Our friends at Southern Proper Hospitality opened a second location of their popular Big Ketch Saltwater Grill at the end of October and their PR team asked whether we’d like to see what everybody’s been talking about. Earlier this month, Marie and I, who have been curious about this restaurant for a while, met up in Roswell for some supper here. Eventually. Not for the first time, amazingly, there was some small confusion between roads named Roswell and cities named Roswell and it took a few minutes for both of us to assemble in the same place.
The second Big Ketch is located on Canton Street in Roswell, which, astonishingly, does not go to the city of Canton. You have to hang a left on GA-140 for that to work, ha! Ahem, it’s just a few paces north of Roswell’s awesome little downtown row, among the line of big old houses which have become the homes of fun restaurants like Fickle Pickle and Table & Main. The interior is divided into several small dining rooms, with live music drifting along from one of the rooms in the back. It’s not at all loud, a perfect place for small groups or for couples on date nights.
We started with some pretty good hummus, served with chips, celery, carrots, and cucumber, along with a small pail of spicy boiled peanuts that every table gets. I wasn’t completely bowled over by the hummus – next time, I will try the fish dip – but we were really, really impressed by the calamari.
This calamari is amazing. There are maybe two other places where I’ve had it this good. It’s fried perfectly, and we just loved it to pieces.
I am allergic to most shellfish, but the Big Ketch’s lobster roll has been praised by so many people that I encouraged Marie to have it. She was really pleased, and says this would be a standout dish on anybody’s menu. I urged her to please finish it, because allergies nothing, that meat just looked so darn good and I couldn’t stand having it tempting me. She did not enjoy the side she picked, which was shaved Brussels sprouts in a light, savory teriyaki sauce, but the sandwich was excellent, and I shared my hush puppies with her.
I ordered the fish IN chips, because I just loved Roger at Friday Date Night’s description of it (link below). The fish is not served with a side of fried potatoes, it’s rolled in kettle chips, for an extra-crunchy treat. I also had some hush puppies, which were fabulous, and some grits, which I also really liked. This was perhaps more of a fried meal than is really ideal, so definitely enjoy this with the hummus or a small salad.
This was a very nice little date night. I’m glad that we got the chance to visit and will probably return pretty soon. There are some other places in Roswell that I’d like to try as well. I wonder what will come next…
(As noted, this was a media event and our meal was complimentary. It’s our policy to always note when we’ve received our meal without charge. If you would like to invite us to your restaurant’s media events, please drop Grant a line at gmslegion@gmail.com .)
Other blog posts about The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill:
Atlanta Restaurant Blog (Atlanta, Nov. 2012)
Beer, Booze & Tacos (Atlanta, Oct. 5 2014)
Friday Date Night (Roswell, Jan. 25 2016)
Bella Vivere (Roswell, Jan. 29 2016)
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Marie, Let's Eat! 