

“My dad’s been making gumbo since he was 10 years old,” Brandon says.” Usually he makes seafood gumbo for us at home, but we were trying to think of a way to use chicken. So, he came up with a chicken and sausage recipe, and people absolutely love it. They buy it by the gallon.”

Also featured on the buffet are mild and spicy fried chicken.

“We do a little something special with our spicy fried chicken,” Brandon says. “We marinate it overnight in a special spicy marinade seasoning that we get from a local guy that lives in Pascagoula that’s been making it for like 40 years. It’s his secret recipe type of thing. We marinate it in a big tub, mix it in water, brine it overnight, and the next day, it’s ready to go and gets cooked. It’s the best fried chicken on the Coast!”

I’ve tried quite of bit of fried chicken during my time on the Coast and agree with him.

A trip to The Fried Green Tomato wouldn’t be complete without trying its namesake dish. Crispy on the outside with sweetness inside, the tomatoes are sliced and breaded fresh each day, flash fried and served with Brandon’s aunt’s 20-year-old recipe rémoulade sauce. It’s a tasty treat not to be missed.

The Fried Green Tomato is open Monday through Friday. Breakfast is served 6 a.m.-10 a.m., and the lunch buffet with daily specials is open from 11a.m.-2 p.m. You can get buffet items for takeout charged by the pound, and there is a drive thru for to-go orders.

IF YOU GO
11026 Lamey Bridge Road, Biloxi
(228) 396-2979
www.facebook.com/TheFriedGreenTomatoMS