So we traveled north along Route 66 to Claremore’s downtown and arrived at Gibby C’s right before the weeknight dinner rush began.

Gibby’s South in Your Mouth got its start when chef and owner Carla Gibson opened a spot in Collinsville in 2021. Her career in restaurants includes stints at Molly’s Landing in Catoosa and at the venerable Louisiana restaurant Dooky Chase, where she developed her love for, and skill with, Cajun cuisine.

She worked in the oil and gas industry for a while, and when she lost her job during a recent downturn, began selling her jambalaya and other foods out of her house, she said, before opening the Collinsville restaurant.

“We outgrew that place pretty quickly,” Gibson said. “It was only about 1,000 square feet, and there were some other issues that made it to where I knew I couldn’t stay there.”

Gibson moved into the space that had been home to the last Oklahoma outlet of the Mississippi-based steakhouse-and-tamale restaurant, Doe’s Eat Place, in October 2023.

It’s a long, narrow space that has been decorated with touches of the green, purple and gold associated with New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebrations, and framed and mural paintings that evoke New Orleans scenes. A wide staircase at the back leads to the restaurant’s bar and private dining area.

As to why it’s called “Gibby C’s” rather than “Carla G’s,” Gibson said the restaurant’s name has two separate origin stories.

“When I was in the oil and gas business, I had an employee who called me Gibby C because he thought it was funny,” Gibson said. “I guess it just kind of stuck.

“Then, I was watching the OU-Texas game at a friend’s house, and I had brought some things to eat while watching the game, and I said, ‘That’s some real South in your mouth,’” Gibson said. “It was just an off-the-cuff kind of thing, because I’m from Georgia originally and grew up cooking Southern food.”

Of course, we ordered the shrimp and grits ($14.99) at our first visit; to add to the New Orleans vibe, we added an order of char-grilled oysters (market price, which was $17.99 for six when we were there). Large, tender biscuits topped with a bit of shredded cheese and served with melted garlic butter arrive at the table soon after one is seated.

Shrimp and grits is a simple dish that many chefs use as a blank canvas for experimenting with flavors and textures. Gibby C’s version is fairly straightforward in its ingredients, but they are treated with the proper respect that elevates this very humble dish.

The grits themselves are coarse-ground white grits, cooked until they are creamy and just this side of firm. Shreds of cheddar cheese are sprinkled over the top rather than incorporated into the grits, along with chopped green onions, six large, tail-on grilled shrimp and what is billed as “Gibby’s Grits Butter.”

The grilled shrimp, seasoned with a spice blend that leaned on cayenne, were well-cooked and tasty; the grits themselves were obviously cooked with something more than water, which elevated their corn flavor; the film of melted butter added a welcome richness; and the bits of cheese and green onion give some bites a pleasant pop of sharpness.

We first had char-grilled oysters at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans, where they come to the table still sizzling and bubbling from their time on the grill. The oysters we had at Gibby C’s might not have been sizzling, but they were cooked properly, still tender and moist, with a satisfying crust of toasted Parmesan cheese and just enough garlic.

They were served with a cup of cocktail sauce; apparently, a horseradish sauce is also supposed to come with an order, but my server reported the restaurant was out of that condiment. But neither sauce was really necessary, as far as we were concerned. The oysters were good on their own.

We returned with a family group for a Sunday afternoon lunch. Weekends are when Gibson offers special Southern dishes, which on the day we were there included chicken-fried steak, baked spaghetti with green beans and salad, and a crabstack with salad.

Our party stuck with the established menu: the appetizer sampler ($12.99), which included fried pickles, zucchini slices and button mushrooms; the fried shrimp basket ($17.99 for a dozen) and the fried alligator basket ($17.99 for a full order), which came with coleslaw and hushpuppies and one additional side; and the Voodoo Chicken ($25.99 for a full order).

My niece, who wanted the sampler for her appetizer, was quite pleased with her choice, singling out the fried zucchini as her favorite, while my sister had no complaints about the shrimp in her order. My companion liked the larger pieces of alligator, as they were meaty yet tender; the smaller pieces tended to be tough. She was also a fan of the spicy “comeback sauce” that came with the gator.

The full order of Voodoo Chicken came with four very large chicken tenders that were juicy and flavorful on their own, topped with a mornay sauce augmented with bits of crab meat and medium grilled shrimp. An order of grits comes standard with the dishes; we asked for the red beans and rice as the second side.

The chicken was excellent, and the grits as good as the first time we tried them. The red beans and rice was decent enough, although the cayenne pepper quickly overwhelmed the other flavors.

“One of the things I’m trying to do is get people used to the spice level that I like,” Gibson said. “I’ll make a blackened catfish that I think is just fine, but when I serve it here, I’ll see people crying because it’s too hot.”

Gibby C’s South in Your Mouth recently unveiled new menus that include a number of items that before were available only as daily specials.

New to the menu are such things as chicken-fried steak; “Swamp Fries” topped with grilled shrimp, crawfish, andouille sausage, onions, peppers and cheese; a hot chicken sandwich; “Bayou Grits,” with fried catfish, crawfish, shrimp, andouille and bell peppers; and meat pies stuffed with beef and pork, onions and peppers, and served with Cajun gravy.

Gibson said she is also taking over the space next door to Gibby C’s, which will become a lunch-only place called Gibby’s to Go, which she hopes will be open in about three months.

“We cooked everything to order, and when we’re really busy, that can take some time,” Gibson said. “We often can’t serve people who need to get in and out in 30 minutes. This place will have a different menu — still Southern comfort food — but done so we can better capitalize on the lunch crowd.

“It will only be open for lunch Monday through Friday, but in the evenings we’ll use it as an additional waiting area,” she said.

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