The 'Sip | Spring 2017 | The Culinary Issue

The Culinary Issue Experience a ‘Sip of the South

Cat Cora Celebrity chef shares her secrets to 'sweet' success

SPRING 2017

$4.95 thesipmag.com

Also: Slugburgers • Oxford's Proud Larry's • Rich Grain Distilling Co.

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PHOTO BY RORY DOYLE

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CONTENTS

features Page 8

Page 22

Page 44

Native Son Farm

The Slugburger

Tupelo family feeds community with fresh and natural food from two farm locations.

A quirky food leftover, made popular in the Great Depression, has helped put Corinth on the map.

Page 32

Page 54

Proud Larry's

Sweet Magnolia Gelato

Oxford restaurant and music venue sets the tone for region's best musical acts.

Clarksdale business owner has a sweet spot for local ingredients, which go into his gelato creations.

Cat Cora Mississippi native shares her recipe for success as one of TV's most popular celebrity chefs.

Cover Shot Cat Cora plates a gourmet burger in the kitchen of her Santa Barbara restaurant, Mesa Burger.

Photo by Melanie Thortis

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CONTENTS

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departments IN EVERY ISSUE

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4 « Editor’s Note 5 « Thesipmag.com 7 « Spotlight: Contributors 26 « ‘Sip Trip: Mississippi S eafood Trail 42 « ‘Sip of Nature: Mint 58 « ‘Sip Kitchen: Boudin Balls 64 « Small-Town 'Sip 66 « The Last ‘Sip

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ART 14 | The Palette Café Chef uses food and art as inspiration.

Contents page photo by Melanie Thortis

TRAVEL 18 | Waters and St. John Artist and chef duo pair food and art with Italian adventure.

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CULTURE 28 | The Lebanese Dinner Annual dinner creates a taste of Lebanon.

Contents page photo by Melanie Thortis

OUTSIDE 38 | Simmons Catfish For Harry Simmons, catfish is king!

Contents page photo by Melanie Thortis

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FOOD 50 | Anjou Restaurant Food with a French flair turns heads in Ridgeland.

DRINK 60 | Rich Grain Distilling Co. Bourbon lover puts his taste for liquor to the test.

Contents page photo by Melanie Thortis 2

Spring 2017

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EDITOR’S NOTE

from the Front Porch

PHOTO BY MELANIE THORTIS

"If you leave here hungry, it's your own damn fault." — Vaughn Fields

TOP: ME STIRRING (OR SNEAKING) FOOD AROUND THE AGE OF 6 BOTTOM: A TYPICAL FAMILY FOOD SPREAD FROM MY WEDDING, OCTOBER 2009

Those were the words my father told anyone who entered our home. In fact, he repeated it so much, it became like a legacy for him. It's an appropriate mantra considering food is the centerpiece of our lives. My mom always was — and still is — in the kitchen with something on the stove or in the oven. More likely than not, she's actively serving food to the many friends and family who pop by. A fresh batch of homemade bread and her famous pimento cheese might have a little something to do with the revolving door of guests — past and present.

My dad — with the exception of some strange soup concoctions and breakfast he served up alongside Saturday morning cartoons — let my mom work her magic in the kitchen.

But, he was the master of the grill. I think all of his "recipes" included plenty of pauses for sips of Scotch. I learned from my dad's cooking philosophy to cherish the experiences that come with the preparation and waiting and, of course, eating.

As a child, I apparently fell asleep during many of these prolonged food experiences, causing my sister, at one point, to call our aunt long distance to report the "serious problem." Aside from the fact that I could fall asleep practically anywhere, it's still hard for me to believe I ever missed a meal. A more believable tale is that I learned to peel shrimp by the time I was 2. I'm the fifth child. Believe me; no one was going to peel them for me. I had to take matters into my own small but capable hands.

It's no secret that food has been an important part of my journey. Through life, love and loss, food has always been at the very heart. Every family celebration and gathering has a spread — my mom's pimento cheese, tomato sandwiches, pork loin and, if we're lucky, my Aunt Beth's jambalaya.

While food often evokes personal experience, it is uniquely universal. As Southerners, it's how we tell our stories and share our heritage. We serve ourselves up through food.

So, it's pretty fitting that The 'Sip's first-ever special issue focuses on food. The stories featured here showcase the many reasons why our food and culinary traditions have helped define Mississippi as the great cultural mecca it is.

My dad's saying applies beyond the walls of the house on Skyline Drive, and his philosophy on taking time to enjoy the process of eating rings true for more than just my family and me.

Food and celebration are all around us. Don't go hungry. If you do, well...

Cheers, y'all,

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SPOTLIGHT

Publisher/Editor Lauchlin Fields Photography Director Melanie Thortis Consulting Editor Karen Gamble Copy Editor Olivia Foshee Associate Editor Elizabeth Grey Assistant Editor Anna McCollum Outside Editor Nathan Beane Writers Leslie Criss Elizabeth Grey Mary Margaret Halford Maggie Ingram Susan Marquez Photographers Rory Doyle Lauren Wood Design Director Erin Norwood Illustrator Jamie Runnells Proofreaders Sarah Hearn Mary Kent-Walshire Marketing/Sales Director Cortney Maury

a big thanks to this issue’s talented contributors SHERRY LUCAS WRITER Sherry Lucas is a veteran feature writer in Jackson whose stories spread the word on Mississippi’s food, arts, culture and communities.

A lifelong Mississippian, she grew up in Yazoo City on four acres that engendered a love for fruit trees, fresh garden bounty and walks in the woods. A University of Mississippi graduate with decades of daily newspaper experience, she’s now a freelance writer, continuing to share Mississippi’s wealth of stories.

ANNA MCCOLLUM WRITER / ASSISTANT EDITOR Mississippi born, raised and educated, Anna has a deep appreciation and hunger for the South’s rich stories. It’s no surprise, then, that her time studying print journalism and Southern Studies at Ole Miss only fueled that enthusiasm.

Now back in her hometown of Corinth after a six month internship in Charleston, S.C., with Garden & Gun, Anna is working to find and craft the tales of the place she loves best. Before becoming a regular contributor, Anna was an editorial intern for The 'Sip.

cortney@thesipmag.com

The ‘Sip is a registered trademark of Front Porch Fodder Publishing, LLC. The ‘Sip magazine is published four times a year. Some pieces in this issue were produced in partnership with Visit Mississippi.

Owner: Lauchlin Fields 1216 National St. Vicksburg, MS 39180 601.573.9975 www.thesipmag.com editor@thesipmag.com Copyright 2017 The ‘Sip

by Front Porch Fodder Publishing, LLC Reproduction of any part of this publication is strictly prohibited.

DANNY KLIMETZ PHOTOGRAPHER Based in Oxford, Danny K is an artist and self-taught photographer. A natural-born explorer, Danny uses his photographic storytelling from small towns to bustling cities to capture moments — with skill, authenticity and wit. While he majored in geological engineering, Danny now travels the world with his photography.

He also freelances for regional and national newspapers and magazines and covered President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

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COOKINGWith Cat

Cora continues to strike

culinary gold

Santa Barbara, Calif. — Think about if life were

a buffet of endless options, how would you fill your plate? If you ask Cat Cora, there has to be a balanced blend of rich nutrients for the soul. She’s worked hard to chase her dreams based on a personal blend of fortitude, spontaneity and sheer determination. And, as she says, it’s been a pretty sweet ride.

With roots deep in Greek heritage with an equally as dominant Southern legacy, Cora knew from a very early age that she had a unique take on the world based on an amazing upbringing. She grew up with family in the restaurant business in Jackson with food and fellowship as the center of every family gathering.

“As part of a Greek family in Mississippi, food was absolutely the center of our world. Every meal had this combination of rich cuisines,” said Cora, 50. “Every holiday we would have the traditional turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce and pie, then feta cheese and grape leaves and Kalamata olives on the table. It was just an amazing blend of these two cultures.”

As a teen, Cora dreamed of owning her own restaurant, although she’s quick to admit that the idea of being a chef, much less a world-renowned celebrity chef, was never an aspiration. It wasn’t even a viable option at the time since the Food Network, the satellite and cable channel that helped launch Cora’s career and has since turned her into a household name, wouldn’t debut for nearly another decade.

“Actually, when I went to college, I was going to be premed. At that time, I wanted to do something in the health and wellness arena, so I ended up with a degree in exercise

physiology and nutrition,” said the University of Southern Mississippi graduate.

“But the timing wasn’t right, and that just wasn’t the path for me. But, little did I know at the time that this world and my dream world in restaurants would merge in such a great way. It was really a universal thing.”

After college graduation, Cora moved back home to Jackson and started to slowly pursue her dream of becoming a restaurateur in the only way she knew how – gaining some first-hand, gritty knowledge working in every aspect of the business.

“I worked at Nick Apostle’s place, 400 East Capitol, which was the five-star, white tablecloth restaurant in town at that time. I started waiting tables, bartending, doing anything I could to get my foot in the door. I tried to make as much money as I could in a couple of months. Then I took off and went backpacking around Europe for four months, which was something I had always dreamed of doing,” Cora said.

“While in Jackson, I tried my hand at opening a restaurant and getting investors, but the world had other plans for me. And, I thank God that it did. It worked out the best way that it could have – not against Jackson at all, but it enabled me to really go out into the world in a bigger way,” she said.

With a refreshed view of optimism, Cora came back from Europe and told her mother that she still wasn’t ready to give up on her dream.

“She suggested I go to culinary school, which I really had never thought about, ironically. Soon after, I met Z

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Julia Child at an event in Natchez, and she recommended that I pursue the Culinary Institute of America in New York. I literally signed up the next day,” she said.

Cora thrived in New York, soaking up every educational opportunity she could. She apprenticed and studied under some of the most well-known chefs in the world, including Anne Rozenweig at Arcadia and Larry Forgione of an American Place. She continued her training in Europe throughout the 1990s before heading back to the States and eventually settling in California as Chef de Cuisine at Napa Valley’s Bistro Don Giovanni.

In 1999, Cora made her first TV appearance on the Food Network as co-host of a new show, Melting Pot, with Rocco DiSpirito. After working on various other network shows, it was in 2005 when she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime.

“I was leaving a book signing of my first cookbook

had at the time in the trenches of serious kitchens. It was again one of those serendipitous moments for me,” she said. “And then it became this real cult show that no one expected it to be. It still is. It just started airing in Asia and Australia two years ago, so it’s brand new for them. It’s surreal.”

Soon after her Iron Chef debut, Cora was named Teacher of the Year by Bon Appetite Magazine and named Executive Chef of the magazine, as well as a UNICEF spokesperson.

“I didn’t go to culinary school to do any of this.

Food Network was just beginning when I graduated culinary school. I thought that I would just work in a restaurant. Maybe I’d open a restaurant and make a nest egg for my future kids. Then, it all just took an incredible turn. A lot of it’s timing, but a lot of it is hard work,” she said.

Cora’s career has continued to flourish as she has opened numerous restaurants throughout the U.S.

“While in Jackson, I tried my hand at opening a restaurant and getting investors, but the world had other plans for me.

And, I thank God that it did." ~CAT CORA~

ever at The Today Show, and I got a call from the executive producer who asked if I wanted to be the first female Iron Chef. And I was like, ‘Yes!’ I didn’t know what I was getting into. But, I’ve always been that way – I’ll say yes, but we’ll figure out the details later. That’s how it happened,” she said.

