Spoon Voyage: Mississippi

The Spoonstress and I just got back from a Mississippi jaunt. I may have left my heart in San Francisco, but I left my arterial health in the Magnolia State.

I feasted on fried catfish, fried chicken, fried pickles, French fries and (fried) hushpuppies. When you're visiting what some say is the best catfish joint in a state full of 'em (Taylor Grocery), you're gonna have it fried. At one point, I told the Spoonstress my goal for the upcoming meal was simply to avoid anything deep fried.

The veggie plate at Ajax Diner stretched that definition. The broccoli and rice casserole tasted like a Land O' Lakes recipe. Brown sugar and marshmallows galore pushed the sweet potato casserole into the dessert category, as I'd hoped.

Aside from the heart-harming (i.e. delicious) eating, I spent most of the weekend in Oxford and the Delta on a not-so-slow drip of sweet tea. You'll notice it in the foreground of the picture at right. I grew so accustomed to the sugary drink that I scoffed at the suggestion of unsweetened tea at Abe's Bar-B-Q (I mean, even this Yankee knows that's a barbecue no-no).

Breakfasts were egg-heavy and rich as heck. The a.m. creation at Puddin Place (B&B), which I'm told will grace the next issue of Southern Living, involved baking an egg atop Canadian bacon, mozzarella cheese and an English muffin.

The fun continued at Clarksdale's Rest Haven, a Lebanese outpost that cleverly mixes kibbe (ground beef, cracked wheat and onions) into a cheese omelet. The result isn't far from a cheeseburger omelet. By the way, I wasn't alone in my greasy spooning--the Spoonstress continued the BLT fun, minus the healthy 'L' with an egg, bacon, tomato and mayo sandwich at Rest Haven.

While I can't imagine living in Mississippi and keeping a solitary chin, it's a great place to eat. In hindsight, I wouldn't do anything differently.

I closed things out, appropriately, with a lunch plate of cheese-stuffed meatloaf during our second Ajax visit. As I look through the pictures a day later, one thing's for sure--I was never in danger of making this sign come true.