Special Request: Southern’s Fried Green Tomatoes start with pickling

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Q • Can you track down a recipe for me from the Southern restaurant on Olive Street? I’d really like to have the recipe for their deep-fried green tomatoes. They’re amazing! I can’t figure them out. Biting into them it’s like they just came out of a pickle jar, but at the same time they’re hot, right outta the fryer. – David Loeb, Benton Park

A • At Southern, chef Rick Lewis layers flavors into every dish, from his signature Nashville-style hot chicken — in varying degrees of heat — to his Southern-inspired sides, including greens, pickled beets, sorghum baked black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes with pan-fried gravy and more.

Fried green tomatoes, crispy and bright, appear on the starter menu. The lightly pickled green tomatoes, dipped in buttermilk, dredged in a cornmeal coating and fried golden-brown have been a customer favorite at the busy restaurant on Olive Street since the fried chicken spot opened a year ago.

Lewis’ recipe is easy to make at home; it just takes planning to pickle the green tomatoes a day in advance. The preparation and execution couldn’t be simpler. Southern uses a deep fryer, but a pan-fried test on these worked just as well. The coating browns up crisp, and the tangy flavors wake up the taste buds.

“Our food is simple, but we put a lot into it,” Lewis says. He starts with the freshest ingredients and produce, locally sourced; some from his own big home garden. The kitchen makes everything from scratch, including pickled cucumbers and vegetables, breadings, dressings, mustards and more.

Although the restaurant is best known for its hot fried chicken, the fried fish plates and the catfish sandwich provide a tasty alternative. Choose classic sides like the creamy coleslaw, mac and cheese casserole or house-made chips for a taste of the fish fry anytime.

Sandwiches at Southern deserve a good look, too. The Dirty South pairs fried green tomatoes with thick cut bacon and a Southern-style mayo for a different BLT.

The Southern Burger comes with two 50/50 brisket top round beef patties cooked and smashed on the flat top grill topped with the house pimento cheese, pickles and onions. Another sure bet, the Hot Chicken Biscuit, piles hot chicken on a homemade biscuit with sweet pickled green tomatoes and house honey mustard.

For home cooks, a visit to Southern is a reminder of how good simple foods can taste when people take the time and the extra steps to make dishes well.