Two thumbs up for Darwell's Cafe

This weekend Mrs. Food Blogger and I spend some time on the Gulf Coast and had the opportunity to take in a establishment that we have both been wanting to try for some time – Darwell's Cafe in Long Beach.

I am usually skeptical of joints that I see on the Food Network, with one exception – Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives, and even Guy Fieri's rave review of a certain Gulf Coast BBQ joint that will not be named had me scratching my head.

But, back to the focus of the review – Darwell's.

This is a fun, quirky, eclectic eatery provides a one of a kind dining experience on the Coast. Upon entering the front door you order at a counter. Behind the counter you can see directly into the kitchen where Chef Darwell Yaeger and his staff are hard at work. With the extensive menu on small signs all over the walls. That was my only complaint, I studied the small signs for a good 10 minutes and I still couldn't come close to telling you what all they serve.

They had a dry-erase with some nightly specials, being somewhat confused I just blurted out a special that sounded good.

I ordered the “Blackened Filet Tips with Lump Crab”, Mrs. FB ordered “Blackened Shirmp with Lumb Crab”. We also ordered a crab cake appetizer.

After placing you order you move to the beverage station where you order your drinks, and then decided where you want to sit. Darwell's features both indoor and outdoor dining,. Being it's June with temps pushing into the mid-90's we opted for indoor dinning.

After picking up our Coke Zero's at the beverage station we picked out a table in their back dinning room (it was about 15 degrees cooler than the front dinning area), started looking at the unique folk art and water-colors that adorned the walls. Most of the art is the work of Darwell's father – Papa D.
It wasn't long before our crab cakes arrived.

They served them with a nice hollendaise sauce and a vidalia onion dressing.

Upon cutting into the nicely portioned crab cake it was easy to tell that Chef Darwell's lump crab to bread-crumb ration was off the chart! These crab cakes were some of the best I've had, and I've long been known as someone who loves crabcakes. The hollendaise sauce was the perfect compliment, but if you prefer a sweeter taste the vidalia onion dressing was nice.

I'll be honest here, I probably ordered my blackened filet tips because of the confusing menu display, because as a rule I do not like “blackened dish” weather it be steak, redfish, or whatever. I think my general disdain for “blackened” dishes is because 90% of places don't know how to do it correctly.

Do not include Chef Darwell in that 90%, the blackened filet tips were exceptional! Filet tips grilled to near perfection. The tips were cooked medium with a perfect amount of blankening seasoning. They were served in a large shallow bowl, with slice of french bread in the middle of the bowl. The filet tips were served around and over the toasted slice. Then huge chunks of lump crab meat were played in the middle of the dish.

The crab itself was not blackened, just steamed, lightly seasoned and served atop the steak tips.

Having dinned at a large number of seafood restaurants over the years I think the lump crab was largest chunks of succulent crab I've been served.

Interestingly, the dish wasn't served with any sides, but that was the only complaint anyone could make.

The lump crab took on hints of the seasoning from the blackened filet tips, and the toast was a nice touch.

Mrs. FB was kind enough to exchange a few of her blackened shrimp for a few of my filet tips, and while the blackened shrimp had a touch more spice than the tops, they were also excellent. The shrimp were sauteed to perfection, with a rich full deep water taste. They were plated in the same manner as the tips with lump crab and french bread.

Several times while we were dinning Chef Darwell emerged from the kitchen to talk with patrons and to insure everyone's dinning experience was up to his high standards.

In all this was an outstanding dinning experience, we'll be back in the future to try some of their other Southern Coastal inspired dishes, and that doesn't even take into account huge smoker churning out BBQ with Papa D serving as pit-master.

The low light in the back dinning area wasn't good for photos, and they didn't come out, so sorry for no accompanying photos.

Darwell's Cafe gets two big thumbs up from the Food Blog Family!

Newk's Express impresses

When a business associate invited me to meet him for lunch at Newk's Express Cafe this afternoon I had little to no intention of reviewing the establishment. Frequent readers know that I tend to avoid chain restaurants, and even a home-grown Mississippi based operation like Newk's usually is of little interest to me.

But, since he offered to put it on his expense account, how could I say no?

Newk's is the brainchild of Don Newcomb and his collaborators Debra Bryson and Chris Newcomb. They turned a converted gas station into a small deli in the heart of a college town in to one of the most successful regional chains around - McAllister's. They very well could be headed in that direction with Newk's.

