Browsing: Food & Dining

For many years I wrote a weekly restaurant review that had one caveat, I couldn’t write about the same restaurant twice.  That’s 52 new restaurants a year! So, yes, I think it is fair to say that the coast has a plethora of good places to eat. We have local po-boy places, a hand full of good Vietnamese shops, Greek, fine dining with some of the best steaks ever (Thirty-Two) and even a few places that make crazy good fried baloney sandwiches!

Chicago has its deep-dish pizza, and foodies flock to Philadelphia for Philly cheesesteaks. Down in New Orleans, the po-boy has a long and storied history. In Oxford, the iconic food most identified with the town is the humble chicken on a stick.

Making a holiday meal is certainly time-consuming, but if you plan ahead and make more than you need, as we all almost do, there is an extra benefit. it provides a world of possibilities for leftover ideas (just make sure you use that handy vacuum sealer to keep leftovers fresh for as long as possible). People tend to get tired of being served leftover turkey for days after the big meal, but if you jazz/spice it up a bit your diners will be happy to see that turkey again and again. 

For many years, before covid turned our world upside down, I enjoyed having three or four people over for Sunday bunch. I spent a lot of time getting ready, preparing a menu, cleaning, polishing the silver and selecting a good bottle of wine for each course and even ironing the cloth napkins

There’s something special about a win that feels both well-earned and long overdue. That’s exactly the energy surrounding Jackson’s newest honor: being named the South’s Top Culinary Town for 2025 by The Local Palate. After two rounds of public voting this summer, Jackson didn’t just hold its own — it rose to the very top, beating out cities across the region with a confidence only Mississippi’s capital can carry.

Growing up in Houston, Mississippi, a small town just 45 minutes or so south of Tupelo, potatoes were a staple on our evening table, especially sweet potatoes, which we got from Vardaman, just ten miles or so to the west.

There’s something undeniably magical about French fries. Crispy, golden, salty perfection—it’s the kind of food that transcends language, geography, and even logic. After all, they aren’t really French.

So, you are a cheese lover and think you know something about the cheeses of the world? There are at least1000 cheeses produced in the USA, although there are only about a dozen that are popularly known. When most Americans think of cheese they think of cheddar, Swiss, Blue, Colby, American, Parmesan, mozzarella, Monterey jack, and cream cheese, but it is a bit more complicated than that!

It is officially fall, and that means it’s almost time to get the jambalaya pot out again!

In Mississippi, food is more than a necessity—it’s culture, memory, and connection all rolled into one. Whether it’s a family gathered around the Sunday dinner table, neighbors sharing a plate of fried catfish, or college students swapping stories over a late-night po-boy, our meals carry meaning. Few restaurants capture that spirit better than Oby’s, a Mississippi-grown favorite with a story that stretches from Pearl Harbor to Starkville.

Is there a more comforting food than dumplings? I grew up on chicken and dumplings, usually made from a left over roasted chicken and my moms amazing AP flour and water dumplings (simple combine flour and water until thick, then form into small balls). Sauté mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery) in olive oil, well-seasoned with red pepper flakes until tender. Debone a roasted chicken (add the bones, not the meat) and chicken stock to a large pot to cover, and simmer for an hour (or more). Remove the bones and add the meat, taste and re-season as necessary. Add the small dumplings and simmer until done. That’s it! It’s about as simple as it gets and is so delicious and comforting, but there are plenty of other options a well.

I have talked to a lot of people over the years who insist that they don’t like grits. It usually means all they have ever had are white grits (which are pretty grim) or they simply have never had well prepared yellow grits.

I have been craving a good vegetable soup lately, seems just right for very hot and humid mid-summer in Mississippi. I thought about a beef, or a chicken stew, but I have a hard time facing meat this time of the year, it’s just too heavy. This weather demands something light, but delicious. 

There’s nothing quite like fresh Gulf seafood—plump shrimp, sweet oysters, flaky fish—when it’s cooked just right. But even here on the Mississippi Coast, where the bounty of the Gulf is at our doorstep, it’s surprisingly easy to get it wrong. The two most common mistakes? Buying old seafood and overcooking it.

Can you imagine a diet with no Italian red sauce, or tomato sandwiches? What about no French fries, guacamole, corn on the cob, or sweet potato pie? That’s what food in Europe was like before the Europeans found the Americas. The Europeans did have cabbage, onions, peas, broad beans, greens and carrots, grapes, apples, pears, raspberries, and currents, but the addition of New World foods would be perhaps the biggest change in European diets ever, in fact, it was a culinary revolution. 

I can’t think of anything better than a bowl of gazpacho. It’s cool and refreshing, and perfect this time of the year when the farmers’ markets are full of delicious, still warm from the sun, vine ripe tomatoes.