Red Beans, Rice and Blues!

Enjoy Comfortable Food in a Relaxed, Cool Environment.

As Georgia Blue’s reputation grows, word is beginning to spread about some of its coveted recipes.
And at a restaurant that takes special care to develop and serve delicious food at a welcoming price, there are many dishes to try. In fact, when they first opened, Chef Zack Athearn and entrepreneur Jason Ishee weren’t sure which dishes might gain the largest number of fans. The grilled Mahi? The select steaks? The Gorgonzola chips? Who knew?

As it turns out, one of the most popular dishes at the restaurant has an ecclesiastical beginning, a touch of persistence, and a side helping of innovation–the St. Columb’s-style Red Beans & Rice.

Award-Winning Recipe Meets Entrepreneurial Spirit

For years Ishee had been enjoying the best red beans and rice he had ever tasted. Period. Served during church dinners at St. Columb’s Episcopal Church in Ridgeland, Ishee feasted on the dish for years, wondering what could make it taste so good. When he started working with Athearn on Georgia Blue, the idea of those red beans and rice just wouldn’t leave his mind. So he went to the cook to ask him a very important question. “I asked him if I could have his recipe,” Ishee said. “I told him I wouldn’t share it with anyone, but I just thought it was the best I had ever had. He said it was an old family recipe and he had to think about it. So a month later I asked him again.”

Soon the caretaker of the recipe relented. Just a little. He agreed to hand over the base of the recipe, the foundation if you will. And upon that foundation Athearn would construct his own version of red beans and rice.

Sloooooow Foooooooood

For Athearn, making the recipe his own made it all that much better. It was an act of combining the right ingredients and the right amount of cooking time. And that cooking time is a long, long time.

First comes the sausage. Thirty-two pounds of it, to be exact–22 lbs of Kielbasa and 10 lbs of ground Italian. To that is added red beans, then the requisite slow cooking. Once the beans are done, some of them are removed, mashed to a paste, seasoned, then added back. The result is a ramping up of the thickness and the flavor alike. The seasoning, by the way, is a proprietary blend, as is the homemade hot sauce that is added.

Topping it all off, literally, are a grilled Kielbasa, homemade croutons, and a colossal crab claw. And Athearn said the crew just can’t keep it in stock.

“It is a top seller,” he said. “We sell out every week. I had no idea when we started making it that it would be this popular.”

Georgia Blue was created to bring people together with finely crafted meals at an affordable price, in a welcoming atmosphere. It’s a place for family, friends, buddies or business. You can enjoy staples like burgers, steaks and salads–ribeyes, mahi mahi, and more. Or just go for the red beans and rice–and make it a favorite of yours!

Georgia Blue Café is located in Colony Crossing Shopping Center in Madison. The Café is open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun-Wed, and 11 a.m.-12a.m. Thur-Sat. For a menu preview, visit www.georgiablue.net, call them at (601) 898-3330, or find them on Facebook for blue plate specials and other event updates.