The little building at 11950 County Road 32 east of Fairhope has worn a lot of paint in its time. The original Fish River Grill made its name there, then The Grill 32, and the vibrant orange, purple and turquoise trim survived every change of tenant. Today the colors welcome a new crowd to Southern Bayou Grill, where a Mississippi-born Cajun chef is turning out some of the most talked-about cooking in east Baldwin County — and where the owner arrives each morning after a full shift managing hospital nursing units.
Two Careers, One Kitchen
Barbara Edwards is the owner — when she is not serving as a nurse manager at Thomas Hospital, where she oversees staffing for two units, handles payroll and equipment, assists her nurses and covers shifts herself when needed. Multitasking, she says, is the job description of both her careers, and hospital work taught her the strategic time management a restaurant demands.
The cooking is left to her partner, chef and manager Perry Boyd, whom she has known longer than either cares to count. “We grew up together in Rolling Fork, Mississippi,” she says. “I’ve known Perry since I was in kindergarten, and he was in the second grade.” They lost track of each other by high school, then reconnected years later on social media. Their culinary roots run deep: Perry was born in New Orleans, spent 35 years in Vicksburg, and counts family from Houma, Gonzales and French Settlement, Louisiana — the heart of Cajun country. His daughter-figure role in the business is shared with Edwards’ daughter, Lacey Weeks, who serves as CFO.
Boyd is no stranger to restaurant success. He has operated popular restaurants before and catered for hundreds, spending years perfecting recipes and building gatherings around food. “He has operated popular restaurants before and catered to hundreds of people,” Edwards says. “He has spent many years perfecting recipes and bringing people together with the food he makes.”
The Menu Locals Kept Coming Back For
The kitchen’s Cajun accent shows everywhere. Shrimp — fried or grilled — is the top seller, whether piled on a po-boy built on Leidenheimer bread from New Orleans or swimming in deeply flavored gumbo. Burgers are thick, juicy and fully dressed. The catfish basket with red beans and rice and homemade coleslaw has its regulars, as does the fried oyster po’boy: crunchy outside, dressed with lettuce, tomato and pickles, with fries that arrive crisp outside and tender within, lightly seasoned.
The schedule gives regulars a reason to return by day of the week. Tacos on Tuesday. Crab cake sandwiches on Wednesday. Grilled or fried shrimp on Thursday. Catfish on Friday. On Friday and Saturday, a shrimp boil with corn, potatoes and sausage. The single dessert — white chocolate bread pudding — has become something of a sensation, the dish servers rave about to first-timers.
The room itself is cozy, seating about twenty inside with roughly the same again outside under the Mardi Gras-colored umbrellas, and highchairs make it work for families with babies and toddlers. Before they landed on CR 32, Edwards and Boyd had envisioned a Cajun convenience store and food trailer base at the old Bay Break property along the bay in Fairhope — the trailer still carries the name “The Rolling Fork” after their hometown — but zoning steered them to a site Baldwin County already loved.
History in the Paint
One decision connects the new restaurant to its predecessors: the bright colors stayed. “Everybody loves the bright colors, and lots of people comment on them,” Edwards says. “We want people to feel at home. People have really fond memories of Fish River Grill and The Grill 32, and we don’t want to break that connection.”
The connection clearly took. Since opening at the end of June 2025, the restaurant has watched its traffic climb, and the dining room fills with faces the staff greets by name — “See ya later, Mister George,” a waitress calls out as one regular heads for the door.
Plans on the Boil
The partners are already sketching what comes next: a covered patio with seating, ready-made sandwiches and snacks for boaters passing on the river, and ready-made meals to take home and heat. Crab boils and live music are on the wishlist as the seasons turn. “We’ve got plans, hopes, and dreams for the future,” Edwards says.
For now, the formula that built Fish River Grill’s following is working again: honest food, fair prices, familiar colors — with a Cajun accent that has people raving from Fairhope to the river.
A visit in the depths of one recent winter made the point plainly: while the rest of the country was bundled up, the Mardi Gras umbrellas and brightly trimmed picnic tables on County Road 32 looked as welcoming as spring sunshine, and both the indoor dining room and the outdoor tables were full. The catfish basket, paired with red beans and rice and homemade coleslaw, and the fried oyster po’boy with fries crisp outside and tender within, are the kind of plates that turn a first visit into a standing appointment. Boyd hints that crab boils and occasional live music could join the Friday and Saturday shrimp boils as the calendar warms up.
Southern Bayou Grill is at 11950 County Road 32, Fairhope, just west of the intersection with County Road 33, open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The menu is posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page.