Chamber, City celebrate long-awaited opening of Grits & Some in Downtown Laurel

On Monday, October 3^rd, 2022, at 11 a.m.  the Jones County Chamber of Commerce and Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee joined restauranteurs Peter and Lisa Weimer to celebrate the ribbon cutting of their new venture Grits and Some in downtown Laurel.

The Weimers are originally from Georgia but currently live in Philadelphia with their 17-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son. They were considering retirement when they first traveled to Laurel as tourists and “fell in love” with the City Beautiful. “We came for the town but stayed for the people,” Lisa explained. It didn’t take long for their vacation adventure to turn into a new business venture. Lisa found her inspiration in the building at 437 North Magnolia Street. “In ten seconds, she knew exactly what she wanted,” Peter recalled. What she wanted was a comfy sit-down breakfast spot with an attached ice cream parlor and apartments that could double as Air B&Bs up top. While the vision for the business came to them quickly, bringing that vision to life took another 16 months of hard work, most of it done directly by Peter. During the renovations, they discovered the building’s original windows, uncovered layers of flooring, and collected a variety of artifacts left by previous tenants which they plan to turn into a display in the restaurant. Peter also used the shelving from the building’s previous law library to create the molding for the restaurant.

The restaurant embraces the eclectic, from its mismatched dishes and coffee mugs that make visitors feel like they are visiting a friend’s home, to its menu which includes standard breakfast fare such as pancakes, grits, and bacon alongside less traditional options such as the “Don’t Tell Mama” (a slice of cake!).

Grits and Some is located behind City Hall, next to Shug’s and is open from Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In the future they plan to open the restaurant at night when events are going on downtown such as theater nights at the Laurel Little Theater and on nights when Laurel Main Street is hosting their Wine Down events.

“We are so glad that Grits and Some are finally open,” Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee told the couple. “The food is delicious…We’re glad that you’re downtown.”

For more photos from the event, check out our Instagram page at laurel_ms.