Southern cooking comes to Maricopa

Stokley and Eboni Chaffee started out the New Year dishing up chicken, catfish, shrimp, oysters, greens, fried okra, red beans and rice, and yams.

The Alterra residents opened King Fish Sea & Soul Food on Jan. 2 in the former Tacos N’ More location on John Wayne Parkway near Maricopa High School.

“Our taste is very Southern, but we want it to be something that will work in Maricopa,” said Stokley, who grew up in Mississippi. “We need a diversity of restaurants in Maricopa and that is what we are bringing to the table, more choices in Maricopa.”

Eboni is from Inglewood, Calif. She attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. for her undergraduate degree and Florida State University for doctoral studies in material science engineering. She works at Intel.

Stokley, who was born in Jackson, Miss. and grew up in Pearl, Miss., received his undergraduate degree in computer science engineering from California State University at Hayward and currently is attending Kaplan University, an online school, to get an additional bachelor’s degree in business administration.

While Eboni continues to work at Intel, Stokley has quit his consulting work to devote himself to the restaurant.

The couple have a 15-year-old son, Stokley Jr. Their daughter, Alayah Larell, was born Jan. 14.

Both Chaffees cook at the restaurant, but it is Stokley who brings his Southern background to the kitchen.

“I have been cooking in my mother’s small restaurant and at home since I was 12,” he said. “Cooking for friends and family has always been passionate and fun for me. And after having so many great friends eat at our home, I realized the huge need for diversity in dining in Maricopa.”

The couple, who have lived in Maricopa five years, said this is their first business venture, and they have been trying to open a restaurant for about two years. Originally, the Chaffees said they were renovating a space down the street in the same building as the Maricopa Auto Spa, but saw an opportunity for a better location when Tacos N’ More relocated last summer.

They said at first they were nervous about opening a restaurant, but not because of the down economy.

“We love to cook and love to serve people so we never want to let anyone down with our food or service,” Stokley said. “We want to provide to Maricopa residents with a taste of the foods we grew up on and loved. Soul food is not meant to be expensive, so we believe that with affordable pricing, a great product and a spirit of customer service that many restaurants seem to have lost we will do just fine.”

Stokley said customer traffic has been good the first weeks, and his goal for the next two months is to have a consistent flow of customers and to get feedback on King Fish’s menu and portions.