Your Life - Entertainment - Restaurants

Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009

Visiting Snapper’s is like visiting an old friend

BILOXI — Not too long before Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Mississippi Gulf Coast here, I remember sitting on the back deck of Snapper’s Seafood Restaurant, better known as Wet ‘N’ Wild, on U.S. 90, enjoying the breeze and the beautiful view of the Mississippi Sound while dining on a shrimp po-boy and beach fries.

Wet ‘N’ Wild, which got its name from the combined beach rentals of personal water craft and the Snapper’s Seafood Restaurant housed in the same building, was a pre-Katrina landmark on Beach Boulevard.

It was hard to miss, with a big fiberglass crawfish and a personal watercraft and boy hanging on the front of the building, on the beach side of the road right across from the White Pillars at Rodenberg Avenue.

We’ve watched for a while for the familiar landmark to come back, and we’ve seen the progress as the new facility, a raised metal structure, took shape on the old familiar spot.

Owner Mark Balius said rebuilding took a while because of new FEMA regulations and the permitting process with the city. Once those details were worked out, however, construction was complete in about a year.

Balius said he is happy with the results, and the restaurant opened to customers Wednesday, May 27, almost four years after Katrina.

The following Friday, the back deck was hopping with business. Almost all the picnic style tables were full and waiters and waitresses were busily tending to customers, many of them old regulars anxious to return to Snapper’s Seafood Restaurant.

Seagulls dipped and dived just off the covered deck that overlooks the Sound and the spring breeze provided a cool delight among the seagulls’ calls. Looking out over the Sound, it wasn’t much different than I remembered my last trip to Snapper’s.

The new building, however, is elevated — all the better to see the Sound — and there is ample parking underneath the raised structure, which will have a better chance of surviving, God forbid, any future storms.

The restaurant is managed by long-time manager David Mason, and the menu is virtually the same as it was before Katrina, said Brian Johnson, who runs the kitchen.

Since the restaurant re-opened, Johnson said, it has been busy as former customers clamor to get a famous pressed po-boy, grilled snapper, shrimp or other seafood favorites.

“A lot of customers are coming back,” said server Keisha Moran, “and they say, ‘It’s just like it was.’ “

Count me among those.

Sitting on the deck pondering my order, I decided to have a fried shrimp po-boy, pressed and dressed, with a side order of beach fries just like I used to enjoy on Snapper’s back deck before Katrina.

Waiting for my order, I was amazed at the number of people who kept flocking in to the restaurant with wide gazes and the unmistakable air of familiarity with the surroundings. Classic rock tunes from Neil Young, Cheep Trick and Aerosmith, to name a few, played softly in the background, mixing with the seagull sounds and breeze.

When my shrimp po-boy arrived, with nice thick beach fries on the side in a familiar red basket, it was like seeing an old friend I hadn’t seen since Katrina.

The sandwich was tasty. The fried shrimp crispy and nice, not too spicy, but just right, with fresh lettuce and tomato, just the way I remember it, and the beach fries didn’t disappoint.

It’s nice to have Snapper’s back in its old location as one of the few places along Beach Boulevard where you can sit out on the back deck, right on the beach overlooking the Sound, enjoying the weather, good friends, good food and conversation. The new facility is nice and manages to retain the charm and ambiance of the original.

Now, if they could just find that big fiberglass crawfish that went missing during the storm . . .