Newk's has a hip, urban feel with a modern design and interior. The concept is visually appealing with a great layout and unique atmosphere.

I ordered the toasted Italian with a side of Tippah County Cavier and a sweet team. My associate ordered the sandwich and soup combo featuring a half toasted club sandwich with Lobster-crab Bisque.



When the server brought out our meal, honestly the portions looked small. A feature that I really like about Newk's is the condiment bar which isn't your standard ketchup, may and mustard. It features anything from premium pickles, capers, pickled garlic cloves, peppers, and a variety of sauces and more traditional condiments.

I helped myself to a small cup of the pickled garlic and capers, thinking they would go well with the "Tippah Co. Cavier".

I started with the Italian sandwich, and I'll say it was good, really good. It features capicola, mortadella, pepperoni, salami, and provolone. And while that would provide more than enough for a solid sandwich experience it was fully dressed with mayo, spicy mustard, tomato, onions, pickled cherry peppers and a signature Italian sauce.

I think you would be hard pressed to find a better sandwich from any chain, on 10 scale this was an 8.5. The bread was good, not great and it was pretty small as far as deli sandwiches go, but it certainly wasn't small on flavor!

The Tippah County Cavier is really just a spicy black-eyed pea salad served cold. It was a pretty good cold side, but when you add a few capers and the pickled garlic it came together nicely.



My associate reported that his club sandwich was good.

The only disappointment in the meal was the Lobster-crab bisque. It just wasn't good, no real way to sugar coat it. He took two bites and set it aside, I didn't believe him and had to at least taste it....I didn't make it to the second bite.

It had an odd orange color and had an over powering fishy taste, apparent that a low quality imitation crab had been used.

In all this was a very positive dining experience, and while I probably won't become a regular at Newk's I certainly have a better understanding of why they've built a loyal following in Hattiesburg.

Lookout 49 - Gulfport

Over the New Year's Holiday the wife and I dined at Lookout 49 in Gulfport. We began enjoying the Lookout while it was still in Long Beach harbor and have continue to drop by on occasion while traveling to the Gulf Coast.

Lookout 49 serves fresh caught Gulf seafood and the menu changes with the season and what's available throughout the year.

While we've enjoyed some visits more than others I can't remember being disappointed on any occasion that we've dined there. This visit the experience was exceptional.



We began our meal with seafood stuffing cakes, pretty much crab cakes with both crab and shrimp. They were prepared nice, fried golden and served with a tangy ramoulade sauce. They were good, could have been fried just a bit longer, but in all they were well received.

Side salads for the entrees were good, they were a fresh mix of spring greens and baby spinach. Fresh house made croutons and dressings highlighted the salads. I enjoyed a very nice bleu cheese and my wife had the ranch dressing, both house made and very nice.

I ordered the "Catch of the Day", on this occasion it was speckled trout filet served on a bed of rice with a creamy Lyonnaise sauce with chopped bacon, shrimp, sun dried tomato and basil. A side of steamed, mixed vegetables were served - green beans, parsnip, and broccoli.



This was the largest speckled trout fillet that I've ever been served in a restaurant, and it was fried to golden brown perfection. You can tell that it was cooked at a high enough temperature that it left the crusting crisp while leaving the fish tender, flaky and moist. The Lyonnaise sauce was creamy with ample amounts of shrimp and large pieces of bacon, the sun dried tomatoes were a nice compliment to the sauce and the basil married all the flavors together. This was one of the better seafood dishes I've had in a very long time, it was simply exceptional.

My wife ordered the Grilled Stuffed Amberjack. A nice Amberjack steak served over a bed of fresh greens. It was topped with a grilled seafood cake much like our appetizer dish. It was served with the same side of steamed vegetables as the catch of the day.



The texture and flavor of the Amberjack was very good and the grilled seafood cake was a nice compliment. Adding a fresh squeeze of lemon to the jack steak and a bit of the ramoulade to the seafood cake accented the dish well.

The service was very good from the polite hostess to the attentive servers, I would be hard pressed to come up with a negative about this dining experience, so I won't even try.

McElroy's On the Bayou

On Sunday afternoon Mrs. Food Blogger and I made one of our semi-frequent excursions to the Gulf Coast. I had taken the time to pick out three Ocean Springs eateries that I have been wanting to try. Sadly when we arrived we found that all three close around 3:00 PM on Sundays. Mrs. Food Blogger suggested McElroy's on the Bayou.