Based on the Japanese cult sensation, Iron Chef America is a culinary game show that brings world-class chefs to Kitchen Stadium to compete in a gauntlet against the resident Food Network Iron Chef (including such names as Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto) based on a secret ingredient or theme. Cora was not only one of the original few chefs bestowed with this honor, but she was also the first woman.

“It was definitely a tipping point in my career in many ways, although it had been building up to this point. It was very validating. I knew I could do it. I had the TV chops and the experience that no other women

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and abroad. She has continued to give back to the world through many philanthropic causes, such as Chefs for Humanity (an organization she founded that is modeled after Doctors Without Borders), as well as Save the Children and Chefs Move to Schools, a program started by Former First Lady Michelle Obama.

“I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve opened some successful restaurants – they’ve made a lot of people happy, and I’ve made a lot of money from it. I’m still doing that,” she said. “I feel like my career has always been so blessed, and I’ve worked very hard at keeping it true and authentic. I try to live and work in a philosophy that I believe in. My career has been a sweet ride. I’ve created goals and accomplished goals. It’s been a steady upward climb, but a very sweet surprise.”

Cora still visits the Magnolia State often to see family and friends, and she’s been active throughout the years with partnership projects with the University Z

LEFT AND ABOVE: Mesa Burger in Santa Barbara is one of several restaurants celebrity chef and Mississippi native Cat Cora owns.

of Mississippi Medical Center and the American Red Cross following Hurricane Isaac in 2012. She even served as the grand marshal for the 2006 Hal and Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade in Jackson.

“I never felt like I necessarily had to leave Mississippi to achieve what I wanted to do at all, but the planets aligned in a very different way, and I always believed in that. For me, one thing just led to another,” she said. “But, of course, when I do come home, I have to get a healthy dose of my true soul food – good Mississippi fried catfish, barbecue, and sushi from Nagoya.”

It wouldn’t be a secret that Cora’s career keeps her schedule pretty busy. She just completed a season as a chef judge on Fox’s My Kitchen Rules, an adaptation of Australia’s hit cooking show that features celebrity duos competing by hosting dinner parties. Between the release of her newest cookbook, “Cooking as Fast as I Can,” regular cookbook signing events, TV appearances and hosting various food and wine festivals, sometimes it can be hard for Cora to find a sense of steadiness in the chaos.

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“I think it’s always a challenge to find your balance. And sometimes when you think you have it figured out, it’s time to revamp again – always a work in progress. You have to constantly reflect on it.

There are times when it’s all moving like a well-oiled machine, and then the wheels start falling off,” she said.

As a mother rearing six sons with her partner, Nicole, Cora says family is her biggest source of strength when life gets too busy.

“I find total balance in my family – my girl, who is the love of my life, and our kids. Family is always so grounding and keeps you true to who you are,” she said. “I also think it helps to meditate and stay active and work out and eat well. And you can’t forget to enjoy life. Always try to be your best self and live your truth. It’s always just about coming back around and checking in with yourself.”

STORY Elizabeth Grey PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

“You can’t forget to enjoy life. Always try to be your best self and live your truth.” ~CAT CORA~

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J AC K S O N

The Palette Café

Mississippi Museum of Art chef inspires through food Nick Wallace ducked his head under the vent hood of his six-burner stove to splash some oil in the two pans that were heating. On a nearby counter, a container of bright green peas and another with sweet potato gnocchi sat next to a three-ounce slice of sugar-andsalt-cured salmon.

T

The Palette Café at the Mississippi Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

380 South Lamar Street Jackson, MS 39201 (601) 960.1515

msmuseumart.org

“This skin will crisp right up and will be a nice contrast to the flaky salmon,” he said. “This isn’t on the menu, but I love these flavors all mixed together.”

While the fish sizzled, sous chefs buzzed in and out, getting ready for the lunch crowd at The Palette Café, the restaurant in the lobby of the Mississippi Museum of Art on South Lamar Street in Jackson.

“One of my favorite dishes to make is the El Camino. You don’t know if it’s a taco or a sandwich,” he said, dropping a handful of gnocchi in boiling water.

“I think we’re naturally gifted to do things if we get off our butts to do something about it,” he said.

With his love of being in the kitchen, Wallace has fanned the flames into a wildfire that is catching on in the lives of Jackson middle-school students.

Wallace spent most of his childhood in Edwards, eating food his grandmother made from produce grown in their yard. When he was 8, his mother moved him and his sister to Jackson, where he took over in the kitchen to help his mother.

“I made things happen in the kitchen,” he said. “It was my safe zone. I was very comfortable, and I was never afraid to experiment.”

Susie Marshall has always known her son had it in him to be successful, but she remains amazed at his cooking.

“I was a single mother, and everything I thought about that could have gone wrong in his life went so right,” Marshall said. “It amazes me to see how far he’s gone. It’s like he’s got healing hands for food. There’s just something about it.

“I don’t care what it is, he makes it taste good. Food I never thought I’d eat, he makes it good,” she said.

But, he had to start somewhere. That was washing dishes at Outback Steakhouse. He got the job when he turned 15 to help pay the bills but was turned down for a chance on the cook line. He soon left Outback and hopped around to different restaurants in the area.

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“The restaurant business was toxic, though. Everything was about alcohol, sex and drugs,” Wallace said. “I wanted more.”

He landed a spot on the line at BRAVO! Italian Restaurant and Bar in Jackson, where he sharpened his techniques before moving to the Jackson Marriott on Amite Street.

“I was doing so well that they let me travel,” he said. “I got on my first flight at 26 years old to Anchorage, Alaska.

“I got to see a different culture, a different part of the country, how they prepared fish and met great people,” he said.

“From Edwards to Alaska — that was a big deal for me.”

It was at Marriott that he began to transform from someone on the cook line to a professional. He learned things at Marriott that he had been missing from previous jobs: how to dress as a professional chef, how to manage his time and staff, how to talk to guests and how to discipline himself as a leader in the kitchen.

“They didn’t teach much about local food, since the menu was the same across the country, but I learned a lot about myself and how to manage a kitchen,” he said.

He still felt his education needed refining, and it was at the King Edward Hilton Garden Inn that he first had the opportunity to branch out and experiment.

“I got a chance to plant a wrap-around garden and setup a chef’s table in the kitchen,” he said. “I got to expand my concept of what I was doing and my approach.

“When you pulled up to the front door, you could see the lemongrass and Swiss chard containers I was using in the kitchen and they encouraged me to put my pickles for sale in the lobby so guests could take Mississippi back to their homes with them,” he said.

While much of what Wallace likes most about planning and preparing meals is using fresh foods, he hates the phrase “farm to table.”

“I think chefs use that as a crutch,” he said. “That’s how I was raised. It shouldn’t be a concept, it should be a way of life.”

Wallace’s pièce de résistance has been as executive chef and culinary curator at the museum’s Palette Café.

“This was the first chance I got to be Nick Wallace,” he said. “At all the jobs before, I had a set of rules or guidelines to stay within or someone I was working for. Here, I have the

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freedom to create, imagine whatever I dream up.”

And he’s taken advantage of that freedom. In four years, he has planted a seasonal garden with tomatoes, okra, asparagus, squash, watermelon and a number of herbs.

He competed on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped.

“We named Nick as our Culinary Curator because he’s just that — a wonderfully creative spirit who brings life to food and connects it with art,” said museum Director Betsy Bradley. “The Palette Café makes the museum a more dynamic experience, and we’re very fortunate to have someone like Nick on our team.”

Being surrounded by art has pushed him not only to create but to give back.

“I see all these people’s work on the walls, and they’re legends,” he said. “It makes me work even harder.”

When he realized nearly 10,000 students visit the museum each year, he saw an opportunity to reach into the lives of kids in the community.

In 2016, he started Creativity Kitchen, which he piloted at Blackburn Middle School, where he attended school. He teaches students about how to put together healthy meals, how to incorporate garden fresh vegetables and fruit and provide menus to the cafeteria.

“The kids are so thankful for this,” he said. “It’s changing the way they’re eating. That’s a big deal.”

For his efforts, he was awarded Savvy Lifestyle magazine’s Philanthropist of the Year for 2017.

“I see all these things I can work for — so many kids I can reach out to,” he said. “This program allows me to touch so many folks, and I am so proud.”

Wallace says it is his attention to detail that has gotten him where he is today. Even on his Palette Café menu, he asks guests to wait 15 minutes to give the yeast rolls time to rise for proper taste.

“The only reason I’m here is because I’m somebody who gives a damn,” he said. “It’s not about me, at the end of the day. I know I’m here for a reason.

“My grandmother used to tell me, ‘As much as you get in life, you need to give back,’” he said. “Those are words I try to stand by.”

STORY Maggie Ingram PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

MUSIC

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TRAVEL

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S T AT E W I D E

Waters and St. John Palate to Palette Collaborations

They complete each other’s sentences, laugh at each other’s jokes, agree with each other’s statements — one would think that Wyatt Waters and Robert St. John have known each other all their lives.

Chef Robert St. John Restaurants, Books, Recipes robertstjohn.com Artist Wyatt Waters Artwork, Merchandise, Gallery Info wyattwaters.com

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I

“I’m in the restaurant business in Hattiesburg,” said St. John, between bites of pulled pork barbeque at Jackson’s Pig & Pint restaurant. “In the late ‘90s, I started writing a food column for The Hattiesburg American that was picked up by other newspapers. A customer who came into The Purple Parrot Café just about every day constantly told me I needed to do a cookbook. I remember vividly that she came in one day and sat at her usual table, number three, this time with a gentleman she introduced me to as a publisher friend of hers.

The man asked me what kind of cookbook I wanted to do.”

St. John said he really hadn’t considered a cookbook, but then said he would focus on recipes developed at The Purple Parrot.

“I told him I would like for it to be illustrated by Wyatt Waters,” St. John said. “The man told me that a book illustrated by Wyatt would be an instant best-seller.”

He had never met Waters, but St. John was quite familiar with the Clinton-based artist’s work.

“I saw some paintings he had done of places around Hattiesburg,” St. John said. “Most people, when painting iconic places in Hattiesburg, would paint the dome on the administration building on Southern Miss’s campus — things like that. But, instead, Wyatt painted the old Beverly Drive-In movie theater and the California Sandwich Shop downtown.

I got what he was doing, and I really liked it.”

St. John set up a meeting with Waters.

“I actually looked up his home phone number and called his house, never dreaming he’d actually be there. His daughter answered, and promptly handed the phone over to Wyatt. We agreed to meet and, when we did, we talked for hours,” St. John said. “We had so much in common — the Beatles and other music, WZZQ radio, that kind of thing. We really connected, and he got my vision for the cookbook.”

After researching publishing, St. John decided to start his own publishing company.

“We started out by ordering 10,000 copies of the book (A Southern Palate: Contemporary Seasonal Southern Cuisine from The Purple Parrot Café and Crescent City Grill,

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Italian odyssey Chef Robert St. John, left, and artist Wyatt Waters, right, in Italy. The duo has a cookbook, An Italian Palate, featuring paintings Waters created while in Italy and recipes by St. John. It's one of several cookbooks on which they have collaborated.

