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reviewed on: June 13, 2008

If you’ve been down on South University in the vicinity of Dry Creek lately, you’ve probably noticed the Piccolo’s sign is gone, only to be replaced by a temporary banner proclaiming the new tenant as Swirls. And if the name Piccolo’s said little to indicate they were serving Mexican and Italian fare, the name Swirls says even less. Even the description given me by one of the owners did little to clear things up. Swirls, according to him, serves “Italian and international Southern with Creole touches.” So, there remained nothing to do but go see for ourselves how this curious admixture of cuisines fit together.

So often when new people take over an existing restaurant, they basically change the sign out front and open the doors. To the credit of the people at Swirls, they put a lot of time and effort into spit-shining the interior. While the dividing walls are essentially as they were, there are bright new colors, new carpeting and a modern look to the bar area, including a new tile floor. In short, it looks great. The atmosphere is definitely casual, and you’ll feel right at home dressed simply. Happy hour goes until 7 pm and, since we’d beat that time by about fifteen minutes, we were offered two for one prices on their house wine. Not a bad deal for a decent wine.

And finally it was time to probe this intriguing menu and discover exactly what Swirls is. And what it boils down to is that the owners wanted a restaurant serving Southern home-cooking, but they had so many people coming in looking for the Italian food that Piccolo’s was known for, and they had a pizza oven in the kitchen, so it just made sense to continue offering many of the Italian dishes including pizza. Then there are those dishes that don’t fit either the classic Southern or Italian like coconut shrimp and fried Asian shrimp dumplings.

We jumped right in with an order of delightful Maryland-style crab cakes And while there are some good-sounding pasta dishes including salmon with angel hair, pasta primavera for vegetarians as well as chicken piccata, we opted to stay with the Southern fare, which is what sets this restaurant apart.

So we ordered the catfish, available blackened or cornmeal battered and fried, and the shrimp gumbo. The gumbo was delightful, packed with the flavor of tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and served over rice. But the absolute best was the blackened catfish, coated with a wonderfully spicy coating of blackening spices, Definitely not for the timid, and two big fillets that you’ll have difficulty finishing at one sitting.

Swirls also offers burgers, sandwiches and wraps throughout the day, and for dessert check out sweet potato pie, and bread pudding.

Which brings us to the end and the final question. Why did they call the place Swirls? The restaurant is named after their signature preparation of white and mashed potatoes, swirled together on the plate. You knew it had to be simple didn’t you.

Swirls
7585 S. University Blvd., just south of Dry Creek on the southwest corner
303-797-0686