Browsing: Food & Dining

There are some Sundays when you feel like spending the afternoon in the kitchen, cooking a big meal with all the fixings. Then there are Sundays when you would rather put something in the oven, kick off your shoes, and enjoy what’s left of the weekend.

There comes a point every fall when supper starts sounding different.

All summer long, we want something light, something quick and preferably something that does not require turning the oven on. Then October arrives, the temperature finally drops a little, and suddenly a bubbling cast-iron skillet coming out of the oven sounds just about perfect.

Fall in Mississippi likes to keep us humble. One morning, you walk outside and it is 66 degrees, and suddenly…

There is something about sharing a meal that has always brought people together. In McComb, that idea will take on a whole new meaning this fall when one long table stretches down Main Street for an evening centered around food, fellowship and community.

There are Sundays when you need comfort food.

And then there are Sundays when Ole Miss beat LSU the night before, and regular comfort food simply will not do.

You need victory food.

By late August in Mississippi, summer has worn out its welcome just a little bit.

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.

The Enid Depot in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, hasn’t always been an award-winning steak house. Locals called it the “depot,” and it served as a vital community general store from 1910 through 1975 before transitioning into an acclaimed farm-to-table steakhouse. It is still located right across from the old railroad tracks, which were the lifeblood of the town, making way for a bustling 20th-century cotton-shipping hub.

There are certain meals that seem to make everything a little better. A rainy afternoon. The first cool snap of fall. A scratchy throat. A hard day at work. Somehow, a bowl of homemade chicken soup has a way of meeting the moment.

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.