December 2002), which was, in hindsight, very ambitious,” St. John said. “But the book sold out in three weeks and we had to reorder. Because there was no way to get the books in time for Christmas, Wyatt did a print that people would receive when they pre-ordered a cookbook, then they would get their book around February.”

Waters said the book was a sort of coffee table cookbook.

“I think we created a new genre of book! When it came to publishing, we didn’t know what we didn’t know,” he said.

Waters explained that his artwork in the book was mostly still lifes, “a real departure for me,” based on St. John’s stories. The duo enjoyed time together, book signings and cooking demos, often for fundraising events.

“We decided early on that if we didn’t make any money or sell any books, we’d just have fun together,” he said.

Waters said the one thing that surprised him with the first book was that people would call his gallery and ask him cooking questions.

“I’ve had people call me and ask how much cream was in a recipe, which is funny, because I don’t really cook,” he said.

St. John jumped in: “Well, people don’t call and ask me to paint!”

“We never planned on doing another book,” St. John said.

But they did do another book, then another. And now the duo is working on a fourth. The book that really opened doors to a world of possibilities for both men was An Italian Palate.

“I was preparing to open an Italian restaurant in

Hattiesburg,” St. John said. “Every Wednesday, I made a trip to Jackson to learn to cook Italian food in the kitchen of David Trigiani. One day, Wyatt joined us.”

The St. John family was embarking on a several-month European tour, and Trigiani suggested to Waters that he should join them in Italy and paint.

“My favorite painter is from Italy,” Waters said. “That spark of an idea really spoke to me. Doing something I love in a place I’ve never been sounded wonderful.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

“I figured the best-case scenario was that I’d do about 90 paintings,” he said.

Instead, Waters created 128 watercolors.

“I couldn’t help but find something good to paint each day,” he said. “The food, the art, the architecture were all so inspiring.”

That trip culminated with An Italian Palate, which then led to friends asking St. John if he’d take them to Italy. Last fall, Waters and St. John took their first tour group to Italy, with Waters teaching painting classes while St. John took folks on culinary adventures. It was such a success that future trips are being planned.

“From the time folks step off the plane, everything is provided,” St. John said. “From hotels to meals to transportation and more, they don’t have to spend a dime.”

The next book will be out this year, just in time to celebrate Mississippi’s bicentennial. Called A Mississippi Palate, the book will feature “quintessential Mississippi”

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“I think it’s successful because I am working with my best friend. I like working with people who are doing something I don’t do, in a most excellent way." ~ WYATT WATERS ~

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dishes along with Waters’ artwork, “from the top of the state to the Coast,” St. John said.

“This book will really feel like Mississippi,” he said.

So, what makes the team of Wyatt Waters and Robert St. John work so well?

“I think it’s successful because I am working with my best friend,” Waters said. “I like working with people who are doing something I don’t do, in a most excellent way.

Robert has introduced me to the world of food in a way that it’s not something that’s just filling my tank.”

St. John smiled.

“Just look at the sacrament of Communion,” he said.

“There’s no mistake that it’s built around food. People come together and really connect over food.”

Waters agreed.

“Painting can be such a solitary thing. It’s great being around Robert. He has the most sensitive olfactory I’ve ever seen,” he said. “To watch him deconstruct something in a restaurant is amazing! We are both lucky that we ended up doing something we are supposed to do and we are passionate about.”

STORY Susan Marquez PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

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mag.com 21

Living ofF the Land

200 Tupelo families feed on fresh, all-natural food

Will and Amanda Reed's 2-year-old daughter, Juniper, munches on strawberries she picked from the Native Son Farm field.

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Tupelo — Not one thing in Will Reed’s childhood or

teenage years foreshadowed a life of farming.

“Saturdays were usually days for yard work, but I did not like any part of it,” said the 30-year-old Reed. “I was interested in tennis and trading CDs of live concerts through the mail.”

That was then.

These days, Reed and his wife, Amanda, are the owners of Native Son Farm, which grew literally from the couple’s first garden of less than an acre in 2010 to today’s 20-plus acres at two Tupelo locations.

And, yes, the couple and their three daughters – Magnolia Jane, 4; Juniper Rose, 2; and 3-month-old Olive Lark – feed off the fruits and vegetables of their labor. Many others do as well.

Native Son Farm feeds more than 200 families through its Community Supported Agriculture program.

How does this work?

The Community Supported Agriculture program is a win-win for folks in Northeast Mississippi and for Native Son Farm. The yearly start-up costs on the farm can be extremely high. The produce grown at Native Son is not marketed until mid-April.

That’s where the CSA families enter the picture.

CSA members purchase annual subscriptions, which provide them with a weekly supply of fresh, local, naturally grown vegetables.

“Families sign up in advance of the season,” Reed said.

“They pay for their share up front. It’s a membership that guarantees each family their share of what we’re growing.

“I saw this as a part of right livelihood, a way I could support my family while providing a positive, life-giving service,” Reed said. “I saw it as a way to come home to model an alternative view of things in a constructive way.

Plus, it’s hard physical work, and it helps me sleep at night.”

Coming home was not always in the cards for Reed, who was born in Jackson but reared in Tupelo from age 7 to 18.

“I didn’t like Mississippi a lot,” he said.

Like other young people, he looked long and longingly for a way out.

He graduated from Tupelo High School, was in a fraternity at Ole Miss, “but I guess you could say I was pretty immature.”

Reed discovered the National Student Exchange, which provides study-away opportunities among its member institutions.

“I picked Humboldt State University in Arcata, California,” he said.

Reed’s reasons were many – it’s close to the Oregon border, there are redwood forests, six rivers run through it, it’s on the ocean and it’s a five-hour drive to San Francisco.

But the primary reason for choosing Humboldt State? “It was the farthest away,” he said. “I was drawn to this selfsufficiency, living-off-the-land idea.”

For Reed, leaving Mississippi was an initial step in his search to discover himself. Z

“I did a lot of seeking and searching, living off the grid for seven or eight months,” he said.

Then, he met Amanda. She had grown up on a Vermont farm, off the grid – “she was really grounded.”

“So I spent four years out there. I’d fallen in love, I’d become interested in self-sufficiency, and I was realizing some of the good things about Mississippi,” he said.

Reed met Eddie Tanner, a farmer in Arcata who had a CSA farm; Reed gravitated to the all-in-one concept of building community, creating a livelihood for himself, growing good food.

“Doing what he was doing was a way to live a life with value,” Reed said. “It was what I was striving for.”

Returning to the state of his birth became a real possibility.

“Amanda wanted a family,” he said. “And we thought it might be good to be closer to family. I was getting a pretty unemployable degree (cultural anthropology) and I wanted to be self-employed, so I began looking for a path.”

A trip home to Tupelo offered Reed the time to share with his parents his dreams of farming.

“My parents were rightfully skeptical at first,” he said. “My dad pointed out I’d never mowed grass before.

But, they eventually got on board and have been very supportive.”

In fact, Reed’s hometown community showed support.

“We have these people who believe in us enough to support us,” Reed said. “They have had faith in the fact that we can do this. That means a great deal.”

In 2010, back home in Tupelo, Reed found himself with four flat acres off Mount Vernon Road near his parents’ home and a tiller he got for graduation. Amanda began working as a teacher at a Montessori school.

In addition to the acreage off Mount Vernon Road, Reed acquired 30 acres in a residential area that happened to be in a flood plain. In 2014, with a Natural Resources Conservation Service grant and a lot of help, heavy equipment was brought in to grade the land for better drainage.

In total, Native Son Farm is made up of 24 tillable acres in two locations.

By all accounts, Will Reed’s meandering pathway to find himself has led him to much success. That doesn’t mean, however, there aren’t days when uncertainties slip in.

“Doing what we do is up and down,” he said. “It would be nice if there were more certainty. I mean, I have three kids and no other income.

“We’re not growing thousands of acres, but we’re feeding a lot of people.”

He’s pleased and proud to be part of a farm family.

Amanda Reed has what she calls Farm School on Wednesday mornings. Mothers bring their children out to learn about growing things. The two older Reed girls often are seen in their colorful rubber boots, helping pick strawberries and other foods grown naturally at Native Son Farm. Their baby sister is present too, strapped in a sling

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worn by Amanda as she works alongside her husband.

In farming, there’s little down time, Reed has learned.

But, he’s got it down to a well-studied science and his todo list, though large, is now old hat.

“In January, we order seeds, clean equipment, do soil tests, market the CSA; first of February, we get the greenhouses ready for early tomatoes and peppers,” he said.

“When it comes right down to it, it turns out there might be two weeks of semi-down time.”

Truth is, farming is a year-round endeavor.

“I look every year for a way to structure things differently for more free time,” he said. “Maybe that’s growing the farm to the point where we can hire more people. But I love doing this. Sometimes I have to pull myself away from it. But we try to have three meals together as a family each day. We make that happen.”

An avowed fan of writer, environmental activist and farmer Wendell Berry, Reed places great value in sustainable agriculture and providing access to clean, safe, nutritional food to his family and his community, which includes those who work at Native Son Farm.

The farm has 12 employees, and some former workers have moved on to start their own farms.

“I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of,” he said.

Two of the former employees have farms in Louisiana, one near Jackson, one in Starkville, one in Illinois and one in Wisconsin.

“Many are CSAs too, which is awesome,” he said.

CSA pickup days have turned into a social outing, Reed said.

“All the kids have a great time playing when their parents come to pick up their food,” he said.

In addition to the CSA program, Native Son Farm sells its produce at several farmers’ markets, at various restaurants that offer farm-to-table options and, now, at schools.

Through FoodCorps, a national program working to build healthy schools with well-nourished kids, Native Son Farm is making some of its produce available in local cafeterias.

“We’ve recently delivered 360 pints of strawberries to Tupelo schools,” Reed said.

Watching his dream grow into a successful, communitysupported/community-supporting endeavor is a wondrous thing for Reed.

“We create more work than can ever be accomplished,” he said. “It’s a challenge, and I love it.

“I hope I can keep doing this ‘til I can’t do it anymore.

We are so fortunate to be here doing this where we’ve had lots of support from lots of folks.”

STORY Leslie Criss PHOTOGRAPHY Lauren Wood

Top: Will Reed walks with his daughter, Magnolia, 4, as his wife Amanda follows behind with their two other daughters, Juniper and Olive.

Their two dogs, Hakurei and Vernon, lead the way.

Middle: Native Son Farm employees Brandon Walker and Chasiti McGhee pick strawberries. Bottom: Will and Amanda Reed pick and eat strawberries with their daughters on their farm.

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ILLUSTRATION BY JAMIE RUNNELLS

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VI C K S B U R G

The Lebanese Dinner

St. George Church members serve helpings of tradition

Every year in February, the doors of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church open, and Central Mississippians flock to Vicksburg for a little taste of Lebanon. The annual tradition is the Lebanese dinner, which recently wrapped up its 56th year.

A Taste of Lebanon The Lebanese Dinner is held annually at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Vicksburg. For dates and information, visit the church website.

stgeorgevicksburg.org

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I

“It’s always on a Monday because we work like dogs on Saturday and Sunday to get ready,” said Mary Louise Nosser, a member of St. George who remembers when the dinner got started and was served at the Jewish B’Nai B’Rith Literary Club in downtown Vicksburg. “We probably don’t even go to bed the night before.”

