Browsing: Food & Dining

DIAMONDHEAD — Bela’s Coffee & Creamery has opened in Diamondhead, adding a locally owned coffee shop and ice cream parlor as the city continues to see new investment and growth. 

Nestled in the historic Cotton Row in Cleveland, MS, is an award-winning wood-fired restaurant, Leña Pizza + Bagels. Founded in 2023 by world-renowned chef Marisol Doyle and her husband, Rory, Leña is widely recognized for its exceptional wood-fired pizzas and was named one of the Top 22 Pizzerias in the United States by the New York Times and has been listed as a top pizzeria in the South and the U.S. by 50 Top Pizza and Southern Living. But Marisol began her culinary journey in Cleveland with fresh bagels.

People looking to try West African cuisine no longer have to leave the Pine Belt.

Jamba Jollof opened its first brick-and-mortar location in downtown Hattiesburg on Feb. 28 after previously operating as a home-based business. Following the closure of Afrishoppi Kitchen’s dine-in restaurant, Jamba Jollof is now Mississippi’s only brick-and-mortar West African restaurant.  

The fireworks have faded, the lawn chairs are folded, and the last sparkler has burned out. But if your Fourth of July was anything like ours, the celebration isn’t quite over. It’s sitting in your refrigerator, waiting for one more delicious meal.

If your family is anything like mine, the week before the Fourth of July is a busy one. Between tracking down sparklers, making grocery lists, and figuring out who is bringing what to the cookout, the holiday seems to sneak up every year.

There is something special about the foods we associate with our fathers. It may be a recipe they perfected over decades, a meal he cooked only on weekends, or the simple dishes he always requested when the family gathered around the table.

Rice cookers are among the most versatile appliances in a home kitchen. While they’re best known for cooking rice, they can be used for much more. Commercial models can hold more than 10 pounds of rice, while most home units are designed to cook five cups or less. The electric rice cooker was first developed by Toshiba engineers in Japan in 1955.

There is something to be said for people of habit — folks who follow a familiar rhythm each day and find comfort in routine. I happen to be one of those people, and several of my friends enjoy giving me a hard time about it.

For a stretch of land that isn’t all that large, Mississippi’s Gulf Coast delivers in a big way when it comes to food. Truly—it’s a cornucopia. And not just in quantity, but in variety.

Lost Spring Brew Pub is my nightly hangout—at least for one small cup of wine. It’s relaxed, easy, and filled with a friendly, interesting crowd. Most evenings, there’s local music drifting through, and it’s the kind of place where time slows down just enough. A laid-back night, done right.

Johnathan Swift said “He was a brave man who first ate an oyster,” but people on the Mississippi Coast overcame that prejudice a long time ago and oysters have always been an important part not only their diet, but the industry that made the coast the wealthy place it was. Today the industry is highly regulated with harvested oysters required to be inspected by the Bureau of Marine Resources before coming ashore.

In these days of relative prosperity for Biloxi, many people have forgotten how poor Biloxi was before gaming came to town. The story is that Biloxi was on its knees, and several local business men got together to discuss if there was anything they could do to revive the economy. Gaming seemed the only option.

If Mississippi had an official comfort food of the internet era, Mississippi Pot Roast would be a strong contender. It’s rich, savory, ridiculously easy to make, and somehow tastes like you spent all afternoon in the kitchen—even though your slow cooker did most of the work.

Two student teams from Mississippi State’s Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion have advanced to the finals of the Research Chefs Association’s National Innovation Competition, set this week in Westminster, Colorado.

When I was working for the newspaper, I wrote a weekly story on local restaurants, and I wasn’t supposed to repeat the same restaurant twice. That’s 52 a year, which goes along with our saying that the Coast has a huge diversity of great places to eat.

I have to admit it, I have a thing for dive bars. They are normally local hang outs, with lots of local color. My current favorite is the Cash Alley Garage in Ocean Springs.  It has a 1970s inspired atmosphere and serious comfort food. When you get the a hankering for good food and a cool atmosphere, this is the place to go.