It’s a marriage made in Mississippi.
Beginning May 19th, chef Judd Grisanti will begin cooking his cuisine on Monday and Tuesday nights at Marshall Steakhouse in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He’s known for his cuisine at Grisanti restaurants, including the old Ronnie Grisanti & Sons and Spindini restaurants.
He and Marshall Steakhouse owner Randall Swaney are longtime friends, Grisanti says. They also have farms close to each other. “We’re always talking farm business,” Grisanti says. “Both talking about the hogs he was raising, and the stuff I was doing, cattle and horses, and whatnot.”
About two weeks ago Swaney asked Grisanti, “How would you like to do a Grisanti’s at Marshall Steakhouse on Monday and Tuesday nights?”
Grisanti answered in the affirmative. He said, “Man, I think it’s a great idea.’
For one thing, it would get him back cooking in a restaurant a couple of days a week, which was perfect, Grisanti says.
It also was perfect for Swaney. “Because the economy has been kind of bad for the past year,” Swaney says. “My business for seven years was up until August ’24. And then it went down. Like the rest of the country. We’re down about 10 percent.”
He was racking his brain — as well as praying about — how to get more business. Then, he says, a lightbulb went off. He ran into Grisanti four times last month. He thought, “Wait. I’ve already got a building. A whole kitchen. And nobody’s in there. What a perfect opportunity to open up a completely different restaurant on Monday and Tuesdays.’”
And there are all those people who follow Grisanti on social media “who would love to eat at a Grisanti’s restaurant. And now we have one inside Marshall Steakhouse. This is a huge winner for everybody.”
Grisanti’s dad, the late Ronnie Grisanti, was one of his inspirations when he opened Marshall Steakhouse, Swaney says. Ronnie would go into the dining room and speak to the customers. Swaney does the same thing. “The owner acknowledging the customers is something I learned and never forgot.”
Grisanti says his “biggest battle” was picking the dishes. “There are so many. Right?” Grisanti says.
“The first couple of days we’re going to start off doing what I call ‘chef’s picks.’ Judd’s favorite all-time classics dishes.”
Guests can expect to see Grisanti’s pan-seared “Halibut Rombo” with roasted red pepper pesto over white wine risotto topped with peekytoe crab and micro arugula.
He also will feature the meatballs in rustic pomadoro sauce, topped with hard ricotta salata cheese, a dish he and his dad came up with.
Grisanti also will be doing some steaks, including his “Filet de Manzo con Gorgonzola.” It’s the one I’ve been doing for 40 years,”Grisanti says. “We could never take it off the menu. An eight-ounce filet — roasted garlic encrusted, bacon wrapped, and stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, and served with sautéed mushrooms and veal demi glaze.”
Appetizers will include prosciutto-wrapped grilled jumbo shrimp with roasted garbanzo beans, and a play on Italian humus, with roasted red peppers and ‘black olive salt.’ (I take) Kalamata olives and I dehydrate them and they become hard as stone. I put them in a coffee grinder. My own salt.”
Grisanti say he’ll have his tiramisu and his “Miss Mary” or “Mia Nona” salad, his Caesar Salad with black garlic, and, for dessert, his home-made tiramisu.
And, Grisanti says, “We will have wines we normally have at Grsasnti’s.” These include a Badia a Coltibuono Cetamura chianti.
Later on, he will add more classic Grisanti dishes, including manicotti, lasagna, and ravioli. For now, he wants to “just give a little taste of what we can do and, hopefully, just grow from there.”
The restaurant will seat “only 130 guests each night because we don’t want it to be overwhelmed. We want everybody to have a good experience.”
People can make reservations on Yelp! or the Marshall Steakhouse Facebook page. But, Grisanti says, “We’re not going to turn you away at the door.”