I'll probably never say that I love the food at Big Jones. I just find too many small misses when dining there. But that's not to say I don't enjoy the food and my dining experiences - I definitely think this place has improved considerably since its earlier days when I complained on a number of fronts. And what I admire even more is the constantly evolving and challenging menu which seemingly both reinvents, and reaches back to the roots of, southern and low-country cuisine. I suspect that this desire to constantly change the menu and keep reaching for new heights sometimes results in small compromises in quality, but it's this creativity and changing menu that keeps drawing me back, and the quality of the food no longer disappoints me. And I've never had anything but the most charming and efficient service.
So friends and I jumped at the $65/person offer for NYE and we were happy we did. The New Year's Eve menu can be found
here. We started with the red pea cappuccino and we all found it to be a good enough start, but nothing mind-blowing.
For the next course, we all chose the shrimp and grits (Crispy Fried Amelia Island Rock Shrimp with creamy grits, tasso beurre monte, and piccalilli), which was different from the versions I've previously had at Big Jones. On this night, the shrimp was battered and beautifully fried, and the piccalilli added a sweet/sour element to the richness of the dish - a really great balance. This was the best version of shrimp and grits I've had at Big Jones, and it was really excellent. Below is a picture, the only one I took this night:
Bread service was next and was very good - a cast iron baked spoonbread with honey butter. The menu mentions cracklins - I can't recall that part of the dish.
For the next course, I had the turtle soup with pickled quail eggs and sherry, while my friends had the goose and housemade chaurice gumbo. We all loved the gumbo which was everything a gumbo should be. The turtle soup was okay but the sherry was not detectable, and I love sherry (sometimes even a bit over the top) in my turtle soup.
For entrees, I had the lowcountry bouillabaisse while my friends had the Slagel Farms ribeye with butter poached shrimp. The ribeye and shrimp were delicious and and nicely cooked (well, the shrimp slightly overcooked but forgivable). The bouillabaisse had a big chunk of lobster, stone crab claws (too cumbersome, but tasty), mussels, wreckfish and clams as well as toast with a creole rouille and a tasty, tomatoey broth. It was by no means the best bouillabaisse I've ever tasted - far from it - but it was a nice take on the dish, tasty and featured some beautiful seafood.
We each had a different dessert. Bourbon chocolate beignets were a miss (very dry). Coconut cake was tasty and moist, but I'll brag and say that my go-to coconut cake recipe is much better (see this
thread for pictures and description). My favorite dessert was a Meyer lemon and yuzu pie - words cannot describe how good this pie was. I was so ridiculously full by this point in the evening, but I could have kept eating this pie . . . that good.
We dined late so we were treated to a complimentary glass of champagne as midnight rolled around. Lovely service (as always), very good food, a great value considering the amount and variety (and options) of food and the evening.
I can firmly recommend dining at Big Jones now, and I look forward to returning. And the next time you wonder about where to dine New Year's Eve, you'd be foolish not to consider Big Jones . . . they really did it right.