Sunday, November 29, 2009

Jaybird's Stone Fired Pizza

Over the weekend the wife and I ventured into the commercial sprawl to find a Christmas Tree. We had some luck and found a nice Douglas Fir for a very nice price. On the way home we began a discussion on where to dine. I brought up an establishment that I've not had in some time – Jaybird's Stone Fired Pizza. She agreed and the debate didn't rage into something that would rival the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Just across Hardy Street from the main entrance to the Southern Miss campus and in the same strip mall as an independent coffee shop it's to be expected that they serve an eclectic mix of college students, young professionals, old hippies and families. On our visit all of the above were represented.

Jaybird's offers a traditional hand tossed and a New York style thin crust in personal (7”), medium (12”) and large (14”). They have a number of specialty combination and a large selection of toppings to make your own. You can also have any of the specialty pizzas made into a calzone.

We decided on a large Greek pizza. The pizza is topped with beef sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, black olives and three cheeses including feta.

The wait for the pie was pretty short and the dining area is simple, clean and well lit with a serve yourself beverage bar.

When they brought out our pizza the aroma was wonderful! The pizza was hot and baked to near perfection.

Upon first taste I could tell the ingredients were high quality, fresh and in good proportions. The beef sausage was flavorful, the texture of the sun dried tomatoes and red onion was the perfect compliment to the creamy cheeses. The black olives and feta tied the entire dish together. My wife is usually not a fan of black olives but, she even agreed that the combination of flavors was very nice.

Regretfully we don't have any photos for this entry either, we had decided on an unplugged weekend and left the cell phones at home. I highly recommend trying that from time to time.

Good pizza has come a long way in Hattiesburg in the last few years and Jaybird's has played a major part in bringing real hand made, stone oven pizza to the Pine Belt.

Jaybird's Stone Fired Pizza on Urbanspoon

Friday, November 27, 2009

Eating Big and Spending Small


If you've read this blog for very long you know that I love to save money. When dining out in South Mississippi it's easy to eat big and spend small if you're willing to take a little time and do some research.

By now pretty much everyone knows about WDAM-TV's Half-Off Thursday's, where they feature a local eatery almost every Thursday and provide an avenue for readers of their website to purchase $50 in gift certificates to local restaurants for only $25.

Over the past couple of months they've featured Brownstone's, Dickey's Barbecue, El Taco Loco, Wagon Wheel Steakhouse and more. Each Thursday that they offer a new deal they put up between 75 and 150 certificates and it's a first come, first serve, you can buy up to 5 (five), and they usually go fast. Sometimes they sell out within minutes.

The next offering they have is $50 in certificates for Walnut Circle Grill for $25, those will go on sale on Thursday Dec 3rd at 8:00 AM, expect them to go fast. They currently have $50 in certificates to Miki's in Laurel for $16.50.

I've recently come across a very similar offer made by several local radio stations including 103.7 The Fox. They call their promotion Discount Deals and it's not related solely to restaurant gift certificates. It's pretty much the same deal, you purchase $50 worth of gift certificates for $25, but the number of certificates offered is a lot more limited, between 30 and 50 for each promotion. That's ok, because not nearly as many people seem to know about this promotion and it usually takes a couple of days for them to sell out.

Discount Deals also features a good selection of local eateries with recent offerings from - La Fiesta Brava, The Magic Tomato and Plaid Rhino. They currently have limited certificates left for past offerings - Magic Tomato, Plaid Rhino and La Fiesta Brava (Laurel location). Their next new offering will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd at 8:00 AM.

Links to these two promotions can be found on the left hand side of the blog. I wanted to give links to a couple of deals that I have found around South Mississippi, that are not permanent links.

Coast Cuisine from WLOX - Is basically the same promotion as WDAM's Half off Thursday's.

Dealz on Mealz from Coast Radio Group - Another similar program to those above. Deals starting from $12.50 on $25 certificates.

By taking advantage of these deals you can eat out in South Mississippi on a regular basis, at a variety of restaurants and save a lot of money!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Mediterraneo's in Ocean Springs

Over the weekend my wife and I dined at Mediterraneo's in Ocean Springs. They serve a fusion of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine in a cozy bistro setting on Government Street in the downtown.

This being our first time to dine at Mediterraneo's we decided to take advantage of their tapas menu and order and share several different items. Now the lighting and setting of this small eatery doesn't work well for photography so I am not able to include photos of the items, so I'll do my best to describe them.

We ordered four items from the tapas menu – Hummus, Spanakopita, Seared Scallops and Spanish Shrimp.

While waiting for the tapas plates to arrive we were served a small loaf of artisan style olive bread with an olive oil and balsamic with garlic and spices for dipping. The olive bread was quite good with an excellent texture and was nice and warm when it got to the table.