I grew up eating at McElroy's in Biloxi, and had not tried the post Katrina McElroy's on the Bayou. After I was forced to accept the fact that we were not going to be eating Mediterranean/Middle Eastern because all three places that serve that cusine in town were closed, I sort of began to want a good po-boy.

Upon entering we were greeted by a very nice receptionist who handed us off to a seating hostess who took us to the table and introduced our server. We were given menus immediately and our drink orders were taken. After a few minutes she returned to ask if we were interested in an appetizer.



We ordered fried crab claws. They were out and served in a reasonable amount of time. They crab claws were lightly breaded and seasoned. They could have used a little more seasoning, but they were not overly salty like you find at some places. They were served with tarter sauce and cocktail sauce. We thought that they would have been complimented well by a nice remoulade sauce.

By this time we had both decided on po-boys. The wife ordered her standard the fried shrimp po-boy, while I fought back an initial urge to order the soft shell crab and ordered a half/half on shrimp and oyster (pictured).



The po-boys were served with fries, they were not hand cut, they were standard processed fries. The positive was that they seem to fry all their seafood and fries in very hot oil and the food has very good texture.



As I deconstructed my po-boy I found ample amounts of seafood on both halves. The shirmp could have been fried a couple minutes more and could have used a bit more seasoning in the breading. They were good, a bit above average but not great. The oysters were well above average, good flavor (fresh), good texture and a good amount.

The food overall was respectable, but not outstanding. The atmosphere was a bit unusual, nothing like the McElroy's in Biloxi that I grew up with, but the people were to notch. Kind of felt oddly Shoney's-ish. Kind of just cookie cutter in the tables, chairs, drab wall art. The view out the back deck over Bayou Fort is beautiful, but they didn't have table service set up outside.

The service we received was top notch. Everyone we talked with was a cut well above average from the receptionist, to the servers to the chef, they made it into a very nice dining experience.

Gold Post Sandwich House

A Hattiesburg institution for more than 40 years - The Gold Post Sandwich House. This is my father's favorite, always has been, for as long as I can remember anyway. My first po-boy came from the Gold Post, and it was a shrimp po-boy, because that's my dad's favorite po-boy. Looking back I may have been 12 or 14 years old before I knew that you could get anything besides shrimp between a split baguette.

I visited the Gold Post for the first time in years this week. I can say this, there's something for consistency, because it was just exactly like I remembered it, I'm not sure that it's changed one bit since the early 80's when I would go there with my dad.

Stepping to the counter the menu was a lot more extensive than I remembered. I was sort of bummed out that I didn't go on one of the days (M-W-F) where they have their house made gumbo. On, Tuesdays and Thursdays they have a house made veggie soup which I hear is also good. I had my heart set on gumbo.

I ordered a shrimp po-boy and order of onion rings and a diet coke. That's what my dad would have ordered had he been there with me. I didn't remember it being quite this expensive, the lunch setting me back almost $11.

After a short wait my number was called and I stepped to the counter and back in time 20 years. There it was, one of my dad's favorites. The classic Gold Post shrimp po-boy.

I found a table, and deconstructed my po-boy. The Gold Post may have the best bread of any sandwich joint in town, so it's good, real good. The shrimp were like I remembered but different than most shrimp po-boys. The shirmp were not individually breaded and fried, there were kind of clusters of 2-4 shirmp that were breaded and fried together into little mini-ship patties? It's really quite unique. They also fry them darker than the golden brown you would probably expect.
The same onion rings from my youth, I didn't really like them all that much then and I still don't. These aren't house made rings, they're mass produced and are not ringlets of sliced onions. They were pretty much processed onions formed into rings coated in batter and fried. Fried is always good....right? Well, not so much with these rings.

The dressed po-boy was good, not as good as in my memory, but good. The remoulade sauce that they serve on their seafood po-boys is good, flavorful, but not what I consider spicy...so I added some Tabasco sauce.

While I sat in the Naugahyde booth with the wood grain Formica table top and ate my sandwich, I noticed something. The people I watched people walk in and out who have been coming to this Hardy Street Icon for not years but decades.

My mind kept wondering back to those first po-boys with my dad. I became a dad for the first time not that long ago. I hope that in a few years my own son can look back with some memories like the ones that I relived over a decently good, somewhat over priced, shrimp po-boy in a little sandwich shop that I really hadn't even thought about in years.

Maybe it wasn't really a po-boy, maybe it was a time machine.

