Waynesboro, Georgia’s alchemic deep fryer

Brown’s Quality Seafood of Waynesboro, Georgia is a market and a restaurant. Starting at 9am Thursday through Saturday, the market sells raw fish. Customers buy it to take home or to have the restaurant cook it for them on the spot. The name of the place is accurate. The seafood is not all local, but however Brown’s procures it, such quality is rare, even in fancy markets and fancy restaurants.

Fancy, Brown’s is not. Set far back from the pavement behind rows of gas pumps, it is so tucked away that it barely has its own address. The address of the gas station-convenience store out front is 602 West 6th Street. Brown’s is 602-1/2.