The hummus was served chilled with pita wedges and a little olive oil. The hummus was good, it was not quite as good as I was expecting but was better than what you can expect from most chain restaurants.

The Spanakopita was exceptional, the phylo crust was near perfect with generous portions of spinach and the feta cheese was very high quality. Served piping hot from the kitchen garnished nicely on the plate the presentation simple and elegant.

The seared scallops were also excellent! Far too often when ordering scallops they come rubbery and almost inedible. These seared scallops were cooked very well and the seasoning complimented the dish without being over powering. They were served on a bed shredded cabbage and avocado with a cilantro infused mayo. The avocado was a perfect compliment to the scallops.

The highlight of the meal may have been the Spanish Shrimp. Fresh white shrimp sauteed in an infusion of garlic, Cointreau (orange liquor), olive oil and lemon with crushed red peppers. The contract of sweet and spicy was a fantastic combination and brought out the clean deep water flavor of the white shrimp. Slices of toasted baguette were served with the shrimp for dipping in the saute.

We finished the meal by sharing a baklava dessert. Again the phylo crust was well made and the filling was very nice. Unlike some places they didn't try to drown the baklava with honey and it was served with a caramel sauce that complimented the desert very well.

In all this was one of the more enjoyable dining experiences that we've had in quite some time. Mediterraneos is an elegant but not pretentious bistro where you won't feel out of place in jeans and a polo. The service was good and our server was attentive. The presentation of each dish was well received. A classical guitarist playing and it set the mood for a romantic dinner.

One of the best parts of the entire evening is that because of the tapas menu we were able to sample a variety of items and have desert for about $40.00 including tip.


Mediterraneo on Urbanspoon

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Depot Deli


Work takes me all over South Mississippi and recently I was in Beaumont. There's not many choices when you find yourself in Beaumont for lunch, so I headed to The Depot Deli. I've been before and the first time it was a pleasant surprise.

With the weather turning a little cooler I wanted a hot meal and they had just the ticket. A hot, open-faced roast beef sandwich with a cup of house made vegetable soup.
The soup was hot and the veggies were fresh, it had that home made taste with the carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, ect.

About the time I was finishing up the soup my sandwich arrived, steaming from the hot gravy. The sandwich was served on a toasted baguette, with two cheese, the a generous portion of thick sliced roast beef, brown gravy and chopped green onions.

Yeah it was just as messy as it looks, no chance of picking this thing up it was a knife and fork all the way. This was down home sloppy, delicious goodness on a plate. The gravy complimented the beef, the melted cheeses added to the creamy texture and the onions contrasted that with a crispy crunch.

It was served with a side of potato salad, which was average, probably a Sysco product, but not bad.

Next time, I find myself in Beaumont for lunch, I'll be back at the Depot Deli. Well, it's not like I have much choice, but I certainly won't be there begrudgingly.

Depot Deli & Pizzeria on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Wagon Wheel Steakhouse



For some time I had been wanting to try the Wagon Wheel Steakhouse just east of Petal on Hwy 42. Over the weekend the wife and I went there for dinner. I had fairly high expectations going in because of some good reviews that I have read and from talking with friends that have been there.

When we arrived the parking lot was pretty full, but we didn't have to wait long to be seated. Our hostess and server were polite even if they were a bit over-worked that night.

The decor was kind of what you would expect from a steakhouse, western motif, but they may be trying a little two hard. But, it was clean, well kept and inviting.

We began our meal with an order of onion rings, they were pretty much run of the mill pre-cut, pre-battered rings and were honestly over cooked.

For the entrees we both decided on the 12 oz. New York Strip cooked medium, house salads and loaded baked potatoes.

The salads were pretty standard steakhouse fair, my bleu cheese dressing was good, I am sure not house made, but good quality. They do seem to house make their curtons which is a nice touch. The yeast rolls were nothing to write home about, but they were not bad.

When the steaks arrived, I was impressed, my strip certainly looked to be larger than the advertised 12 oz. They were still sizzling when they got to the table. My steak was a bit on the rare side of medium, but the flavor was great, no steak sauce wanted or needed. They were seared with a Chicago style dry seasoning, a perfect compliment to the steaks. My cut was very good, my wife's cut was not the same quality as the one I was served, but it was still a nice cut.

The loaded baked potatoes were good, nice portion and not over baked.

The Wagon Wheel has not been in business that long, and I am sure they will only get better in time. The Wagon Wheel is a good value and very good steaks, if they can improve their sides to a quality anywhere close to their steaks they will hit a home run every time.

Wagon Wheel Steak House on Urbanspoon