Easley took over the space and the restaurant from his former boss and mentor, Bill Bayne. Over the course of several months from 2003 until Jan. 2, 2004, Easley transitioned the restaurant from Half Shells Seafood Grill into Big Fish.
“I said, ‘Do you think it would be OK if I started running this place the way I want to run it?’” Easley said. “He goes, ‘Yeah, sure.’ … One of the things that I did want to do was live music.”
Easley said Big Fish was one of the first places on Main Street to offer live music during the week instead of just on the weekends. Local artists play on Wednesday and Saturday nights at the restaurant.
Diners in search of a classic can go with the fish and chips, which features two beer-battered fillets of cod, three hush puppies and seasoned waffle fries.
One of the Big Fish Starters is the seafood quesadillas, which features sauteed shrimp and crawfish, cheese, pico de gallo and cilantro pesto served on flour tortillas.
Guests with a sweet tooth can order the bread pudding, which is served with a whiskey cream sauce.
One of the ways in which the Cajun side of seafood comes out at Big Fish is the all-you-can-eat crawfish from open to close on Wednesdays during crawfish season.
“We can go through 1,800, 1,900 pounds of crawfish on a Wednesday,” he said.
Easley attributed a lot of the success the restaurant is enjoying to the dedicated staff he has. Another component of the success Big Fish has had comes from the growth and development of Grapevine’s Main Street.
“The people that run this city, they do a really good job of marketing downtown Grapevine,” Easley said.
He and his staff hope guests feel like Big Fish is a second home, he said.
“That’s what we strive to be,” Easley said.
Big Fish Seafood Grill and Bar
414 S. Main St., Grapevine
817-481-2010
www.bigfishonmain.com
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
