It’s Monday morning at 3 Southern Girls, and customers are starting to drop in, looking for their favorite dish. It might be a stuffed bell pepper, turkey necks, a fried catfish plate, gumbo, or as it is the traditional day for it — red beans and rice, served with pickled pork, potato salad, and cornbread.
It’s the type of comfort food that reminds you of home.
And that’s just how owner Gabrielle Smith likes it. 3 Southern Girls is all about food and family, which also includes the neighborhood’s residents — and fans near and far — who have embraced the restaurant.
How 3 Southern Girls Came to Be
Located in Jefferson, 3 Southern Girls is a result of Gabrielle’s dream, hard work, and faith.
While the restaurant business is part of the family’s heritage — her grandmother owned Ebony’s and Maxine’s in Shrewsbury (in Jefferson Parish) — Gabrielle isn’t a formally trained chef and had never worked in a full-service restaurant. But she wanted to share her love of food with others, praying fervently before making the decision to open a restaurant. “God said it was going to work,” she told her father, just before she signed the lease for the restaurant’s building.
She opened on Feb. 29, 2020. The restaurant had just started to hit its stride when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and restaurants closed.
It was another test of faith. And Gabrielle persevered.
A Red Beans & Rice Recipe Inspired by Her Grandmother
Today, 3 Southern Girls is a mainstay, and while the red beans and rice is a Monday special, it’s also available every day with smoked sausage.
“Typically, I’m going to soak my beans the night before. So when I come in the morning, it’s two hours max for my cooking time,” says Gabrielle.
After she arrives, the beans are drained, and the pot is filled back up with water. It is then put on high heat for the first hour.
“That second hour, I’m going to add my dry ingredients, my bay leaf with a little chicken flavor, as well as add garlic powder, onion powder, and other seasonings.”
Traditionally, many chefs add the trinity — bell pepper, onion, celery — at the start of the cooking process. Gabrielle takes a different tack; in the last 30 minutes of cooking, she adds these ingredients raw – not cooked or sautéed.
“My grandmother taught me to finish with your fresh seasoning — not start with it,” she says.
It’s something, she notes, that is hard for people to understand. “When you start cooking with all your seasonings, everything cooks out of your pot. But if you finish with it, everything’s still there,” she explains, referencing the flavor.
Another essential ingredient she uses is Camellia Brand Red Kidneys beans and the brand’s Lima beans (butter beans) for other dishes.
“I’m going to stick to what I know works,” she says. “And I just feel like when you’re talking about beans, it’s what you are raised on. I’ve never seen any other kind of beans in our house.”
Who are the 3 Southern Girls — the ladies illustrated in the restaurant logo? The name was dreamed up in honor of Gabrielle and her two sisters, who don’t work at the restaurant, but like Gabrielle’s customers, appreciate her delicious food. Because it’s just like being home
3 Southern Girls, 4402 Jefferson Highway, (504) 381-4276; Facebook: @3SouthernGirls504; Instagram: @3SouthernGirls_; Hours: Mon-Fri. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.