For months leading up to the dinner, church members cook and freeze food, sell tickets and talk up the big event, which has been known to serve a few thousand plates. It’s the church’s biggest fundraiser of the year, but to many of those involved, the meaning is deeper than raising money.

“It’s always been a lot of work, but especially recently, we’ve seen a lot of pride for our people,” Nosser said. “We’re so glad to see our friends come in, and I think there’s a new vigor with our dinner. I think you could call it national pride.”

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CULTURE Right, top: Burma is one of many Lebanese desserts served at the annual Lebanese Dinner. Middle: Mary Louise Nosser shows off a plate of desserts at the annual Lebanese dinner held at St. George Orthodox Church in Vicksburg. Bottom: Bird nest is a popular dessert served at the Lebanese Dinner.

That sense of Lebanese pride and work ethic is nothing new to Mississippi, according to Dolores Nosser (no relation to Mary Louise), the daughter of two Lebanese immigrants who came to Vicksburg around 1905.

“They (the Lebanese immigrants) always went where they had people they knew could help them — other Lebanese families in the area,” said Dolores Nosser, nicknamed “Do” by family and friends.

Do Nosser’s father was one of the earliest Lebanese immigrants to the city and, though he had only about $18 in his pocket when he came, he knew exactly what their first order of business should be — a church.

“It was the first thing they did,” she said. “They bought a house, and they met for church. There wasn’t but maybe 20 of them, and it’s amazing that our church is over 100 years old now.”

As more and more Lebanese made their way to Vicksburg, the group decided a larger space was needed and bought an old Methodist church. From there, they built the current building south of downtown on the city’s main street, Washington Street, overlooking the Mississippi River.

When they weren’t in church, members of the group were hard at work.

“Just about every one of them was a merchant,” Do Nosser said, adding that her family had a dry goods store on Washington Street to sell to travelers who came on boats along the river. “It seemed like just about all the stores in town were Lebanese; I don’t know how they did it. They got nothing from nobody, and they worked their hearts out to get where they were. That church held them together.”

The story was similar throughout the Mississippi Delta, where Lebanese immigrants made a living by peddling dry goods via horse and buggy.

Jimmy Thomas, associate director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss, said many Lebanese who immigrated to the South came through the Port of New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi River.

“They were peddlers who would carry products from town to town,” Thomas said. “There were so many farming communities throughout the Mississippi Delta, a lot of those farmers preferred to buy from peddlers instead of traveling into town since they worked on farms.”

In Clarksdale, which was known to some at one point as “Little Lebanon,” Pat Davis Jr., still runs the business his grandfather opened in 1924.

“My grandfather, Abe Davis, was 14 when he came over to Ellis Island and ended up in Clarksdale,” Davis said, adding that he brought two younger siblings with him to America, but no adults.

“He peddled to people for a living and did that until he was about 18 or 20 before he opened a restaurant.”

At first, the restaurant was called the Bungalow Inn, then the Delta Inn. Today, it’s known as Abe’s Barbeque and continues to be operated by the family. And though there are still some

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Lebanese legacy The annual Lebanese Dinner in Vicksburg serves "a few thousand" plates in one day to community members eager to taste the traditional food of Lebanon.

The dinner is a local tradition that began more than 50 years ago.

Lebanese folks left in Clarksdale, Davis said it’s not what it used to be.

“We probably have a third of what we had growing up in the 1970s,” he said. “A lot of people have passed away or moved away. You have kids that want to venture out, so we’ve dwindled down over time.”

But Davis is confident that his grandfather’s restaurant will stay open and the family tradition will continue.

“We’re going to keep it in the family,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of nieces and nephews.”

And that family tradition of food also continues to go on strong with the Jabours in Vicksburg.

“We taught our kids how to make kibbee and cabbage rolls at a very young age,” said Misty Jabour, whose two children, John Michael, 15, and Marissa, 12, are fourthgeneration members of St. George. “We want them to be able to carry on the legacy and heritage of their Lebanese ancestors. We teach them in hopes they’ll carry on that tradition and teach their children.”

Marissa and John Michael Jabour are part of the crew putting in weekend time before the dinner, prepping nearly 200 pans of kibbee, rolling hundreds of cabbage rolls, cutting onions and doing just about anything and everything else alongside their family and other church members.

They aren’t the only young people of St. George working alongside their grandparents. It’s common that the families stick together and help out over the years.

“We’re a close family, and I think that’s true in most Lebanese families,” Do Nosser said. “We always stuck together and honored the older people. It’s just the ethnicity of being Lebanese; it just runs in the family.”

Do Nosser added that while the Lebanese folks stick 30

Spring 2017

together, they also work hard to support the community as a whole.

“We go to all the other dinners. We’re connected, and we’re close to this community,” she said. “It’s our town, and we do all we can to support it.”

Whether they come for the tabouli salad or Lebanese green beans, the Lebanese sweets and pastries, or just the fellowship, members of the community support them right back and the dinner continues to be a hit each year.

“We’ve had about 50 years to get it right, but it’s all the work you can handle,” Mary Louise Nosser said. “But we welcome everybody to come and learn. We have never hidden our secrets, we’re too proud not to share with everybody.”

“Just to see the people in there making the kibbee would knock you out,” Do Nosser said. “It’s backbreaking. I can’t walk for three days afterwards, but we love it; everybody loves it.”

“Not everybody is crazy about every bit of it, we’ve all got individual tastes,” Mary Louise Nosser said. “But it makes our work worthwhile to know that so many people look forward to this every year.”

And though Mississippi Lebanese food has infiltrated the culture of the state, the people themselves have made just as big of an impact.

“Lebanese have come to Mississippi and become business owners, community leaders, members of the medical community,” Thomas said. “They have contributed to the history of and culture of Mississippi in countless ways. They’re involved in every walk of life in Mississippi.”

STORY Mary Margaret Halford PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

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mag.com 31

Proud Larry’s

a rock that keeps Oxford rolling Twenty-four years is an eternity for a town as transient as Oxford. In that time, Ole Miss, the university around which the town has sprouted, has reached record growth year after year.

Countless student housing facilities have come and gone, and the historic Square has seen new restaurants, bars and boutiques. But, Proud Larry’s, the part-restaurant, part-music-venue on South Lamar Boulevard, has withstood an ever-changing population and helped shape the vibrant culture now defining the North Mississippi college town.

oxford — Since 1993, its relaxed ambiance and small stage have drawn people from across the region for up-close performances by the likes of John Mayer, the Black Keys and Elvis Costello — all while consistently offering great food. What started as three college boys’ daydream has outlasted their youth and naiveté to become a family-serving restaurant and workhorse when it comes to putting Oxford on the map for some of the country’s best music.

“I call it legacy,” said Bruce Butler, the restaurant’s general manager, “because there are people that have been coming here for 20 years. It’s multi-generational, and I think that's a really good thing. We're comfortable. We may not be the newest place, and we might not be the fanciest, but this place has a lot of heart."

It started in the early 1990s. Scott Caradine and Darby Ricketts worked together at Harvest Café, a vegetarian restaurant in what is now the Old Venice building, before going on to cook at City Grocery during its first year.

The year 1992 was also when Caradine and his friend Jeff Bransford graduated from Ole Miss.

“The three of us would hang out and talk about opening our own place,” said Caradine, a Lafayette, La., native. “We wanted to bring live music, pizza by the slice and good beer to Oxford all under one roof.”

But Ricketts, Bransford and Caradine — the three faces within Proud Larry’s bohemian sunshine logo — didn’t know what to call their place, a small building that had once served as a lingerie shop. They drew up a list of potential names: Isle of Capri, Moon Time Bar and Grill, Proud Larry’s and The Fat Slice.

“One day, our accountant called and said he needed a name right then for our articles of incorporation, but the name we do business as could change before we opened,” said Caradine. “We named it Proud Larry’s Inc., and never looked back.”

More than two decades later, though, Butler said the name has sparked a lot of curiosity.

“I've heard stories over the years as to who Larry is, and I feel like it's nebulous enough to be interesting,” said Butler.

“I kind of like that.”

But, according to Caradine, there was no great ingenuity behind the name — or the financing, in the early days.

“We started as young college kids who knew how to cook well — burgers and pizzas — and we knew how to throw a party (bring good bands to town), but we were not very good at running a business,” he said. “We struggled with the business side for a long time. We struggled with how to be consistent in our product and service. Our friends worked for us. Luckily, we enjoyed working and being here and spent countless hours here just trying to get it right.”

Four years in, though, Ricketts and Bransford were ready to move on and Caradine was newly married to wife Lisa, a Greenville native he met in college. The couple decided to take on sole ownership of Proud Larry’s, setting in motion a series of changes for the business.

“Since we had gotten married and begun to have children, we knew we needed to focus on being a family restaurant,” Caradine said. “The student bar business is absolutely necessary in this town, but the consistent dayin and day-out, year-round business of the local people in Oxford — from families, retirees, and young folks like us — was what we really needed to solidify.”

So, in 2007, the Caradines renovated the entire building — central heat and air, plumbing, electric and all.

They added a patio and updated the bathrooms, kitchen, bar — and even the menu — with three functions in mind: efficiency, service quality and cleanliness.

“All things needed to serve a family base of patrons,” he said. “The music and the college kids still can flourish in the new atmosphere — that’s what kept us here for the long haul.” Z

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Butler, who has been with Proud Larry’s since September 2009 and general manager for a little more than a year, sees the fruits of those labors on a daily basis.

“People come here with their kids who have been in a baseball tournament. They’ll bring the whole team, and we'll take care of them the same way we do a couple on their first date on Valentine's Day,” Butler said. “It's a good mix. We have a wide variety of things so that everybody can be happy.”

Indeed, the extensive menu includes everything from pizza to shrimp and grits to burgers to a chicken fajita salad — “casual pub fare,” Chef Jon Myrick calls it.

“The menu was real big when I started,” said Myrick, a Johnson and Wales graduate who joined Proud Larry’s as head chef nearly seven years ago. “It was almost too big, so we've been trimming it down over the last four years, focusing on the good things that sell and that have been a staple. And it's given me a lot of free time to do some specials and be creative.”

Originally from Charleston, S.C., Myrick has spent 15 of his 25 years as a chef in the Magnolia State. And,

"They've always treated me kind of like an honorary board member or something,” said Shapiro, who moved to Oxford in the 1970s when he opened and operated the famed Hoka, a combination art-film theater and concert venue, until 1996. “They've given me a pass to come and hear the music whenever I want. They just appreciate someone who appreciates the music, and I've always supported it. And, because of the quality of music, it digs in people's heads that they have quality food, too. It really all works together.”

“The Bruce” is another more humorous of Caradine’s nods to a member of the Proud Larry’s family. Named for the restaurant’s vegetarian general manager, the pizza is something of a meat lover’s dream.

“I'll never be able to eat my own pizza,” Butler said.

But he attributes the restaurant’s success to that jovial spirit of Caradine’s.

“You wouldn't think an owner of a restaurant would be like this; you'd think they see everyone as competition,” Butler said. “But Scott has always been not just accepting but encouraging to other restaurants on the Square. His

come for the food

stay for the music according to Butler, he’s a large contributor to Proud Larry’s success.

“It says on the menu, ‘Come for the food, stay for the music.’” Butler said. “He's the reason we get them for the food. He’s elevated our food since he became chef here.”

Even the burgers and chicken sandwiches — a constant favorite among diners — are made with the best ingredients.

