After we’d already eaten five lunches on Day 1 of my 2025 Georgia Tour, Keith McLendon, my Georgia guide, said we just had to go to a steak place that has great fried shrimp. I considered the idea. After a few pounds of barbecue, a gallon or so of Brunswick Stew, and a fried pork chop with gravy, why not have a big ribeye and a baked potato with lots of butter and sour cream?
So off we went to B & J’s at 901 North Way in Darien, a small town at the mouth of the Altamaha founded by Highland Scots sent by Oglethorpe in 1736. In 1739 town leaders petitioned against the introduction of slavery in Georgia, and in 1775 passed a resolution condemning slavery. In 1863, the town and county were systematically laid waste by Union troops led by Col. James Montgomery, a Kansas Jayhawker who felt he was “not bound by the rules of regular warfare.” Today, Darien boasts about 1,500 souls, two inns with terrific water views, some tabby ruins (a shell concrete of the colonial period) and a mostly-tabby building, a fish camp, and a whole lot of shrimp boats.
And, at 901 North Way, it has B & J’s.
This is not a city steakhouse. The interior is unpretentious, designed to welcome rather than to impress, just right for eating, and for ease in cleaning. I didn’t notice any steaks, but I hear they’re very good. There’s a salad bar and a hot bar for buffet nights, and a room in back with wood paneling that would be perfect if you wanted a quiet steak dinner.
Not that it isn’t quiet, but there’s a lot of greeting friends and introducing of out-of-towners. One couple came in with a squad of relatives visiting from Chicago. That generated a lot of Good to Meet Yous and “Did you have to get a visa?” and such. The family matriarch, a lady whose gait was somewhat hobbled by years of wisdom, got a “How are you doing, Miz Smith (or something)?” She replied, “I’m above the dirt.” You don’t get such vivid language in Washington.
I wasn’t up to a steak after all that food. Remembering the shrimp boats docked outside and the sight of more arriving, I looked over the menu for something small and settled on a shrimp basket with fried okra and inevitable hushpuppies. It wasn’t small.
I just can’t say enough about these shrimp. They were so fresh, so lightly dusted with flour, so perfectly fried. Large shrimp, maybe 16-20 shrimp. So many. So lightly fried. Have I ever had fried shrimp this good? I sure can’t remember any, and I’d recently had some great shrimp while on the Charleston RoadFood Crawl.
I was full before I walked in, but I ate my way through the shrimp down to the okra, and it too was superb, again just lightly dusted and fried expertly. And the hushpuppies were good, too. I ended up eating all of the shrimp. I think there were 22, or over a pound of shrimp. (Tip: I think I had more shrimp than Keith because my okra took up less room than his fries.) I didn’t eat all of the hushpuppies. I often leave a couple of hushpuppies if only out of embarrassment about how many I’ve eaten. This, however, was the first time I’d ever left a piece of fried okra on my plate. I would have eaten the rest but I’d have had to tamp them down my throat with a spoon. There are limits.
B & J’s will get a new place of honor on my Best Places to Eat Near I-95. They are open 10:30-9:00 Monday-Saturday, so you can grab lunch there easily. The food comes out quickly, and you can be back on the road in no time. The two inns in Darien look like they’re worth checking out, and there are lots of places on either side if you want to go for dinner. But go. Definitely go. You’ll thank me, and you’ll almost be unable to resist the temptation to send me a check. Almost, but not quite.
***
And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box. Or bookmark us and check in from time to time. We’re on Instagram (johntannerbbq) and X/Twitter (johntannerbbq1). If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre, Prague Castle, Vienna’s Old City, or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event). We welcome comments and questions, and eagerly seek suggestions of places to eat and stories to cover.
