Naturally, I think butter ( and runny eggs!) the perfect compliment to grits.
I think Yankees make the mistake of judging grits on their own instead of as a compliment to other menu items.
Grits are like toast. More than a mere garnish, but not a staple.
My wife will start her day with a bowl of grits. Period. Now, they may be bacon flavored, or with red-eye gravy, something like that, but she’ll eat nothing but a bowl of them for breakfast, with her coffee. Maybe a small glass of OJ or red grapefruit juice on the side. Occasionally I can chide her into toasting a bagel. But we both love eggs sunny side up. Perfect when that yolk is still runny. I like two with toast to scoop up all that runny goodness. We got it good because her niece has a chicken coop she raises hens in for their eggs. Remember when this whole Kung Flu thing hit at the outset, and things like milk and eggs were disappearing when they instituted all the lockdowns? No problem here, egg-wise. The missus would drop off a couple styrofoam egg crates and pick them up a couple days later filled with fresh eggs.