Hominy Grill

***** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED *****

We first stopped at the Hominy Grill for breakfast, but have since returned for countless lunches and suppers.

Not that breakfast isn’t wonderful! The sausage patties that come alongside sunnyside-up eggs are rugged and crusty and brilliantly spiced — a joy to eat when pushed through some yolk or sandwiched inside the tall biscuit that comes alongside. Bacon is excellent,too — double-thick, crisp, and full-flavored, just begging to be cosseted in that hefty biscuit.

Menus for later in the day offer such Southern soul classics as fried chicken with collard greens, gumbo, shrimp Creole, and country captain and, of course, baked cheese grits on the side. The grits that come with breakfast also are excellent: true comfort food in their own right, and the perfect companion for any meal that includes plenty of pig meat.

The building that houses this estimable restaurant was at one time a barber shop; and the striped poles that signify the tonsorial profession still flank the front door (on the inside). It’s a spacious room with an old stamped tin ceiling, wood-slat walls, and slow-spinning fans overhead.