Blow Fly Inn - Gulfport

On Saturday night the wife and I dinned at a Gulf Coast landmark - The Blow Fly Inn. For years I have heard about the Blow Fly Inn. In the last year it has been featured by Guy Fieri on Food Network's Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Without question the location and setting of the Blow Fly Inn on the banks of Bayou Benard is one of the most picturesque locations of any dinning establishment on the Gulf Coast. As we arrived the sun was just setting over the bayou and it was a beautiful sight.

The restaurant was packed, we had to wait a little while to be seated (about 10 min.). The hostess was polite and within a couple of minutes of being seated a server was there to take drink orders. Our server on this visit was very nice, professional and attentive.

We began our meal with an order of onion rings. I don't recall Guy making a big deal out of the rings on the show, but they are something to write home about.

A huge helping of hand cut, wet battered onion rings cooked at the perfect temperature. They used a dredge of mainly flour with just a little corn-meal mixed in, seasoned to near perfection with a blend of cajun spices. The last ring on the bottom of the pile was as crispy as the first ones off the top - that's a rare find. Most of the time the grease drips down the pile and the last few are soggy and inedible. I am sure that at some point I've had better onion rings than these, but for the life of me I can't remember where or when.

Our server was polite enough not to serve the side salads along with the appetizers, a few minutes after the rings arrived she brought out the salads.

Pretty standard fare of lettuce, tomato, cucumber a few red onions with some boxed croutons. A pleasant surprise was that my blue cheese and my wife's ranch dressings were house made and better than average. Honestly, with that big plate of rings on the table, far from empty, I didn't wast much time on the salad.

I kind of had my mind made up that I was going to try the stuffed flounder that was featured on Triple-D, but they did have three weekend-specials that were very tempting. This weekend they featured a grilled Amberjack, a broiled redfish fillet and a fried grouper fillet served over rice, topped with a crawfish and shirmp etouffee.

I fought the urge to try one of the specials and ordered the stuffed flounder. Flounder is in my opinion the most under appreciated of our native near-shore species. The flavor is mild, delicate and is one of the easiest fish to clean and prepare due to it's unique skeletal structure.

The flounder was served whole (headless), it was bisected down the midline and the fillets were pulled back. Inside the chef packed the flounder with a generous amount of lump crab meat stuffing. The entire fish, stuffing and all, was flame broiled to near perfection.

The flounder was well seasoned on the outside with a cajun blend that also covered the suffing, it was garnished with lemon slices and parsley. The flounder was flaky and the texture of the slighty chared skin was compliment to the stuffing. The stuffing had plenty of crab meat and only way that this dish could have really been improved, in my opinion, is to use a slightly smaller amount of bell pepper in the stuffing. It sort of grabbed you instead of melding with the onions, celery and spices.

This is one of the better seafood dishes that I have encountered on the Gulf Coast since Katrina.

This portion of the review is provided mainly Mrs. Food Blogger. This was a unique interpretation for grouper. Grouper is also somewhat of an under appreciated local fare. It's usually found filleted, fried and stuffed in between a po-boy bun. This is one of Mrs. Food Bloggers favorite off-shore fish because of it's mild flavor and firm flaky texture.

The grouper was battered in a mix similar to that the onion rings were dredged in, but had more texture, maybe added egg whites? The breading was seasoned nicely. The fillet was served over a large bed of rice, and garnished with steamed whole green beans, carrots and what we believe to have been parsnip.

Over the entire dish was poured a better than average crawfish and shrimp etouffee. The combination of flavor was nice, the fillet had a little too much batter and may have been slightly over-cooked. Had the dish had more of the etouffee and a little less rice it would have garnered a better review.

We each sampled the others entree, and both agreed that the grouper dish was slightly above average, but the flounder was very good. In all it was a fine dinner, the service was well above average, the meal as a whole was very good, and the setting on Bayou Benard is second to none.

The Catfish Wagon

Heaps of golden fried catfish have been served on these grounds for more than four decades. Originally this was the site of Herbert's Fish Camp and Music Hall. A few years ago, the original structure burned and Herb shut the place down. A small town in Mississippi just isn't right without a Catfish House. The Hodge family purchased the property and completely renovated it into The Catfish Wagon.

We've been to the Catfish Wagon, which is located on Hwy 42 just across the Perry County line from Petal, several times now. I guess it's pretty much in the Runnelstown Community. It's a very large, open family style restaurant. They're proud to serve only Mississippi farm raised catfish and will show you the boxes if you ask. The decor is rustic/redneck with at least a dozen deer heads, bass, bobcats, turkey and other indigenous game mounted on the walls.

