Lou Lou’s Seafood reopens after temporary closure
Nailah and Josh Curry stand in the kitchen at Lou Lou’s Seafood in Lexington, which recently reopened after burst pipes above their restaurant caused water damage and forced them to close for nearly three weeks. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
Nailah and Josh Curry, owners of Lou Lou’s Seafood at 514 N. Main St. in Lexington, arrived at her parents’ home in Pawley’s Island, S.C., on Christmas Day to celebrate with family but their visit was cut short when a customer sent them a Facebook message with photos of icicles hanging from the eaves of their restaurant and ice covering the parking lot.
They hurriedly packed and began the four-hour drive back to Lexington to assess the situation. On their way, they received a call from the Lexington Police Department that let them know frozen pipes in the second story of the building that houses the restaurant had burst in below-freezing temperatures. The Lexington Fire Department was on the scene as well.
“We had four hours to think about it all on our drive back,” Nailah said. “Seeing all that ice kind of shocked us.”
On the drive home, they were on the phone to the landlord of the building as well as plumbers and electricians. When they arrived, water was still leaking from the second-story ceiling and there was some water in the light bulbs of the kitchen hood system.
“I wanted to cry,” Nailah admitted.
But it looked worse than the actual damage.
“A lot of it turned out to be cosmetic,” Josh said, noting an interface panel on the expensive hood system was the worst damage.
Once the leaks were stopped, they got up the water and the electricity back on. Ceiling tiles were donated to replace some that had fallen and a lot of elbow grease was required to clean the space but the couple wanted to get back into business as soon as possible. They had hoped to celebrate their second anniversary in business Jan. 1 but couldn’t reopen until Jan. 12.
“We may still do something to celebrate — we’ve been so busy just trying to open back up,” Nailah explained.
The chef said customers have been supportive and encouraging.
“Since we opened back up, people have been saying ‘We’re so glad you’re back.’ I think people really want us here so we’re doing our best to stay open. They see we’re working hard.”
With the new year and the reopening, the Currys have also expanded their menu and revised their hours. The restaurant is now open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The restaurant still features Low Country seafood boils, such as shrimp, snow crab legs, lobster tails, mussels or clams paired with sides such as red skin potatoes, corn on the cob and beef sausage with a choice of more than a dozen sauces.
A lot of new menu items are the more popular daily specials Nailah has made in the past such as shrimp and grits, chicken wings with a variety of sauces, fried deviled eggs, calamari and flounder. The menu of sides has grown to include some more vegetables in addition to the popular mac and cheese that can include crab, lobster or shrimp.
Since they have extended their hours to include lunchtime, the menu currently has several new sandwiches such as shrimp po’boys, grilled mac and cheese and fried chicken and fried salmon sandwiches. There are also fried baskets of chicken and seafood in smaller portions than entrees. But all the menu items are available all day.
Now that they have reopened, the Currys plan to soon launch a crowdfunding drive to help them purchase the building in which they are located. The second floor above the restaurant could be used for a banquet room and more dining space. About 90 percent of Lou Lou’s business is takeout since there is only space inside on the first floor to seat about 10 people. That was suitable during the early years of the pandemic but they would like to expand their catering business as well as the restaurant.
“We would like to buy the building because we’ve put so much work into it,” Nailah said. She added she and Josh had to do much of the renovation work themselves when they first opened.
