Food at this Perry restaurant is ‘seasoned and juicy.’ It’s also popular among travelers.

The Swanson restaurant in Perry is like fine Southern cooking meeting a white table cloth setting. Each table is packed with people talking over a home-cooked Southern meal. The place has become more of a gathering place than the typical restaurant.

Some days you can walk in and find a group of ladies playing bridge for hours at one of the tables.

The general manager, Brad Stanley, said that they don’t want to rush people out, they want it to be a place for residents and travelers to enjoy the food and down to earth atmosphere that they provide with good service.

“The same people come day after day after day. It is the same crowd and we want that,” Stanley said. “The owners wanted it to be a destination place. We got a lot of travelers coming through there, too. At the same time, you want to keep those locals happy.”

The owners, Mike and Kim Sheridan, started the restaurant as a passion project after many years of Kim cooking at the church. They opened up the restaurant in 2002. Stanley has helped ease the need for the Sheridans to be there on a daily basis. They are able to travel more with him serving as the general manager.

Stanley is a Perry native, and he said he is proud to be able to work in the community that he grew up in and see those familiar faces from his own childhood coming in and leaving with a smile on their face after a meal at The Swanson.

“It makes me proud because they have a guest come into town and they bring them up there to see me in the restaurant,” Stanley said. “You have got to be community-oriented and have those return customers to have you succeed.”

Our first trip to The Swanson left us full and feeling like we had just left grandma’s on a Sunday afternoon in this week’s Foodie Friday from Positively 478 and The Telegraph.

Appetizers

They offer fried green tomatoes and deviled eggs as their options of appetizers. I am a big fan of deviled eggs so I decided to give these a shot. These were much sweeter than most but had a great overall taste. It comes with eight halves. It was enough to hold you over while you wait on the food to get ready. Everything here is cooked to order so that 10 minutes of waiting on fried chicken is lessened with these eggs. If you don’t like the appetizer options they also bring you little biscuits which are made with sour cream and from scratch. They are buttered and are in bite-size portions. It would be easy to sit and eat piles of these. They are that good.

Entrees

They offer a lot of Southern favorites like pot roast, meatloaf, chicken fried chicken and more. I opted for the chopped steak with grilled mushrooms. It is a 9-ounce piece of chopped steak so it is relatively large at a reasonable price with a pair of sides. The taste of the steak was well seasoned and juicy. You can also get it with brown gravy and caramelized onions. I actually thought it didn’t need the gravy and so I decided not to get. It gave me a chance to appreciate the taste of the steak itself. Stanley said that the meatloaf is routinely their highest selling item but also recommends that people check out the chicken fried chicken. They’ve recently added steaks to their menu and obtained a liquor license in the last year or so that has allowed those who enjoy a cocktail with dinner to have one too.

Sides

There is a good amount of options as there are over 20 different sides to choose from on the menu. This range from the typical southern sides like fried okra, mashed potatoes and sweet potato souffle to things like pear salad, an unusual combo of a pear topped with shredded cheese and mayonnaise.

I went with green beans and cabbage. They are made fresh and shows. These do not feel like canned food. There is a solid amount of butter in the green beans and have a soft texture as they are cooked perfectly. The cabbage was another standout as they have the pepper sauce to douse it in. I didn’t have to add much as it had a naturally good taste to them. These complemented my chopped steak well. The meal wasn’t too heavy like so often is the case with a Southern meal. I left feeling full though as they give you more than enough food.

Jenna’s suggestions

My first suggestion is to give your fried chicken time to cool before you take a large bite because this restaurant makes everything fresh.

After surviving my mistaken bite of scalding chicken, it was crunchy, savory and juicy. Sometimes it’s hard for restaurants to master all three areas of fried chicken perfection, but The Swanson has its cooking process down.

As a kid, I always thought sweet potato soufflé was a clever way to eat a “vegetable” that tastes like dessert, and The Swanson’s sweet potato soufflé took me back in time. The top layer of pecans and brown sugar blended perfectly with the buttery sweet potatoes. The green beans were also seasoned with the perfect amount of salt and provided the perfect offset to the sweet potatoes.

If you have time for dessert, order The Swanson’s chocolate cake that’s topped with pecans, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. It’s divine!

Cost

Chopped Steak: $9.49

Deviled Eggs: $5.99

Southern Fried Chicken: $9.49

The Swanson

Location: 933 Carroll St., Perry, Georgia

Hours: Monday-Thursday 11-8; Friday- Saturday 11-9; Sunday 11-2

Price range: $5-$15