Piston Paw Jack

Yep, been there and you're right, it's legit. Lorman Country Store and Mama Hamils in Ridgeland are two of the measuring sticks I use when comparing others.

For raw and loaves, Casamento's

For charbroiled, Drago's

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Crispy Smelt

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Agreed. They are awesome, and that sauce complements them perfectly.

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No way

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Um, yes way.

Walter Mattau > BBT

We're talking about BNB, not Sling Blade.

Yeah, sadly.

I know that the owner didn't agree w/ some of Irvine's recommendations, and rightfully so. The product was already top-notch; there really was no need for intervention. The main problem was the owner's attitude, which personally I've never had a problem with. The guy knows what he's doing and is an expert at his craft. Would you go into a top sushi bar and argue with the chef about how to make sushi? Of course not. Same premise here. Just let him do his thing and you're guaranteed to have a good meal. I also think his prices are great, too. What irks me are the people who have complained and whined to the point that the owner felt the need to get a makeover done, when no makeover was needed to begin with. It's people who want to argue with him about his product and insist that they know more than he does that he has problems with.

Sorry for the sideways pics... they didn't look like that when I uploaded them (?)

1976, and it's really not even close.

I like the sequel, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, just as much if not more.

So, this past Friday evening my wife and I decided to take a road trip. I had my tonsils removed a few days before Christmas, and I had finally healed up enough to eat a full meal. So, we headed north from Baton Rouge to the town of Centreville, MS where I'd heard there was a good country/seafood buffet called Vine's. (Yeah, I know -- buffet. But after 11 days of not eating, I was HUNGRY.)







I must admit, I was pretty disappointed with this place. What we found when we entered was a very small buffet, which featured primarily fried seafood. Crab legs were $7.99 extra (not AYCE) but my wife wanted them so I obliged. The meal overall though wasn't too good (hence the lack of photos of the actual food). The only legit thing was the fried catfish, frog legs, and oysters. Desserts were nothing but defrosted Sysco pies, and banana pudding. Compared to other similar buffets I've been to (House of Seafood in Bush, White's in Husser, Landry's in New Iberia) this one wasn't very good. Worst part was that for the two of us, it was over $50.

After leaving Vine's we headed west and then went north on Hwy.61 towards Natchez, where we decided to spend the night. The following morning my son and I woke up and went to the Donut Shop for some donuts and tamales.







The donuts were OK, but they had a foul aftertaste, I'm assuming from being fried in old oil. The tamales were pretty good, though.

Headed back to the hotel to wake up the wife. After she finally woke up, we packed up our stuff and checked out, and then went to eat lunch at The Carriage House in downtown Natchez.

We were first given some mini biscuits and homemade jelly, which were quite good. They actually gave us six, but I forgot to pull out my phone until several were gone.



My wife wasn't too hungry, so she ordered the appetizer plate, which consisted of homemade boudin and fried pork skins with a small side salad, as her meal. I opted for the Bingo burger, medium rare of course.





We both enjoyed our meals. My burger was one of the best I've ever had, cooked perfectly and topped with pimento cheese, bacon, and all the fixins. Reminded me a lot of High Hat's burger, but I think this one was actually better. The accompanying fries were crap, though. I polished it off and washed it all down with some excellent sweet tea. There's just something about Mississippi sweet tea -- seems like everybody there knows how to make it perfectly.

We left the restaurant and headed east across the Hwy.84 corridor. Along the way I stopped in the small town of Quentin to fill up. I went inside to see if they had anything interesting to snack on, but they didn't so I left empty-handed. I think I was the only customer they'd had all day and the two girls looked at me like I was crazy when I pulled out my phone to take a picture of the place -- rightfully so.




We hit I-55 and headed north towards Brookhaven, where we checked into another hotel and rested up for a bit. That evening, I took a gamble on yet another buffet, this one called Poppa's Fish House. The buffet was bigger and slightly better than Vine's, but they did have one of the most impressive dessert bars I've ever seen, with numerous homemade pies, banana split layered dessert, lemon icebox layered dessert, and various cobblers and crisps along with ice cream.













I was pretty much stuffed after leaving here, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

This morning we woke up and headed to our last food stop, Porches in Wesson, MS. It's a beautiful antebellum home in the middle of nowhere that has been converted into a restaurant.





Wife decided on the chicken and dumplings, which also came with choice of soup or salad, 2 side items, and dessert. She chose broccoli and cheese soup, sweet potato casserole, and rotini pasta salad, with red velvet cake for dessert. I chose the shrimp and eggplant crostini (fried eggplant rounds topped with seasoned sautéed jumbo shrimp in a parmesan cream sauce) with a spinach/green apple salad with raspberry vinaigrette, sweet potato casserole and Porches famous "hot pineapple" (pineapple and shredded cheese topped with Ritz crackers -- surprisingly good), and bread pudding with almond sauce for dessert.










We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and agreed that this was our best meal of the trip. The ambiance made it even better -- this restaurant would fit in perfectly in uptown New Orleans.

So, we left Wesson with our bellies full. All in all, a successful and enjoyable weekend getaway.




Life is a feast. Eat it up. :cheers: