Your Life

Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Why Cuz’s? Cuz it’s good

Seafood restaurant and market covers all the bases

BAY ST. LOUIS — Melvin “Cuz” Barnes lost his seafood market/lunch spot that backed up to a Jourdan River bayou to Katrina, so he did the thing that made the most sense to him.

He built back on the site — bigger, stronger and taller.

A seafood market is still on the ground floor, but the second floor features an airy restaurant with a west-facing front porch and full bar, and a convenient little office for his other ventures, building and trucking.

For the restaurant, Cuz boils and his wife, Christy, cooks. His staff includes his daughter, Ramie, who waits tables, and some young aspiring chefs in the kitchen.

The big draw, of course, is the fresh seafood — not only our local favorites of shrimp, oysters, crabs, crawfish and catfish, but also red fish, flounder, mahi, tuna, trout and tilapia.

Cuz’s customers do have their favorites, though, and high on the lists of many is the Fried Eggplant ($10.95). Another big hit is the Fried Green Tomatoes appetizer ($6.95). And some just can’t get enough of the Homemade Roast Beef Po-boy ($9.95)

Cuz likes to offer his customers new ideas to try.

“We’re grillin’ tuna,” he said, “and we’re fixin’ to come out with a lobster club sandwich with homemade bread.” He envisions a down-home version of that traditionally upscale crustacean, to give diners a change of pace.

But “our customers tell us a lot about what we do here, what we’ll continue on,” he said, and he appreciates their input. He’s also aware the economy may be affecting how often folks eat out.

“We try to hold our prices, and I work really hard shopping the markets,” he said.

But he’s also of the opinion that the economy won’t restart unless people spread a little money around, even though his mama warns caution.

“We gotta be positive and not quit spending money. I’m an optimist, and I see things turning around,” he said.

Sitting on the porch in the autumn sun, enjoying the décor designed around Waveland artist Scott Blackwell’s colorful sea creatures and grooving to swamp-pop tunes wafting from the outdoor speakers (can you groove to swamp pop?), I perused the menu.

An entire half-page of appetizers beckoned, as did offerings of boiled crawfish, shrimp or crabs, more than a dozen po-boys and a half-dozen shrimp salads (fried, boiled, grilled or cold) but the day seemed to call for what I hoped would be a sampler — the Seafood Plate ($15.95, $4 more for softshell crab).

When the plate arrived I realized each of the items — shrimp, oysters and catfish — could be its own meal. Then there were the fries, Cuz’s Potato Salad, hushpuppies and garlic bread. Yikes.

First stop: Shrimp. Dipped in a special, warmly seasoned high-end batter and hot from the fryer, these guys melted in your mouth.

Then on to the oysters and catfish filets — amazingly fresh, with the catfish flaking right off the fork. Clearly this was a good choice.

The potato salad, made from red skin potatoes, and fries each had their own bite of spice — nothing bland about either of them.

And the garlic bread slices actually had little chunks of minced garlic spread on them, so if you’re a garlic fan, you’ll feel right at home.

Such must be the case for many in the area, as I saw groups trooping up the stairs to pass a good time, and workers popping in for take-away orders.

This is a fine place to take the family, and spread some money around.