Published 2/25/2011

The Retired Cooks Diary

By Suzette Pennington Munson

This week I feel like we have been running a Maniacal Marathon. I just began watching 4 of my grandchildren after school at Alvord a couple of days a week. Add that to watching a 3 year old two days and picking up two school age kids from Bowie Schools and you have a cook that doesn’t want to cook! Too tired to cook, too tired to go out, but not too tired to eat.

We left the yard on Saturday night thinking we wanted good fried chicken, key word there, GOOD! We turned the pickup toward Decatur and started discussing who had the best chicken. By the time we got there we had completely changed our minds and decided on fish. Where to go for fried Oysters, fish that wasn’t just fried but had lots of flavor, and different kind of sides.

Which place in Decatur fit those requirements? Well, it was not the usual places that we go. We decided to go to Frillys on Hwy 287. It had been probably 6 years since we had been there and of course as all restaurants do, they have changed the menu. We were delighted to find our favorites.

Catfish with just a hint of Cajun spice, crisp coleslaw, and real red beans and rice with real Andouille sausage. I had a side of tender sweet fried Oysters and Doug had the fresh Gulf Shrimp with his catfish. I never scarf!! Just don’t, but I did! Scarf that is, the fish was so tender and tasty that I did not want to put down my fork. The Oysters were so sweet that they melted in my mouth.

We did “over do” it and if you are on a budget Frillys might be just a special night out meal but it was a treat and I will go again soon. Remember to always ask if they have specials and Frillys does, they post them on a board as you enter the restaurant. They also have live music in the bar on certain evenings and the music can for add to a fun evening.

Frillys is supposed to be reminiscent of Cajun Bayou restaurants but it is not like any of the ones I saw when we lived in Louisiana, they were a little less formal and a whole lot more noisy with a certain vibration that said “Cajun”, but for being in Wise County, Texas, it wasn’t bad on atmosphere and the service was excellent. I will definitely add this to my list of “Do Overs” as one of the hidden treasures in Wise County.