When I was a member of the sports department, on Saturdays we often ordered out — a small consolation for us sports guys sitting in an office compiling stats while the rest of the world watched college football.

Among the restaurants we frequently ordered from was Southern Spice.

Recently, we decided to get the band back together (some of us anyway) and head to Southern Spice Restaurant and Grill for a sit-down meal.

The Ryan Street restaurant has been in business since 1997 and has added a second location in Moss Bluff.

Warren Arceneaux and Michael Cooper, former sports compatriots who now work with me in news, joined me for lunch at the Lake Charles location.

As is a key component of many of Southwest Louisiana’s locally-owned restaurants, Southern Spice offers plate lunches Monday through Saturday.

Different plate lunches are offered each weekday. For instance, every Monday, plate lunch menu choices are hamburger steak or pork roast and every Friday, the choices are fried fish or beef tips.

Each dinner also comes with two sides and can be ordered in regular or small portions.

We went on a Tuesday so our choices were beef roast or chicken fried chicken and sides of macaroni-and-cheese, yams or field peas.

Warren opted for the beef roast and a double order of field peas and I got the chicken fried chicken, mac-and-cheese and field peas.

Both plate lunches were tasty and filling, and at $7.50 a piece, a bargain.

Coop strayed from the plate lunch offerings and ordered a menu item ­— a Cajun roast beef po-boy.

As an appetizer, we ordered a combo plate of mozzarella sticks, munchers (deep fried diced potatoes, jalapenos and cheese), onion rings and hush puppies.

All-in-all the food was as we remembered. We particularly enjoyed the munchers, which we had never had before. I also recommend the restaurant’s home-made rolls.

We chose to go a little after noon to avoid the lunch crowd, thus it was only us and a few others in the place.

Our waitress was patient, even as I changed my order twice.

The restaurant bills itself as serving southern, home-style cooking from a variety of cuisines.

Variations of hamburgers, sandwiches, steaks, seafood and stuffed potatoes dot the menu.

In the morning, Southern Spice rolls out a full breakfast menu, replete with homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and other usual breakfast fare. Breakfast lasts from 7 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.

The restaurant also has a stocked bar.

Southern Spice is located at 3901 Ryan St. (Michael Cooper / American Press)

Michael Cooper / American Press

Cajun roast beef po-boy. (Michael Cooper / American Press)