This new Arlington restaurant has a great name: Spice and Gravy. It’s not all fried

Bud Kennedy
·2 min read

This is the innovation America has been waiting for: a Southern restaurant with a “gravy sampler.”

But across the menu from the fried chicken, catfish and choice of gravies, the new Spice and Gravy also offers a vegan grits-and-greens platter with enough garlic to make any diner happy.

Spice and Gravy, 7401 Matlock Road, has been open about two months. It’s a tiny, mom-and-pop home-cooking counter featuring fried and blackened catfish, shrimp-and-grits, slow-braised brisket and other scratch cooking.

Mary Sholars’ family recipes are featured at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.
Mary Sholars’ family recipes are featured at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.

This is where I repeat the warning:

Don’t overwhelm a little restaurant.

If it’s crowded, don’t go or try to place an order.

Please give owners Mary Sholars and Reginald Williams your business. But also, please give them your patience.

Try in late afternoon.

Blackened catfish over collard greens and grits at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington. The dish also comes in a keto version..
Blackened catfish over collard greens and grits at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington. The dish also comes in a keto version..

Sholars, a Fort Worth native and sister of former TCU track star Greg Sholars, said the restaurant is “something that’s been in my heart for 30 years.”

She learned to cook at the side of her late mother Willie Mae Sholars, from Tallulah, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River near Jackson, Mississippi.

“A lot of people come in and say, ‘Are you from Louisiana?’ I tell them no, but my mother was,” Mary Sholars said.

Chicken and waffles at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.
Chicken and waffles at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.

The menu is a fascinating blend of old South and new.

There’s brisket or catfish served over greens seasoned with smoked turkey and ham, on a bed of smoked Gouda-cheddar grits.

A “gravy sampler” offers cream, brown and sausage gravy.

Lemon-pepper chicken and grits at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery.
Lemon-pepper chicken and grits at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery.

“So many of the restaurants down here in south Arlington and Mansfield are fast food,” she said.

“If there is a Southern place, it’s all processed food or it lacks flavor. I wanted to serve food with a lot of flavor.”

But Spice and Gravy also offers choices of vegan greens and plain grits, and keto or vegan platters.

A vegan platter with collards and grilled mushrooms at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.
A vegan platter with collards and grilled mushrooms at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.

“So many people need options — I want to make sure there is something for everyone, with lots of nutrients,” she said.

Spice and Gravy is on Matlock Road at Harris Road, 4 miles south of Interstate 20 or 4 miles north of U.S. 287 in Mansfield.

Peach bread pudding at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.
Peach bread pudding at Spice and Gravy Southern Eatery in Arlington.

It’s near the Smoke’N Ash Tex-Ethiopian barbecue restaurant, which has built a national reputation. Smoke’N Ash is open only a few more days until May 28, when it will move to a future location at 5904 S. Cooper St.

Spice and Gravy serves lunch and early dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays, brunch Sundays; 972-750-9935, spicegravy.com.