Southern soul food by way of Philadelphia, where chef and co-founder Gretchen Shoemaker was born and honed her culinary skills, Georgia’s got its start as a part-time catering business serving old family recipes made inside her Lake Forest home in the mid-1970s. Shoemaker’s side gig turned into a full-time career once she opened her first restaurant in 2014. One decade and three restaurants later, her fourth Georgia’s opens in Irvine on Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Menu items at Georgia’s include such soul-food fare as half and full racks of slow-roasted St. Louis-style ribs; 1855 premium Black Angus tri-tip; fried catfish, which is crusted in a Creole-seasoned cornmeal; pork chops smothered in bacon gravy; chicken and waffles; gumbo; Gretchen’s Jambalaya with shrimp, andouille sausage and chicken over pasta or rice; fried greens served with lemon aioli; and Piggy Cheese Fries, which come with crispy fries, slow-roasted barbecued pork and cheese; po-boy sandwiches and salads.
SEE ALSO: At Georgia’s, 76-year-old owner Gretchen Shoemaker is as popular as her Packing House restaurant
Red beans and rice, collard greens, coleslaw (a 200-year-old recipe which Shoemaker learned from her grandma), mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, garlic rice, onion straws with remoulade sauce and cornbread served with house-made honey butter are just a handful of the available sides.
But wait, there’s more: The pared-down dessert menu includes peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, lemon cake, pound cake, vanilla ice cream and made-to-order beignets dusted with powdered sugar. And for guests itching for a boozy feast can order a round of seasonal sangria, red wine and white wine (by the glass or the bottle) or bottled craft beer.
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As for the restaurant’s name? Well, it has nothing to do with the Peach State. Georgia’s is an amalgamation using the names of her immediate family: George, Gretchen’s late husband who passed in 1991, is used but drops the final “E” and adds one letter from each of her daughters’ names – Nika, Kyra and Shawn.
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One of Orange County’s few Black-owned restaurants, Georgia’s first opened at the Anaheim Packing House in 2014.
“The opening of Georgia’s was essentially a re-birth for my mother,” says co-owner Nika Shoemaker-Machado, Gretchen’s daughter, who, along with her husband, Marlon, manages business operations. “Over the last ten years, I’ve developed a new, deeper relationship with my mother, as she has reacquainted herself with her legacy recipes, and redefined her family history.”
Find it: 732 Spectrum Center Drive, Irvine (near Dave & Busters)