“It's quality stuff,” Myrick said. “We pay good money for what we get. I’d put our menu up against anybody in town.”

But, unlike in other restaurants lining the Square, the kitchen is only one portion of the entire operation at Proud Larry’s.

“I've had people say that they struggle with our identity because sometimes we're a restaurant and sometimes we're a bar and sometimes we're a music venue,” Butler said. “And it meshes together.”

Even Ron Shapiro, who has a pan-seared catfish and steamed vegetable entree named after him — “The Ronzo” — admits that it was music that initially drew him to Proud Larry’s.

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point of view has always been, ‘When they do well, we all do well.’ And it's refreshing to work for somebody like that.”

Shapiro, who has attended numerous Proud Larry’s shows over the years — many of which are documented by vivid posters hung along the building’s indoor brick walls — said Caradine’s band-booking skills aren’t bad either.

“I remember when Larry's had the Alabama Shakes before they made it big,” he said. “Scott's like Lyn [Roberts] at Square Books. They just have a feel for who's going to be big.”

Butler sees Caradine in his office each morning listening to novice musicians online.

“Scott’s very good about getting groups you might not have heard of, but the next thing you know, they blow up, and they're a big deal,” Butler said. “He's very welcoming to new artists and new music.”

But Caradine said it’s not an instinct or a secret. In the end, the trick is to find acts that will sell tickets — and drinks — in order to pay the bills.

“I love spending days listening to lots of new music and old music, too, but there is a huge support line that I rely on,” he said. Z

Bruce Butler, general manager of Proud Larry's, looks up at the wall of posters representing the numerous musical acts that have performed at the Oxford restaurant and music venue in its 24-year history.

mag.com 35

TOP: Proud Larry's is open for lunch, dinner and offers live music frequently during the week and on weekends.

BOTTOM: Riley Hess, head pizza guy, rolls out dough for the variety of pizzas on the menu at Proud Larry's.

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'SIP KITCHEN

In addition to calling upon Lisa and their children, Haley and Miles, for input on new music, Caradine finds a wealth of knowledge in the community.

“The music scene in Oxford is really vibrant and thriving,” he said.

With End of All Music Records just up the street, Caradine frequently calls to find out which albums are new and selling. There’s also Fat Possum and Muscle Beach, two of Oxford’s record labels that represent a myriad of artists both up-and-coming and established.

Caradine even looks to his staff, many of whom are college-aged, for fresh ideas. And then there are the musicians who call Oxford home.

“We love to support the local artists,” Caradine said. “Oxford has always had some supremely talented people here, and some have been around longer than Proud Larry’s — folks like Tyler Keith, Laurie Stirratt, George McConnell, The Cooters and countless others that have been around for ages.”

Charlie Mars is another. An acoustic singersongwriter who has lived in Oxford for 17 years and performed at Proud Larry’s on numerous occasions, Mars feels a unique closeness with the restaurant-venue.

“I have a special relationship with Proud Larry’s because I live right above it,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite spots. The size makes the big bands feel intimate and the lesser-known acts feel right at home.”

That smallness is a defining characteristic.

“With the stage being close to floor-level, you really get to interact with fans,” said singer-songwriter and Mississippi native Cary Hudson, whose band Blue Mountain performed at Proud Larry’s many times over the course of its lifetime. “And sometimes the line between on and offstage gets completely erased."

And if having a great venue as well as friends in the local vinyl shop, record labels and musicians wasn’t enough, Caradine has something else in his back pocket: agents. In 24 years, he’s formed relationships with a multitude of them.

“They route their bands through Oxford to play at Proud Larry’s or The Lyric Oxford,” Caradine said.

“So many great acts come from agents sending along information about their up-and-coming artists as well as availability of established acts that may be coming through the area.”

They — as well as Thacker Mountain Radio Show, Double Decker Arts Festival, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and other Oxford bars that promote live music — all help make it possible for Caradine to book a

certain caliber of acts year-round. But, ultimately, the money doesn’t come from the musicians.

“The real lifeline is the people that attend the shows,” Caradine said. “None of it can happen without music fans.”

And, according to Shapiro, a fan since Proud Larry’s opened its doors, Caradine looks out for those patrons.

“I feel that the way Scott keeps running it, they're more concerned about providing good music to this community than even making money,” Shapiro said.

Mars, who last performed at Proud Larry’s on April 20, would agree. He has a slew of fond memories tied to the venue below his home.

“I've seen so many wonderful shows there — Alabama Shakes, R.L. Burnside,” he said. “I played there once with Dierks Bentley, and Maroon Five opened for me there once.”

Myrick, Butler and Caradine all have similar recollections of the stars they’ve encountered through their work. Myrick, who remembers seeing Sturgill Simpson perform at Proud Larry’s a couple of years ago, enjoys talking to the bands that come through — “that's something you don't get to do all the time,” he said.

Butler got to meet Unknown Hinson, a musician he’d been requesting Caradine book for two years.

“I was kind of star-struck, and I was trying not to make it a big deal,” he said.

For Caradine, spending time with such legends as Junior Kimbrough, Mose Allison and Elvis Costello are all bright spots. And Shapiro is just thankful for the way Proud Larry’s has contributed to the town he loves.

“They’re having fun and doing something original, and enriching the community is the main thing,” he said. “This is one of the best music clubs in the country.”

And that’s one thing that hasn’t changed about Oxford in decades past — nor will it, according to Butler, who sees himself staying at Proud Larry’s for the foreseeable future.

“Looking ahead, I think we've got something really good right here,” he said. “Proud Larry’s is working in a way that it's never worked before, and I don't see anything but prosperity in the future.”

STORY Anna McCollum PHOTOGRAPHY Danny Klimetz

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Simmons Catfish

Catfish farming: a new wave in state business

Like many Mississippians, Harry Simmons is a farmer, but not of just cotton, corn and soybeans.

N

“Now, catfish is the most important thing we do on this farm,” said Simmons, who dedicated 100 acres of his farm near Yazoo City to catfish after a “not-so-good” harvest of the more traditional crops.

That was in 1977, when aquaculture was a fairly new research area at Mississippi State University, where Simmons had graduated with a degree in agricultural economics.

“From that, we just went wild,” Simmons said.

Today, Simmons Farm Raised Catfish is home to 1,500 acres of ponds, as well as a processing plant that produces 80,000 to 90,000 pounds of catfish a day.

“We still grow cotton, corn and soybeans, but catfish has taken the front row for us,” Simmons said.

The growth on the Simmons' farm is reflective of the growth in the catfish industry as a whole. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History says millions of dollars of the state’s economy comes from catfish farming and production, and the Magnolia State

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leads the nation in production and commercial sales.

“It gave us the diversity and stability we were looking for,” Simmons said, which is the reason many Mississippi farmers added catfish to their yields. “It works well for us.

When the row crops are bad, usually the catfish are good.”

Much like farming row crops, however, farming catfish is definitely not without its risks. Like crops planted in the ground, catfish can be affected by the temperature. A longer cold season or a summer that is much too hot can hurt the fish. Rains that are too heavy can ruin the water quality of a pond, and “critters” are an ever-present threat to the catfish.

“If you have high populations of predators — like fisheating birds, raccoons, beaver, wild hogs — all those kinds of animals can affect your yield,” Simmons said.

Because of that, catfish farming is a 24-hour-a-day job.

“Something is going on all the time,” Simmons said.

When it’s warmer, for about nine months out of the year, pond oxygen levels must be monitored constantly. If levels are too low, fish may die quickly. At the same time, farm workers are dedicated to “harassing the predators” to keep them away from the catfish ponds.

And while the physical challenges of raising catfish are battled each day on the farm, there are more hurdles to face on the business side of the industry.

Dick Stevens is president of Isola’s Consolidated Catfish, a production facility employing 450 to 500 people that buys from farmers to process the fish and dispense them to retailers and restaurants across the nation.

Stevens said foreign imports have put a strain on U.S. producers.

“At one time, we were the largest fresh fish processor in the world, but not now because offshore operations kind of hit us with a bad lick,” Stevens said, “domestic catfish has been down because of foreign fish coming in at unfair price advantages.”

Simmons said, despite the foreign product, a growing group of consumers prefer U.S. Farm Raised catfish.

“We’ve lost some producers over this period, but we’re working to create a good perception of our product and pushing the sanitation we do here in this country, as compared to what they do in other countries,” Simmons said. “I don’t see the growth that I saw in the 1980s and 1990s, but we are regaining some of what we lost."

But, more than 100 restaurants across the Southeast are serving Simmons Catfish. From City Grocery in Oxford down to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, there’s no shortage of chefs using Mississippi catfish.

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Catfishing Hotspots An evening with a cold brew and a fishing pole stuck in the sandy bank of the Mississippi River is my favorite style of lazy-man fishing.

While some fishermen NATHAN BEANE THE ‘SIP OUTSIDE EDITOR seek out deep holes harboring river monsters or run trot lines all night — all to fill up an ice chest with catfish — my goals are completely different.

When I’m catfishing, I’m relaxing.

My primary goal isn’t even to catch fish. It’s time to unwind and just enjoy life. My hyperactivity, overload of hobbies and busy career keep my mind active on and off the clock. I have trouble slowing down, but, somehow, when I plan a catfishing trip, I can relax.

My intention is to let the experience take control, determining how long I stay and how busy I need to be. If I’m in a good spot and the fish are biting, I tend to not mind the work. When the fish activity wanes, however, I’m happy to just relax and enjoy the breeze off the big river, which also keeps the biting insects away.

My catfishing hotspots are typically just below rock dikes that funnel water and help maintain navigable waterways. The areas just downriver eddy and deepen, often creating sand dune islands. Using caution, due to the swift currents around the rock dikes, I maneuver my boat to the sand where I can set up shop and relax for the evening on my own little island. And, depending on the river stage, the islands can be narrow slivers or several acres.

As the dynamism of the river never ceases, the view is ever-changing and the adventure is never the same. I don’t miss a chance to watch the sun set while listening to the Mississippi River current melodiously whisper past. It’s an incredibly peaceful experience and one that renews my energy for the harder parts of life. If you have any questions about catfishing, please email me at outside@thesipmag.com.

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At 10 South, a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Vicksburg, owner Jay Parmegiani serves catfish tacos, which get their start at Simmons Catfish Farm.

“Any chance we can, we love to use Mississippi products — the connection, community and economy,” Parmegiani said. “Simmons Catfish is awesome."

And, because of the Mississippi Delta’s landscape and climate, catfish farming continues to be a good fit for farmers in the region.

“I think the climate we have, because it’s usually kind of mild, is conducive for growing catfish,” Simmons said.

“If you’d have told me when I was in college in 1972 that I would make a living selling catfish, I would say you’re nuts. I always wanted to be a farmer, there was no doubt about that, but once I got started there were some things I had to do to continue to be a farmer, and that’s where I ended up.”

STORY Mary Margaret Halford PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

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'SIP OF NATURE

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sip

'SIP OF NATURE

N MINT: (Mentha)

From grilling a favorite seafood dish to preparing a refreshing mint julep, the addition of mint creates a splendid and unique flavor and aroma.

Mint can be used for flavoring almost anything. Growing mint at home is easy. It can often grow prolifically, if not properly tended to or container-grown.

Mints are perennial herbs that will come back each year with little to no care needed.

