We often receive compliments on the simplicity of our menu. Because we offer the freshest seafood and sides cooked to perfection, few frills are necessary. Most items, like “steamed red potatoes” and “lump crabmeat with butter”, are self-explanatory. There is one dish, however, that always elicits questions from new customers. “What’s a Granddaddy salad?” they ask.

Granddaddy Salad

Put simply, it’s a small side salad made with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and bell peppers. We drizzle a homemade vinaigrette over the mixture to finish of this fresh, tasty side dish. What that typical explanation leaves out, however, is that there’s so much more to this salad.

For decades, our extended family got together once a week. Our grandparents opened their home on Sundays to anyone looking for a good meal and even better company. They rotated a few staple meals and somehow always kept up with our ever-growing family. Regardless of whether the main course was Granny’s chicken and dumplings or salty ham sandwiches, Granddaddy always made his salad. Despite our patriarch being well into his eighties and having nerve damage in his hands, you could always count on his salad.

Both grandparents have passed but the tradition still lives on. We take turns hosting and don’t get together quite as often, but there’s still the salad. It’s not a Stuart family gathering without it and it wouldn’t be our family restaurant without it either. We serve the side dish that represents the hospitality of Southern grandparents because we want you to feel like part of the family.