{"id":315501,"date":"2026-05-30T14:16:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/315501\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T14:16:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:16:27","slug":"crunch-time-three-houston-spots-serving-fried-food-done-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/315501\/","title":{"rendered":"Crunch Time: Three Houston spots serving fried food done right"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this episode of \u201cEat Like a Local\u201d<\/a>, it\u2019s all about the crunch. Host Chris Shepherd went on the hunt for the perfect fried bites in Houston. Whether it\u2019s a chicken wing, a piece of fish, shrimp straight from the Gulf, or a perfectly fried crab finger, great fried food doesn\u2019t have to be fancy, it just needs have the right technique.<\/p>\n

Southern Jerks | 2950 Gears Rd., Houston<\/p>\n

Chris first step is an unexpected find tucked inside a Speedy Mart on Gears Road. That\u2019s where Southern Jerks<\/a> has quietly built a devoted following thanks to its Caribbean-inspired fried chicken and house-made sauces. <\/p>\n

Southern Jerks, which serves delicious fried food, is tucked away in a Houston convenience store. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Owners Jabril and Jordan Riddick draw inspiration from their Virgin Islands heritage, creating what they describe as Caribbean fried chicken rather than traditional Jamaican jerk. The result is a flavor profile that\u2019s savory, slightly sweet and incredibly approachable. <\/p>\n

Chris Shepherd stops in to meet the team behind Southern Jerks. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Everything is made in-house, from the mac and cheese sauce and dirty rice to the hot sauces and the fan-favorite Golden Ranch, a curry-based sauce that quickly became one of Chris\u2019 favorites. <\/p>\n

The menu offers plenty of options, including wings, tenders, sandwiches and even burgers, all seasoned with the restaurant\u2019s signature Caribbean influence. <\/p>\n

Captain Mc\u2019s Seafood |5055 Griggs Rd., Houston<\/p>\n

Next, Chris headed to Captain Mc\u2019s Seafood<\/a> on Griggs Road, where owner and commercial fisherman Fred McBride is taking local seafood sourcing to another level. <\/p>\n

Captain Fred McBride was a music teacher before choosing to follow his passion and make a living fishing. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Before opening the restaurant, McBride spent years supplying some of Houston\u2019s top chefs with Gulf seafood<\/a>. Now he\u2019s bringing that same product directly to his own customers. The concept is simple: if it\u2019s on the menu, Fred either caught it himself or sourced it from local Gulf fishermen. <\/p>\n

Captain Mc’s serves freshly caught seafood from local waters. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Black drum, blue crab and Gulf shrimp are the backbone of the operation. While most restaurants buy pre-picked crab meat, McBride and his team process their own fresh caught blue crabs, creating crab cakes and fried crab fingers. <\/p>\n

One of the restaurant\u2019s most unique features is a QR code that allows guests to watch videos of the fish and seafood being caught, creating a direct connection between the water and the plate. For Chris, that\u2019s what makes Captain Mc\u2019s special is that it\u2019s full circle – you know exactly who caught it and how it got to your plate.<\/p>\n

Chris Shepherd sits down with Captain Fred McBride at his new restaurant – Captain Mc’s. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Fountain View Fish Market | 2912 Fountain View, Houston<\/p>\n

The final stop brought Chris to one of Houston\u2019s longtime seafood institutions: Fountain View Fish Market<\/a>. The no-frills restaurant has been serving Houstonians since the 1970s and remains one of Chris\u2019 favorite places for fried seafood. <\/p>\n

Don’t let Fountain View Fish Market’s simple exterior fool you. This spot is consistently serving some of the best fried seafood in Houston. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

From the outside, it\u2019s easy to miss. The sign simply reads \u201cFish Market.\u201d Inside, however, you\u2019ll find some of the city\u2019s most consistently excellent fried Gulf seafood. Using locally sourced shrimp, oysters, crab and fish, the kitchen has mastered a frying technique that produces seafood that\u2019s crispy, light and never greasy.<\/p>\n

Season 3 of \u201cEat Like a Local\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this episode of \u201cEat Like a Local\u201d, it\u2019s all about the crunch. Host Chris Shepherd went on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[9044,9043,49,56,19337,58,57,354],"class_list":["post-315501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-chris-shepherd","tag-eat-like-a-local","tag-food","tag-houston","tag-houston-food","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}