They thrive under moist soil and partial sun exposure and are quite drought-tolerant, which makes them an ideal herb to endure the hot Mississippi summers. Some of the mints and other members of the mint family that I grow around Beane Farm include orange mint, chocolate mint, spearmint, lemon balm and catnip. All of these flowers are sought out by my honeybees, and I enjoy harvesting the herbs to enhance food dishes, make herbal tea and cause the indoor cats to go berserk over fresh catnip from time to time.

Mints can also be incorporated into homebrew. And, while I haven’t ventured down that path, the appeal of a mint chocolate

chip stout certainly is one I should add to my bucket list of beers to create. Harvested mint sprigs can be hung up and air-dried or the leaves dehydrated for extended storage.

Additionally, tinctures extracting the oils from the leaves using vodka or a similarly strong alcohol are a breeze to create. The possibilities are endless. If you have any questions on how to grow mint at home or wish to share your favorite use of mint grown around your place, email me at outside@ thesipmag.com.

g by nathan beane

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Aside from Corinth’s Civil War history — its crossing railways were once called “the vertebrae of the Confederacy” — the northeast Mississippi town of 15,000 is known for a quirky food leftover from the Great Depression. The unusual sandwich whose name belies its contents is

Slug Burger

The

It was a "slug" that saved Corinth

A burGer by any other NaMe…

Top: Borroum's Drug Store in Corinth, which opened in 1865 as a drug store, has been cooking up slugburgers for many years.

Bottom: Cloie Lambert puts onions and mustard on buns before the slugburger patties finished cooking at Borroum's Drug Store in Corinth, the home of the slugburger.

Corinth — Though the term is unfamiliar to many outside the Hills, the slugburger is catching on. Tourists come to Corinth from all over to try a slugburger or to attend the July festival named in its honor. Some locals eat them every day; fewer dislike them, and at least one claims that the patty, in a way, saved the town.

But, like most Southern food, the slugburger had a humble beginning, and its history is both straightforward and complex. A mixture of meat and extender, in this case, pork and soymeal, was flattened into a disk, fried and sold for a nickel, often called a “slug” in Depression-era Corinth. That much is uncontested. Deciphering other details, however, is a bit tricky.

“Mrs. Weeks made the first one as far as I know,” said Camille Borroum Mitchell, whose forefathers established Borroum’s Drug Store in 1865. Across from the Alcorn County Courthouse, Borroum’s is the oldest drug store in continuous operation in the state and a large supplier of the town’s slugburgers. Mitchell, who was born in 1926, was the first woman graduate of the University of Mississippi’s School of Pharmacy. She continues to fill prescriptions at Borroum’s while her son and daughter-in-law, Lex and Debbie Mitchell, run the antique soda fountain and grill.

Sara Wood, a historian with the Southern Foodways Alliance, found Mitchell’s narrative to be a recurring one among oral histories she collected for “A Hamburger By Any Other Name.” The project examines the purpose, origin and context of the slugburger and its variations, all of which Wood considers to be America’s original hamburger.

“I will tell you that some of the narrators from the project spoke about the hamburger carts of the Weeks family, who came from Chicago and brought their recipe to Mississippi,” Wood said.

“Willie Weeks, a descendent of the family, still serves these hamburgers in Booneville, Mississippi, with his wife, Dianne.”

Indeed, Willie Weeks is quoted on “What’s Cooking America,” an online culinary resource, as saying that his father’s oldest brother most likely acquired the recipe from German immigrants and brought it to Corinth, where he gave it to the McEwen brothers’ meat market around 1917.

“The original recipe called for potato flakes as the extender,” Weeks said. “Sometime later, before 1950, soy grits replaced that and has remained the essential ingredient.”

It’s the soy that distinguishes a slugburger from its cousins, Weeks says.

“From recording oral histories with the people who own businesses selling these hamburgers, I learned that denoting the term ‘slugburger’ means one is using soymeal as the filler to their patty. But there are so many variations on names and ingredients,” she said. “Depending on where you’re from, the hamburger could be called a doughburger, a crackerburger, a cerealburger, a Pennburger, a Weeksburger, a Johnnieburger.” Z

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But, they all have one original purpose in common.

“I find the story around the slugburger compelling enough to stand alone, beyond all of the theories of where it came from and who invented it,” Wood said. “I think the most important part of this story is to consider how people survive when there isn't much money, how families get by with many children to feed, how no matter where you live or where you're from, there's an element of survival in these hamburgers. The story of this hamburger shines a direct light on how poverty is the mother of invention.”

Mitchell remembers those conditions.

“It was terrible,” she said. “But, you know, there was something good about it, because each one helped one another.”

Today, such local Corinthians as John Marsh, owner of the Slugburger Cafe, and Linda Rickman, who runs Rickman’s Meat Market with husband Jeff, believe that McEwen’s recipe was passed to longtime employee C.F. Gray, who opened his own meat market in 1957. Though Gray’s is no longer in operation, Rickman’s has its own safely guarded way of making “slug.”

“I promise you, I went out this morning and moved the flower pot and got fresh slugs to put in there,”

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Rickman says when an out-of-town customer asks.

“We don’t give (the recipe) out,” she said. “But, we specialize in pork. You’ve got pork, flour, salt, water and soymeal. But a smart genius could figure it out.”

Rickman supplies pork patty mix, which she says is the “proper name,” to many of the local slugburger-serving joints, including Lloyd’s Harper Road Cafe, Joe’s Diner, Brewer’s Drive-In and Borroum’s.

“We make it more than once a week. Sometimes it might be three times a week,” Rickman said. “And it’s getting to be even more than that. We used to do 200 pounds out of a mix, and some weeks it’ll be six or 800 pounds. Slug is a seller.”

Her mixture can even be found raw at Gardner’s, a local supermarket, right next to that of Suitor’s, Rickman’s competitor in Rienzi. It goes to Iuka, too, where the Front Street Snack Bar breaks tradition and grills the patties in their own fat rather than deep-frying them in lard or vegetable oil.

Rickman’s slugburger meat, however, is not used at the White Trolley Cafe, one of the original slugburger-serving restaurants in Corinth that once operated in a trolley car.

“I remember eating them there first,” said 91-year-old Mitchell.

cravin' slugs Christy Arnold places a slugburger patty on a dressed bun during the lunch rush at Borroum's Drug Store in Corinth.

But today, the White Trolley is a lunch counter, kitchen and two small tables in a stationary building on U.S. 72.

“We’re the only people that make slugburger meat on our own,” said Jeremiah Dees, who runs the restaurant with his mother, Deborah. The Dees family has owned the White Trolley since 1981.

“We use the original recipe. It’s a secret recipe — soybeans and pork, beef, stuff like that,” Jeremiah said.

That recipe comes from the first owner of their restaurant, who brought the trolley to Corinth from Memphis nearly a century ago and parked it downtown.

Where he got it — from the Weeks or from the McEwens — remains unclear to Deborah and her son. Nevertheless, they’ve left it alone.

“I think we’re the only ones that use beef in ours,” said Deborah. “Everybody else’s recipe is pork is the only meat.”

Though now sold for 95 cents rather than a nickel, the White Trolley’s slugs remain a favorite among tourists and locals.

“We’ve had people get them in sacks and then take them on the plane back to California,” Deborah said.

And, according to Jeremiah, for those who grew up on

them, nothing else can satisfy a slugburger craving.

“Everybody that's raised up here and then moved off — when they come home, that's the first thing they do,” he said. “They come up here and get their slugburgers.”

Perhaps it’s the crunchy-creamy texture combination that keep Corinthians hankering for their local delicacy — when deep fried, the patty becomes crisp on the outside, due to the extenders in the mix, and remains soft on the inside.

Camille Mitchell developed a system at Borroum’s for making the patties ahead of time to ensure quick preparation and that good crust. The meat is scooped out of its sack from Rickman’s and pressed flat inside a plastic baggie, then frozen until ordered. The plastic means that no hands touch the meat, which can be sticky and slow to work with.

“I like ‘em crisp,” Mitchell said.

Sliced dill pickles, sliced white onion and yellow mustard are the customary dressings, but cheese is also a popular addition. The White Trolley has had diners go as far as ordering slaw and even a fried egg on top.

“And we used to have a little boy who always ate his with a fried hot dog on top,” said Deborah. Z

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CORINTH's

g u l S er g r Bu The Pit Stop 726 S. Tate St. $1.29/sack

Brewer’s Drive-In 1601 N. Parkway St. $1.50 Joe’s Diner 1746 N. Harper Road $1.15 Lloyd’s Harper Road Cafe 1401 N. Harper Road $1.20* Borroum’s Drug Store 604 E. Waldron St. $1.91* Slugburger Cafe 3000 U.S. Highway 72 $1.25 White Trolley Cafe 1215 U.S. Highway 72 $0.95 George’s Diner 4128 County Road 200 $1.10 *includes tax

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restaurants & Prices

Though the slugburger did fall from popularity for a while — Mitchell says it was not “advertised” nearly as much in the years before the festival was founded in 1988 — it is an “icon for Corinth” today, said Corinth Tourism Director Christy Burns.

And the numbers, up to “hundreds each week,” are multiplied during the month of July, when the Slugburger Festival sets up downtown and draws thousands of people for a weekend of live music, carnival rides, a Slug Idol contest, arts and crafts vendors and, of course, fresh slugburgers. The thin, brown sandwiches appear in piles atop paper plates especially for the eating contest that, since 2012, has gone professional with Major League Eating. That same year, Trip Advisor named the festival one of America’s “Wackiest Summer Events.”

Trent Harmon performed at the 2016 Slugburger Festival before going on to win “American Idol.”

Joey Chestnut won the World Slugburger Eating

just come and eat a slugburger everyday,” she said.

Camille Mitchell continues to be amazed at the curiosity surrounding the slugburger.

“We had people from Iceland and the same day we had somebody here from Jamaica,” she said. “And that just seemed hilarious to me. It was quite a combination. Then, one time, someone called me from New York wanting to know what they were made out of, and I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ And they said, ‘Are they the garden variety?’”

The fascination, Wood says, is unwarranted.

“There’s absolutely nothing exotic about this hamburger or the people who eat it for lunch. It’s the original hamburger,” she said. “When money is tight — no matter where you live — you’ll find people trying to stretch food as far as it will go. And this tradition has stayed with Mississippians. It’s something they’re proud of and something that keeps communities together around

We were trying to think of something that would bring the people back downtown, and they came up with the idea for the Slugburger Fest, and we thought it was fantastic. Everybody just joined in.

Championship with 41 in 10 minutes last year. And, of course, new T-shirts sporting original art — usually a variation on a smiling, cartoon slug — are staples each year. Mitchell provided artwork for the very first festival, the brainchild of her friend Jimmy Hathcock and his late wife, Betty.

“We were trying to think of something that would bring the people back downtown, and they came up with the idea for the Slugburger Fest, and we thought it was fantastic,” she said. “Everybody just joined in.”

That community cooperation, according to Mitchell, became crucial to the prosperity of the slugburger and its hometown.

“The festival brought the slugburger back,” Mitchell said, “And then the slugburger brought the town back.

They kinda worked together. You can do a lot when you work together. The slugburgers . . . I think they helped everybody, all the local restaurants.”

Mitchell’s daughter-in-law, Debbie, who sits in a booth at the back of Borroum’s and pats out pork patties before the lunch rush, said slugburgers are a best-seller.

