Another week in Starkville brought a renewed appreciation for breaded catfish like you can only get in the South, sweet tea that is proving a point with sugar super saturation and a short but memorable visit to small town Mississippi.

Most of the week was dominated by a busy-as-usual email migration that was behind schedule but progressing. We had issues but nothing unexpected. We managed to get the server migrated, most users were happy with only small issues remaining.

I re-visited and was underwhelmed by the Dark Horse Tavern. Not only were they out of “Never Graduate” t-shirts in black but the quality of their pizza seems to have deteriorated. It’s also possible that my first visit here was clouded by Abitas, long plane flight and full day of work that proceeded it.

Memorable about this trip was a visit to Petty’s that was better than I expected: I ordered the catfish platter with fried okra and baked beans and sweet tea. The platter came with hush puppies presumably as matter of course. It was fabulous. I waited outside for my food for less than ten minutes but my clothes smelled like barbecue for two days.

Thursday H, his family and I drove to Ackerman, MS to Pap’s: a family style Southern restaurant featuring the best Southern food buffet I have had as well the best example of Southern hospitality I’ve experienced. H introduced me as from Philadelphia, the staff immediately introduced me to “Elvis:” the cook. Elvis came out in sunglasses befitting his name for a photograph. The food of course was fantastic: of note was whole breaded catfish that after a searching the buffet for knives I figured out you’re supposed to eat with your fingers. After noticing I’d mangled my fish H demonstrated the technique then slyly remarked that I’d already made the proper technique impossible on my own fish. The fish was great though I’m not sure whole fish is any better than the filets as R maintains.

My favorite comment on Mississippi life comes from R as we were blowing off steam between preparing for the upgrade: “Real Mississippians know which counties are wet, which are dry and where to get alcohol in all of them.”

Once again I do not regret my meal choices while I was there but I find myself oddly drawn to low fat foods and unsweetened beverages since my return.

Pap’s place
125 E Main St
Ackerman, MS
(662) 285-6352

Petty’s
103 Highway 12 West
Starkville, MS 39759
662-324-2363

I spent most of last week in Starkville, MS. I decided to practice sweet tea immersion while I was there: partially because ordering unsweet tea kills conversation and makes the locals suspicious..

I think I’ve figured out the sweet tea appeal: consistent high sugar content. “Yup, one and a half cups per gallon!” the kid behind the counter at Obys remarked at lunch today as I explained this to a friend who is also a local there.

That’s all there is to it: the South has collaborated and they all make it the same way: boil the water, add tea bags, While it’s still hot stir in 1 1/2 cups of sugar per gallon. Done. Try to get thousands of restaurants to do anything else consistently: the entire South banded together together and agreed on one drink.

I made it to but didn’t talk about Mugshots on my last trip: it’s considered the best burger in town and it seems to live up to its promise: the burger was huge and very good.

I also ate at Polliwogs this time. The exterior belies the general dive-bar character of the place. The food was passable but almost completely lacking in local flavor. I ordered the only thing on the menu that I couldn’t get at a dive bar in Philadelphia, the craw-fish sandwich and they were out of crawfish. I looked in vain for catfish, my second favorite MS specialty and ended up with a turkey, bacon and cheese sandwich. It was a fair sandwich, just like you would get in any other dive bar..

A final note: can someone explain to me why Delta both refuses to hold a flight and seems to be unable to get me through Atlanta on time? I booked through Delta, my (delayed) flight from Mississippi landed at 9:30, my (delayed) flight to Philadelphia left at 9:50.. Despite sprinting, catching the train as the doors where closing and arriving at the gate at 9:48 the woman at the gate almost seemed pleased that I missed my flight. Seriously? So much for Southern hospitality: you’re on Delta in the Atlanta airport. I generally fly through Dallas on American: Texas has its issues but at least the Dallas Fort Worth airport is able to get me home.

Mugshots
662-324-3965
101 N. Douglas Conner Street
Starkville, MS 39759

Polliwogs
662-323-4274
511 Academy Road
Starkville, MS 39759

Starkville, MS is the home of Mississippi State know for agriculture, engineering and veterinary medicine. The culture is uniquely southern. It’s also home to some really good eating.

I’m beginning to understand just how seriously the south takes its sweet tea. As any southerner that spends more than 5 minutes with me will corroborate, I’m a northerner born and raised. I don’t understand sweet tea. It’s basically brewed tea with a lot of sugar served cold. I’ve made this at home in the north, we made it growing up in the north. Nothing special, just brewed tea.

Sweet tea is special to the south. Apparently the key is adding the sugar while the tea is hot. The sugar is so important that you get funny looks when you order unsweet tea. My co-workers make sport of of watching waitresses’ and unsuspecting bystanders’ reactions when I order unsweet tea. It’s a conversation killer, sometimes the whole room goes silent. I’m told that unsweet tea like the parsley that comes with steak: every restaurant serves it, no one would consider actually drinking it.

It is nice that every restaurant serves good quality brewed tea. We don’t get that up north.

It also turns out that in Mississippi I’m the one with the accent.

Starkville is a good eating town. I’m working with locals so I’m getting the inside scoop on restaurants. Of note, Mississippi is known for its farm raised catfish. Cajun food is also common. So far the only local beer I’ve found is Abita.

Here’s a restaurant round-up:

Oby’s: casual dining, great cajun food. Try the catfish sandwich, crawfish sandwich, avoid the alligator sandwich. Alligator is exactly as you’d expect: tough, gristly and tasteless. The Rotel and chips are a southern thing I’d not heard of. It’s basically spicy queso and tortilla chips.
Oby’s
662-323-0444
504 Academy Rd.
Starkville, MS

Richey’s: Steaks, seafood. This is a restaurant your grandparents probably took you to. It’s very traditional, mostly meat on the menu, a prominent and pretty good salad bar. The windows were completely covered by patterned frosted glass. The food’s on the expensive side but excellent. I had a NY strip steak rare. I’m not a huge read meat eater but I enjoyed it. Try the fried crawfish tailis just because you’ve never seen them on the menu.
Richey’s
662-324-2737
513 Academy Rd.

Dark Horse Tavern
Dingy low ceilinged bar with pretty good pizza and Abita Turbodog on tap. Try the pizza. The Abita is either unusually potent or I was unusually worn out from the trip. I had an 8″ pizza, 2 turbo dogs and I barely made it back to the hotel room before passing out. The overhang as you enter reads “Continuing Education Since 1995.” They sell t-shirts that read “Never Graduate.”
Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern
662-324-3316
410 Mlk Jr. Dr (off route 12, behind the ‘Regal Inn’)
Starkville, MS 39759

Rosey Baby: Billed as cajun cuisine, they were closed perhaps permanently when I headed over for dinner. The sign out front read “Closed for Spring Break” but it’s finals week. The locals were noticeably shaken when I told them it was closed. It’s worth checking to see if they’re back.
Rosey Baby
662-324-1949
300 S Jackson St
Starkville, MS 39759-3348

Mugshots: I understand this to be the best burger in town. I have not eaten there but the building is pure southern frontier town. I’m going to try to stop in before I leave.
662-324-3965
101 N. Douglas Conner Street
Starkville, MS 39759