The wife and I took in a dinner there over the weekend, I ordered the all-you-can eat catfish platter, while the wife ordered the five piece fillet dinner.

They start the mean by serving a large bowl of better than average cold slaw that's a sweet mayo based with sweet and sour undertones. It's finely chopped cabbage and I believe that it is home made.

My wife loves fried dill pickles and we got an order of those as an appetizer. I've had them before at the Catfish Wagon and they've been fine, but someone went crazy with the salt shaker on this batch and they were very salty, editable but just barely.

Now on to the main attraction - the catfish fillets.

The service in bringing out the platters was very reasonable, the fish was fried golden brown.

They use a very nice cornmeal fry that is lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and possible a little onion powder. The fillets were crispy on the outside and flaky and tender on the inside. You can tell that they fry at a very high temperature. They offer raw onions and tomatoes to compliment the meal. Their home made tarter sauce is fresh, tasty and much better than any pre-packaged you may get at some places.

The fries were good, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. My wife reports that the hush puppies were pretty average, I rarely eat hush puppies and was more concerned with the fillets to be honest.

If you judge solely on the fried fillets, this is one of the better catfish houses in South Mississippi, their fries and hush puppies could be better.

I've never had a negative experience at the Catfish Wagon and I've eaten there several times. It's a bit out of the way and you could find yourself waiting half an hour at times, because they do a good business, but all in all if you love good fried catfish this place is well worth a try.

Lil' Ray's in Long Beach

Last night the wife and I found ourselves on the Coast. We decided to stop at a staple of Gulf Coast cuisine "Lil' Ray's". The original Lil' Ray's was opened in Waveland in the 1970's and since then the family has opened other locations across the coast in Gulfport and Long Beach.

I've often stopped at Lil' Ray's Long Beach location while working on the coast and suggested that to the wife because we were visiting friends on the west side of the coast.

The decor is simple and what you would expect from a seafood/po-boy shop along the coast. The server was friendly, fast and efficient.

We started with an appetizer of smoked yellow fin tuna dip. The tuna dip was probably the highlight of the meal, it was fresh, seasoned very well, large helping of smoked tuna served over a bed of lettuce with fresh sliced tomato.

I ordered the fried Grouper (fish) po-boy with a side of fries. My wife ordered the half/half shrimp platter. That consisted of half an order of fried shrimp and half an order of grilled shrimp.

My Grouper sandwich met the expectations that I have for Lil' Ray's. The fish was fresh, flaky and fried to a golden brown. It was not over or under cooked. Served on a fresh bagget (they truck their bread in daily from New Orleans). The homemade tater sauce was a pleasant complement to the tasty grouper. The fries were very average and over-priced for what you get, in hindsight I should have gone with a cup of seafood gumbo or shrimp and corn bisque.

The shrimp platter was good, not great. The shrimp were fried in a flour and cornmeal dredge that was a little too thick for fresh shrimp. They were not bad, but average is about as high as I could rate them. The grilled shrimp on the other hand were much better. They were lightly seasoned with some cajun/creole seasonings and then grilled over the open flame just right. The potato salad served witht he platter was average at best, but the hush puppies were nice.

All in all it was a good meal. A bit on the pricey side with the total for two people being more than $40 for a pretty simple dinner, considering that the only beverages we had was sweet tea (very good sweet tea).

When most folks from the Hattiesburg/Laurel area travel down to the coast we end up eating in Gulfport or Biloxi and far too many times we end up eating at a chain you can get at home. I encourage everyone to venture to some of the smaller towns - Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Ocean Springs, D'Iberville and try some of the home-owned establishments.

Rayner's Seafood House

For sometime have heard friends and family rave about Rayner's Seafood on Hwy 49 North of Hattiesburg. Having never tried it the wife and I stopped in a few nights ago. I love catfish and it's been their speciality for more than 40 years.

With that kind of track record, I admit I went in with very high expectations. Plus, lets face it we're in Mississippi, you can get a pretty decent catfish dinner at any Church fund raiser or on just about any corner. Fried catfish has been one of my favorite Southern staples for years.

They've spiffied up the outside of the restaurant in the past couple of years, but the inside was dimly lit, and could use a major over-hall. At the same time, I understand that people don't usually go to a catfish house for the ambiance, they go for heaping mounds of golden fried fillets.