“There are people who don't eat anything else here —

the lunch counter.”

Part of that tradition is what the Magnolia State is known for: hospitality — taking care of and looking out for one another, something Wood said she witnessed while working on “A Hamburger By Any Other Name.” And it was during that time collecting oral histories from people whose families have lived for generations in towns, such as Corinth, that Wood discovered the reason the slugburger has survived. According to her published online project, it’s not because of the slugburger’s specialness, its taste, texture, price or even its eponymous festival. It’s not for sentimentality’s sake or because, according to Mitchell, it rescued Corinth.

“After a year recording oral histories about these hamburgers,” Wood said, “I have come to believe that they are not products of nostalgia . . . When people endure both economic despair and prosperity, they don’t forget the cooks or the meals that sustained them.”

STORY Anna McCollum PHOTOGRAPHY Lauren Wood

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FOOD

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R I D G E LA N D

Anjoú Restaurant

French flair is a family affair

Anjou Restaurant Monday - Thursday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Sunday 10:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.

361 Township Ave. Ridgeland, MS 39157 (601) 707.0587

anjourestaurant.net

French flair, minus airfare, is reason enough to seek out Anjou Restaurant. Seek out, yes, since it’s easy to miss, tucked behind the Township shops flanking Ridgeland’s Highland Colony Parkway.

There, the father-daughter team of executive chef Christian Amelot and proprietor Anne Amelot-Holmes navigate a path between Old World and New South, between classic bistro fare and finer dining options.

“We are not a bistro and we are not a formal dining room either. We are between the two of them,” Amelot said.

The expansive dining room looks out on a patio and small lake — a prime spot in spring, fall and — weather willing — some days in winter.

“We’re just unique,” Amelot-Holmes said.

Casual dining is the profile they settle on. But in the gray space inbetween casual and dining, there’s a world of room for gourmet to play.

Crisp black-and-white photographs of France, taken by

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Amelot-Holmes and a best friend, Michael Stowers (also Anjou’s first assistant manager), line the walls. A few postcard scenes, distinguishable only by their place names, fit right in.

She introduces views like old friends — her hometown La Ferté-Bernard, its cafe and hangout, Notre-Dame-des Marais (where she wed her husband, Warren), Loire Valley chateaux, a look at Paris’ Champs-Élysées from atop the Arc De Triomphe.

Anjou takes its name from the Loire Valley region they once called home. The restaurant marked its five-year anniversary April 25. It’s part of a group that also includes Sombra, Char, Amerigo and Saltine.

Daily lunch specials ring a familiar Southern note. Squash beignets, escargots, mussels, quiche, crepes and signatures, such as Croque Monsieur, cordon bleu and French onion soup, bring a bistro to mind. At dinner, bistro selections continue, while main course options expand with dishes, such as duck breast Apicius, Angus filet topped with béarnaise and scallops with mini ratatouille and pecan pesto.

Southern ingredients wade in the French waters: sweet potato mash with the duck; crawfish, andouille and creole cream sauce in a crepe; fried Gulf oysters on spinach with Brie cheese and horseradish aioli. More salads with fresh local vegetables, a hit last year, are expected in summer.

Sometimes, it’s a toss-up. How much French inspiration will fly? Amelot grew up on beef tartare. His daughter had her doubts how it’d fare.

“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I was like, ‘Ugh, Dad, people are not going to order raw beef! That freaks people out!’… and, actually, people are ordering it and they’re loving it.”

With notice, they try to honor special requests for true French items, such as foie gras or Grand Marnier souffle, Amelot-Holmes said. Bouillabaisse and cotriade cycle through as specials.

“The menu is really fitting for everyone,” Amelot said.

Those who imagine a dress up/no kids profile? “That’s just not the case.”

First-timers who come in for their anniversary become converts.

“I think it takes people a while to come out and see us,

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because they save us for that special occasion, and when they’re here? Then, we’ve got ‘em,” Amelot-Holmes said.

Amelot’s culinary background spans 40 years, from Savoie Léman culinary school and work as personal chef to the French foreign minister, to posts in fancy restaurants in La Baule and Marseille. After he followed a former boss to Houston, Texas, the partners behind Amerigo, seeking a European-trained chef, enticed him to Mississippi.

“They flew me into Jackson and the deal was done."

That was 1984, for the job as chef de cuisine at The Sundancer, then a fine dining restaurant in Highland Village.

When Sundancer closed and nothing was comparable on the restaurant scene, he became corporate chef for Valley Food Services, followed by the corporate executive chef with US Food Service.

Amelot had a hand in Anjou from the start, with menu development and staff training for its from-scratch approach.

He’d even pop in a couple of times a week to make sure they were on top of it, AmelotHolmes said. He joined Anjou as executive chef staff in 2015.

Anne, 9 when the family moved to Jackson, was already a restaurant veteran.

“Even in Marsaille … I remember going over and helping seat guests. I always had a foot in it,” she said.

Hostess and server jobs kept her in the industry, always at the front of the house, with stints at Amerigo and Nick’s.

Widowed since 2010, Amelot wed again this year, with a reception at Anjou in March. He and his new wife, Sally, are bound for France in May to celebrate the nuptials and meet family there. Amelot-Holmes heads to France with her husband and daughter, Gabrielle, in October.

“We usually try to go every other year,” she said.

Meantime, this side of the Atlantic, she relishes Anjou’s classic flavors of home.

“Escargots … that’s a must.

“And I love our filet with the real béarnaise. Like, real béarnaise. Not packaged béarnaise. Not pretend béarnaise.

Just the real deal béarnaise.”

STORY Sherry Lucas PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

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Gelato gives the groove to Mississippi tongues The swirls of caramel and pecans tucked in the creamy vanilla of Sweet Magnolia Gelato’s Delta Gravel aren’t made in-house, but owner Hugh Balthrop knows exactly where to find the crème de la crème of ingredients.

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Clarksdale — “I get my blueberries from Mrs. Peggy and my honey from Mr. Powell,” Balthrop said. “I had someone call me today to say they’ll have some fresh muscadines soon. I know I can make something delicious from that.”

Using seasonal, local ingredients has given Sweet Magnolia a cool seat at tables across the country, but the flavor combinations inspired by those ingredients are what bring people back for seconds. In the last decade, he has grown from his kitchen in Clarksdale to a commercial space where his four gelato machines can crank out eight quarts each in 16 minutes.

He has created more than 300 flavors, although his passion for using seasonal produce and herbs means many flavors are not available all the time. Brown Sugar and Bourbon, Peppermint Bark, Strawberry Champagne, and, of course, Delta Gravel, are just a few that melt in the mouth.

Sweet Magnolia’s headquarters is near the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce, and Chamber Executive Director Ron Hudson and his staff occasionally serve as taste-testers.

“We’re glad to go to work for him on that,” Hudson said. “Once he brought over some bacon-flavored gelato. I was a little dubious, but it is really good. When you think about it, there’s not much you can mess up with bacon.” Z mag.com 55

Keeping It Cool Top Left: Crates of Sweet Magnolia Gelato are ready for distribution.

Top Right: Hugh Balthrop, owner of Sweet Magnolia in Clarksdale, stands with his product.

Bottom Left: Balthrop inspects the consistency of his product.

Bottom Right: Sweet Magnolia offers more than 300 gelato flavors, all of which use local ingredients.

Balthrop grew up near Washington, D.C., and his wife, Erica, spent her childhood summers visiting grandparents in Mississippi.

“She convinced me to move here in 2000,” he said.

When their kids were younger, he stayed at home while Erica worked as an obstetrician. It was then that he started playing around with ice cream flavor combinations.

He gradually started reading more about how ice cream is made, eventually enrolling in classes in Pennsylvania and studying with gelato masters in Chicago.

“These classes broke down the science,” he said.

His commitment to using local ingredients is more than just a business deal. It’s personal, and he considers his relationships with the farmers the key to his success.

“We have to support our farmers,” he said. “I need to do a better job at getting the message out there and explaining why it’s not just about Sweet Magnolia — it’s about these farmers I deal with.”

People are eating up the fruits of his labor.

“Our footprint goes from Nashville to the Gulf Coast and all the way over to Atlanta,” he said.

Chefs from Mississippi to New York City often place special orders.

“We really love the chefs,” he said. “They’re the most challenging for us and keep us on our toes.”

Sweet Magnolia is sold in nearly 40 grocery stores, restaurants and bakeries in Mississippi and in five other states, not including the chefs who place orders. The Chamber’s Hudson said entrepreneurs like Balthrop boost the local economy through sales and employing locals.

“In addition to the jobs he provides, I think it speaks well for our community to have entrepreneurs who can make an investment in the community,” he said.

For Balthrop, that local economy boost is important on many levels.

“One, we’re employing folks from the community we live in — in a community where jobs are rather scarce — and we need, outside of security of a community, we need jobs, particularly for these young folks. They’ll become statistics. They get in trouble, and we have an opportunity to give them something to be proud of.

“On another level, it’s more than just fruit or milk or eggs,” he said. “The farmers and I have gotten to know each other over the years, and we care about each other. I take my kids when I pick up my food, and we catch up.

“People from Mississippi love getting behind a Mississippi product, and we use as much Mississippi as we can,” he said.

Luke Heiskell, who owns Woodson Ridge Farms in Oxford, said that relationship is what makes the food more than just a meal.

“Of course, it benefits our company — selling fruits and vegetables to well-known businesses such as Hugh’s,” he said. “They use our name in some of their advertising and that makes other retail users want to buy from us.”

Balthrop does not consider himself a chef, but his growing track record would prove otherwise. Sweet Magnolia is a constant in the Mississippi Delta at such festivals as the Delta Supper Club and regionally at the Memphis Food and Wine Festival. He will return to the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival this year.

In October 2016, Balthrop was invited to participate in the Southern-inspired Taste of the Delta dinner at the James Beard House in New York.

“That was really big for us,” he said. “Last year was really a big year in terms of national exposure. It’s a great feeling, particularly when you’re recognized by your peers.”

Now Balthrop is looking for just the right spot to open a retail store or food truck.

“Another restaurant called this morning with some flavors that I can’t wait to get started on. I’m headed to three places in Memphis and I’ve got to get to Oxford and Tupelo with pints soon,” he said. “We have a quality product, and people love it.”

A list of locations where Sweet Magnolia can be found is at www.sweetmagnoliagelato.com.

STORY Maggie Ingram PHOTOGRAPHY Rory Doyle

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The Delta Supper Club, founded by Jackson native

Stewart Robinson in 2015, brings celebrity chefs from around the country to the Mississippi Delta, where they are challenged to craft a meal for dozens in predetermined locations — a cotton gin, an airplane hangar, the B.B. King Museum — using ingredients local to the area.

“We build kitchens if we must, which we have done plenty of times,” said Kimme Hargrove, who handles public relations, marketing and overall event planning for the DSC. Visiting chefs have included Edward Lee from Kentucky and Tomas Curi from New York. But the most recent event featured food from DSC’s own David Crews, whom Robinson recruited to be the club’s in-house chef. Crews, who has competed on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen, wrote the menu for the 2017 DSC kickoff event at Heathman Plantation near Indianola. Part of the proceeds from that evening, as well as others, benefit Mississippi Culinary Arts students and the Delta Seed Bank.

