A while ago Jeff and I were riding through Calera and noticed that Ezell's was moving in. While I'm not a huge seafood fan, Jeff loves it. Unfortunately, we are rarely over that way, so we only recently tried it.
We stopped in for lunch on Saturday right at noon but there was no wait and we were seated immediately. We were greeted quickly by our server (I believe his name was Zachery) and presented with a basket of hush puppies and two bowls of coleslaw. After he got our drinks we ordered. Jeff got the 3 piece fried catfish with french fries ($9.95) and a cup of gumbo ($6.99). I ordered the small grilled chicken tenders with cheese grits ($7.95). Zachery recommended the lemon pepper on the grilled chicken, so I decided to give it a shot.
Jeff's gumbo came quickly, and the hush puppies and cole slaw kept coming, too. I'm also not a slaw eater so Jeff ate all of that. He said it was a little sweet but had a hint of dill and was really nice. Our drinks also stayed full, which was great. Jeff really enjoyed the gumbo but it was expensive, so he said he probably wouldn't order it again. Before long, our lunch had arrived. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my chicken also came on a cajun rice pilaf and with a little cup of remoulade sauce. Everything was very tasty. Jeff said the fish was very light and crispy, not greasy. My chicken was juicy, and while the pepper was a little bit stronger than I personally liked, it was very tasty. The rice was great with just a little bit of kick to it. The cheese grits were creamy and very well seasoned. The remoulade sauce was good on the chicken, but even better on the hush puppies. The freshly made ranch dressing helped balance the extra pepper on the chicken, and it was very tasty.
Between the two of us we ate all of what we ordered, three baskets of hush puppies, and four bowls of coleslaw. We skipped dessert because we were VERY full but I did pick up a dum-dum on the way out! Next time, I'll ask for some remoulade to go with the hush puppies first thing. I also want to try the onion rings, and Jeff said he'd like to try the fried pickles and fried green tomatoes. Clearly, we need a large group to accomplish this because if left to our own devices we could both eat ourselves sick on just hush puppies!
If you have a chance, give them a try, and if you do let me know what you think! I'm definitely a fan.
