Southern Roots run deep at Perryville restaurant

This week I'm going back to Perryville, which I have come to view very much as ground zero for great individualistic restaurants. I've had some wonderful experiences in Perryville so far, and I added to the list this week.

Visiting Southern Roots at 15 West St. Joseph Street, I immediately realized this restaurant sat at the site of one I had visited before. When I asked the waitress how long they had been open, she told me it was about a year now, so they opened in the midst of the COVID lockdown and have survived. Online, Southern Roots bills itself as a seafood restaurant, and indeed, there is a lot of that on the menu. Shrimp, scallops, grouper, swai (which is a delightfully mild and flaky white fish that gets a bad rap because many nefarious types billed it as more expensive fishes in the past), catfish, fried oysters, it's all here, fried or grilled on served up as scampi with butter and garlic over pasta. If you're not a seafood lover, I can vouch from seeing and tasting my companions' meals that seafood isn't the only thing going on here.

But let's begin at the beginning.

Appetizers. Something I used to avoid in the past to keep the bill down, it's only within the past few years I've come to appreciate how appetizers allow me to try new flavors in small bites. My friend ordered the fried mushrooms, and thank goodness he did. They were obviously made in-house, battered with a thick and chunky batter that fried up into a crispy, heavily textured and spiced breading that was top notch. I eat a lot of fried mushrooms, and these are up there among my favorites: fresh, crispy, with a deliciously seasoned breading one would expect from a place called Southern Roots. Unlike frozen premade fried mushrooms, there was no burst of scalding hot water when my teeth pierced the crust, just earthy baby portabella mushroom goodness. I ordered the Swai Bites to get a taste of this fish. It was more than just bites, little three inch pieces of fried fish, once again seasoned just right, not too salty, not too bland and fried until the fish was flaky but not dried out. More mild than catfish, these bites were juicy and satisfying, served with a house-made tartar sauce adding plenty of zip. Honestly, I could have stopped there, with the mushroom and Swai, but there was more to taste.

I ordered the pan-grilled scallops with onion rings and coleslaw. The slaw was creamy and sweet, and the onion rings were huge, chunky and beer-battered. The scallops were tender and seasoned with a distinct cajun-type spicing, light enough to keep from distracting from the delicate little shellfish. My friend ordered the pork steak special, with fried corn on the cob. He was generous enough to let me taste it and that simple pork steak reminded me so much of my mom's home-cooked pork chops. Not barbecued (which was a welcome change), this pork steak swallowed the entire plate and was cooked simply with salt, pepper, and (I think) some butter. There might have been some other light spices in there, but I haven't tasted pork this pure since my childhood. This is the highest compliment, because my mom is one heck of a cook. My friend agreed, and thought it was delicious.

Appetizers galore at Southern Roots. If you have to pick only one, try the fried mushrooms.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

I didn't get to taste it, but my daughter's friend ordered a fried chicken sandwich. It was a large slab of fried chicken breast, cooked a dark golden brown and served with fresh toppings. It looked tasty, and he said it was.

Our waitress lived up to her own southern roots, being gracious, efficient, and full of courtesy. She took our order with a smile, brought our food out hot, and asked us to come back to visit again. The menu is robust, and with enough non-seafood choices to make it worth your while to visit even if seafood isn't your thing. Next time I come back, I'd really like to try the grouper, which is not something you can find at a restaurant every day.

Born in a turbulent time, this restaurant has carved out a unique niche in Perryville. I wish Southern Roots all the best, and I do hope that you'll visit them soon.