For more information on the Delta Supper Club, visit deltasupperclub.com. To view a sample menu, visit thesipmag.com.

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'SIP KITCHEN

Boudin Balls

6 pounds wild game (I use duck, venison and hog, but pork can be substituted) 1 pound liver (I use chicken or pork) 2 large yellow onions, peeled and large dice 6 whole cloves garlic 2 cups rice (I use Delta Blues Rice) 6 cups water (for the rice)

2 bunches green onions, rough chopped (about 20 total) Salt and pepper to taste 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper 1 finely diced green bell pepper 1 Tbsp dried oregano 1 Tbsp dried thyme Paprika as needed

In a large pot, combine the rice and water and cook until tender, stirring occasionally (should take about 30 minutes). Once rice is tender, immediately cool under cold running water to stop the cooking process and remove some of the starch. Once cool, strain completely and refrigerate until later (this can be done the day before).

In a large stock pot, place the wild game then fill with water until water is about 4 inches above the game, bring to a rolling boil, then reduce to a simmer and allow the meat to cook for about two hours. (Add water if needed) After two hours of simmering, add the liver, yellow onions, green onions and garlic to the liquid and cook 30 additional minutes until vegetables are soft, then strain to remove the meat and vegetables. Using a home-style grinder, grind meat, liver and vegetables into a large bowl, season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano and thyme and stir well.

Once mixed, combine the ground mixture, fine diced green peppers and chilled rice together and mix thoroughly. Allow the mixture to chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Once chilled, roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls and sprinkle with paprika and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until golden in color, then serve with a mustard sauce and saltine crackers.

RECIPE Chef David Crews PHOTOGRAPHY Rory Doyle

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Rich Grain Distilling Co.

Distiller brings his passion to downtown Canton

D

David Rich knows a thing or two about bourbon.

“I had my first taste when I was in college — after I turned 21, of course,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

He enjoyed the taste so much that he soon had an obsession of sorts, sampling bourbons and studying what brings quality.

The Madison native received a degree in mechanical engineering from Ole Miss and took a position with a defense contractor in Alabama, where he worked for several years. All the while, however, his appreciation of bourbon and other fine spirits grew, as did his desire for entrepreneurship. Rich knew he wanted to move back to the Madison area and he wanted a business of his own.

Soul-searching complete, he decided to open a distillery in Canton.

“I really wanted an older building, and I found this one in Canton,” Rich said. “I learned that Canton used to be a hotbed for liquor in the state before Prohibition, so it seemed like a natural fit.”

The distillery is housed in a 6,600-square-foot 1880s brick building on West Peace Street. Rich had the downtown building meticulously restored. The front houses a large tasting room with tables and chairs and a copper-topped bar that stretches almost wall-to-wall on one side. A display of spirits produced at the distillery lines the shelves behind the bar. Although Mississippi law prohibits the distillery from serving cocktails or selling bottles — Rich is hopeful when he adds, “for now.”

Also on display are several antique ceramic jugs that are stamped with such names as Trolio and Hossley, a tribute to days when local liquor distributors purchased spirits out of state and rebottled them for sale in Canton.

“We can offer tastes to guests,” Rich said as he slid a small cup of spiced rum across the bar.

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Rich today makes and sells the spiced rum along with a white rum and corn whiskey. But the flagship product at Rich Grain Distillery is bourbon.

“Bourbon takes a few years to age,” he explained.

“We have some in the back that will be ready this fall.”

The tasting room has large plate glass windows that look into the distilling area. Inside are four open-top 300-gallon fermentation tanks.

“It takes 500 pounds of grain per batch,” Rich said.

“That first cooks into a fermentable mash.”

Rich held up Mason jars filled with grain and sugar to illustrate the ingredients in the spirits he produces.

“This is turbanado sugar and molasses,” he said. “I get it from Louisiana. It’s used to make the rum.”

An assortment of spices is then added to give the rum its kick. Next is a jar of corn, which Rich buys just around the corner at the Madison County Co-op.

“The corn whiskey has only three ingredients — corn, water and yeast.”

But the product he’s most excited about is the bourbon.

“We make one with 66 percent corn and 17 percent malted barley and 17 percent rye or wheat. Using rye gives it a different taste from wheat,” he said. “We are making both.”

The bourbon is in the back area of the building, stored in white oak barrels that are charred inside.

“That’s what gives the bourbon its beautiful color,” he said.

Some of the bourbon is stored in 15-gallon barrels, which accelerates the aging a bit.

“That one ages only two years,” he said. “The bourbon we have in these 30-gallon barrels takes about three years.”

For now, Rich is a one-man show. He does all the work himself, from grinding the grains, making the mash and running the custom-made copper still to bottling and labeling the spirits. He also is his own sales department, working

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Top: Rich Grain Distilling Company in Canton Bottom: Rich Grain Distilling Company owner David Rich stands between aging barrels of bourbon.

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"Canton used to be a hotbed for liquor in the state before Prohibition, so it seemed like a natural fit." ~ DAVID RICH ~ closely with the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission, as well as visiting package stores and bars to introduce his product to as many people in the state as possible. Luckily, Rich has a couple of furry friends to keep him company. He jokingly refers to 10-year-old black Lab, Dixie, as his “head of barketing,” although her primary activities are lying on the couch and eating corn that falls on the floor.

“She’s really good at both,” Rich said with a laugh.

Kitty is a stray tabby cat that showed up at the distillery early on, looking for a job.

“Her primary job is keeping mice out of the grain,” he said.

Rich is also the chief (and only) tour guide, providing tours of the distillery upon request. The beautiful tasting room also serves as a popular event venue for engagement parties, wedding receptions and other functions.

For more information, visit www.richdistilling.com.

STORY Susan Marquez PHOTOGRAPHY Melanie Thortis

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By Alexe van Beuren First, a confession — I am not a good cook.

Given that I sell food for a living and have written a cookbook, one sold nationwide at bookstores (and Cracker Barrel), some tend to find this odd. But, it’s true. I am deeply, passionately interested in food. And the cookbook, thanks to my writing and Dixie’s recipes, is darn good. Left to my own devices at home, however, I am not a good cook.

Cooking makes me impatient. I never get lost in it. I’d rather be out in the garden or sweeping the floor or going on a walk or, of course, eating.

Since I talk to people about food during just about all of my working hours, I know the confession usually is followed by people telling me how they feed themselves — restaurants, mostly. Not once have I had one of these people follow their statement with, “I am a cook.”

I am not a good cook, but I am a cook.

I cook every single day, not intricately, not ornately and often grudgingly, but I do it.

Y’all ready for my climb onto a soapbox?

Stick with me, if you can.

I think we’ve all gotten a bit precious about food, a bit spoiled. I think the amount of brain space Americans currently spend thinking about food, tracking food, reading about food, pinning food, and, of course, watching food (think celebrity chefs and television) is kind of out of control. I can’t tell you how many folks trek into my grocery in search of a certain spice or out-of-season, often equatorially grown ingredient, and then leave, empty-handed. This may seem commonplace to you. But, to me, who spends

a great deal of time stocking my beautiful shelves and old sweet potato stands with everything from lettuce picked that morning to green eggs from William and fresh creamtop milk from Billy Ray and the best sweet potatoes of your life from the Williamsons; who has flash-frozen salmon and cod and homemade sausage and fork-tender beef in the freezer; who displayed the Louisiana strawberries to shine next to aforementioned lettuce; and who has glass jars full of dates rolled in almond and fried apple pies made that morning and Italian pecorino by the wedge, it seems kind of insane that my store has ruined someone’s day because we don’t have, say, star anise at that moment. If you want to cook something good, something exceptional, look around. Get inspired. I promise the B.T.C. has something for you.

But, hey, at least those folks, the obsessive ingredient-hunters, are, presumably, cooking.

For those of y’all like me, the ones who don’t particularly care to grate, chop and puree, I’d like to make the argument that you should figure out what kind of food you can bear to make and like to eat. And then, just like every other chore in life, from cleaning the bathroom to making the bed, just do it, because it’s a good and nice thing to have a homemade meal, a clean tub and plumped pillows.

Because I love and adore all-fresh everything, I tend to cook a whole lot of whatever excites me, as simply as possible.

So, right now, in the depths of spring, my family and I are eating a lot of salads. Green lettuce, so fresh it’s still alive, garnishes with bright radishes and hard-boiled eggs from my chickens? That’s not so tough. I can do that.

And I can fry up some sausage and slice some bread to go with it, and voila, everyone’s fed. I tend to make a big pot of soup on Saturdays, so I can spend all of Sunday in the garden without worrying what’s for dinner. Like every family with kids younger than 10, we eat spaghetti at least once a week. I’ve been known to cook down red cabbage and eat a whole frying pan full for lunch. Roasted sweet potatoes and chicken thighs dumped in a baking dish and laden with barbecue sauce is quick and easy. There’s always rice and beans and, if I’m feeling on top of things, my greatgrandmother’s skillet full of cornbread. Fried potatoes with ketchup is a go-to. Sometimes we grill steaks and do ourselves up right, but more days than not, it’s quick and dirty basic fare at my house.

Truthfully, I wish there were someone in my family who wanted to cook like my Nana used to... homemade biscuits, hollandaise sauce, English pea salad, perfectly tender roast beef. At this point in my life, that’s just not me. I’m doing my best to keep the house decent and myself semi-fit and have I mentioned my garden? It’s a big one, and demanding. But at least we are eating — real food, at home, as a family, on a regular basis.

The vegetables I’m growing are getting used.

There’s hot food on the table. I am a cook.

I am cooking. I am not tweeting about it, or leaving a Facebook review, or sitting on the couch watching other people doing it. I am a cook. I am cooking.

Maybe someday I’ll be good at it.

Alexe van Beuren grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She moved to Water Valley, Miss., in 2006 with husband Kagan Coughlin of Vermont. They have two Mississippi-born children, Annaliese and Caspian. In 2010, Alexe opened the B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery, which has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Garden & Gun and, most importantly, Miss Betty's Week. Alexe and her business partner, Dixie Grimes, authored the B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from A Southern Revival in 2014. She contributes to The 'Sip regularly as a columnist for SmallTown 'Sip.

PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIBORNE COOKSEY

Confessions in Cooking

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THE LAST ‘SIP THE LAST ’SIP

LI VI N G S T O N

Southern Preserves Farmer's Table Cooking School

photo by Melanie Thortis TH OR T I S P HOT OGRAP HY.C OM

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welcome to our table

Electriied with local color and charm, downtown is a treasure trove for name-brand fashion, Corinth-made gifts such as pottery and art, and an array of cuisines. American, Thai, Tex-Mex, and Italian restaurants—all locally owned—are just a few of the options downtown. Or try Borroum’s, the oldest drug store in the state of Mississippi, and order a Corinth original: the Slugburger.

Downtown & Around Town FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF DINING EXPERIENCES DOWNLOAD THE VISIT CORINTH APP

SLUGBURGER FESTIVAL JULY 13-15 IN HISTORIC DOWNTOWN CORINTH, MS

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It takes a long list of ingredients to create authentic Mississippi. Our rich history gives us distinct culinary regions which speak to the soul. Come discover our fresh Gulf shrimp and farm-raised catfish, Delta hot tamales and barbecue, and throw back a round from a local brewery. You’ll find it all in Mississippi.

THE GUEST ROOM - STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI

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