After a brief glimpse at the menu, I ordered the "All you can eat" catfish fillet dinner, my wife ordered the three piece fillet dinner.

It was served with cold-slaw, fries and hush puppies. The sides were all about average with the hush puppies being a little above average.

I have to say I was underwhelmed with the catfish itself, the breading was rather bland and they were not nearly as crispy as I would like, almost as if the fryers were not quite hot enough for cooking.

I went in really wanting to agree with so many others and was wishing I could rave about it on the blog. I love down home, mom and pop, places more than anything. I may give it another try at some point, but with so many really good catfish houses in and around Hattiesburg, it'll probably be in the distant future.

Dinner at Brownstone's

Having dined at Brownstone's several times I was looking for a little something different and asked the waiter for a recommendation. The owner/manger was walking by at the time and suggested that I try their signature “Zesty Tuna Steak”. I agreed and ordered the crab cakes appetizer. My wife ordered the Cajun Shrimp Alfredo.

The crab cakes were good, not great. The texture was good, and there was an ample amount of crab. They blacken their crab cakes, for my taste it's just not needed. The crawfish bordelaise sauce that is served on top of the crab cakes was a nice touch.

I had the Spring Mix side salad and it was nice, very fresh mix of baby greens topped with blue cheese and roasted pecans. A very nice, very light salad. I chose to just lightly drizzle my salad with some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Now the main course, the Zesty Tuna Steak. I've had quality tuna steaks at different restaurants round the country, but this was as unique of an interpretation as I have experienced. The well proportioned tuna steak was grilled to near perfection. It was plated on top of a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, which was a very interesting take on a traditional dish. Over the tuna steak and potatoes they poured a cream sauce of roasted red peppers with sweet citrus and honey. The dish was garnished with tomatoes and fresh green onions.

This is without question the most unique tuna steaks I've ever encountered and the grilled tuna lends it self so well with the sweet and lightly spicy cream sauce. When married with the garlic mashed potatoes it's an excellent combination. This is not a melding of flavor that I would have ever considered and I am so glad I took the recommendation to try this very unique dish.

The portions were generous, the presentation was very nice, and the atmosphere was well received. A very nice dining experience that was highlighted by the flavor of wonderful, unique signature dish – the Zesty Tuna Steak!

- HubFoodBlogger

Lunch at Jutamas Thai Restaurant

After hearing rave reviews from friends and fellow foodies I decided to give Jutamas Thai Restaurant a try today.

Nestled in an unassuming cinder block building between West Pine Street and Broadway Drive, this may be one of the best kept secrets in Hattiesburg.

The decor is contemporary and upbeat with white table cloths and fresh flowers on each table. It far exceeded my expectations.

I took in a late lunch and found an interesting mix of college students, professionals, and working class patrons.

I'll be the first to admit I am not as familiar with Thai fare as some other offerings so I decided that I would order one dish that I was at least semi-familiar with and something else of which I was totally unfamiliar. I'm no Andrew Zimmern, but I'm not afraid to try something different.

I began with the unfamiliar and ordered an appetizer - Toong Tong.

Toong Tong - Is a combination of three meats (crab, shirmp and pork) mixed with onions, garlic and Thai spices formed into a ball, wrapped in filo dough and deep fried.

The presentation of the dish was very nice, with two of the dough wrapped concoctions placed on a bed of shredded cabbage garnished with tomatoes and cucumbers.

The Toong Tong was a delightful surprise. It was light, delicate and the filo was crispy. The filling was moist but was not weighed down by the oil in which it was cooked. It was served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce that was very good.

For the main course I took the advise of a fellow foodie who raved about the Thai Fried Rice with Shrimp.

Thai Rice - Basic description for just about any Asian fried rice - stir-fried rice with onions, tomatoes, eggs and shrimp. The difference is the Thai spices.

The presentation was again very nice, garnished with cucumbers onions and a spicy Thai chili sauce. I enjoy spicy foods.

This was the single best Asian dish I have encountered in Hattiesburg. I am big on texture, and this dish was outstanding. The texture was perfect, it was not mushy or oily. The dish featured a fantastic blend of Thai spices including cilantro, white pepper, chili powder, and several they wouldn't disclose. The onions, garlic, and tomatoes were fresh and the color was wonderful. The shrimp were large and were lightly grilled before being turned into the fried rice.

This will not be my last visit to Jutamas, and I look forward to trying many other dishes, but I'll admit it will be hard for them to top one of the best first impressions I can remember at a local eatery.