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.

The Magic Tomato - Round II

A few months ago I reviewed The Magic Tomato. During that review our meal was ravaged by entree envy after seeing Chicago style deep dish pizzas brought to the table next to ours. I vowed that I would return to try them and I have...

Mrs. Food Blogger and I decided that we both wanted to try the deep dish pizza and one of their pasta dishes that seem to be popular with their patrons.

We ordered the Baked Mostaccoilli which is a penne pasta with meat sauce, provolone and parmesan cheeses baked and served in a huge bowl. This is very much like a baked pasta dish Mrs. FB makes at home, it was very nice and if you're looking for a change from a lasagna or spaghetti this would be a solid choice.

But, we were on a mission, at least I was, to get a taste of those amazing pizza pies that I could only covet from afar our last visit.

For our Chicago Style deep dish pizza we ordered "the Sicilian" which is a perfect selection for your carnivorous side. This specialty pizza salami, pepperoni, thick slicked ham, chunks of bacon with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

The 8" round pizza came to the table piping hot and it must have been close to three inches deep. It had to weigh close to 2-pounds.



When I served slices to myself and Mrs. FB, the aroma of the fresh meats, the herbs in the sauce game wafting out of the pizza.

I admittedly came in with very high expectations after thinking about it for nearly five months, and it didn't disappoint. The Chicago Style Deep Dish was excellent, you usually can't find an authentic Chicago Style pizza in the South and especially not in a smaller city, but The Magic Tomato is hitting it out of the park.

They serve a good New York Style Pizza, but the Chicago Style Deep Dish steals the show. Enjoying it on a cold January night may have made it even better.

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.

Windham's Restaurant in Magee

Over the years while having conversations about great hamburgers with friends almost always someone will bring up the world famous Zip Burger. Ok, maybe it's not world famous but if you know someone from Simpson County, Mississippi, chances are that they've told you about the Zip Burger.

Served only at Windham's Restaurant in Magee, Miss. I think I first heard about this local legend while in college, and then it's popped up in conversations throughout the years. Recently I made time to stop in Magee to try this much talked about meat and bread.



Each Zip Burger is hand pressed by the kitchen staff so no two patties are exactly alike, but they're nice. I would guestimate about half a pound cooked on a classic flat top grill to medium well. Served on a straight no frills large bun with lettuce, tomato, onions and Zip Sauce.

Now I can't be certain what all is in the zip sauce, and I am sure they're not going to tell anyone, but it's good. A taste similar to thousand island dressing with a smooth creamy texture without any of the relish or onion bits.



This is a good burger, a really good burger. I won't go so far as to say it's the best burger I've had, but it'll rank up there close to the top when discussions of where to get a great burger comes up again.

Another local twist is the hand-cut battered home fries. It's basically just what it sounds, some hand cut home fries dipped in a flour and seasoning batter and deep fried. They do give you a large cup of the Zip Sauce for dipping with your fries, and you could probably eat just about anything with enough Zips Sauce on it.

A pet peeve of mine is some restaurants not having the firers turned up hot enough and the fries turning out a bit too soft, I think Windham's was guilty of that on my visit. I really liked the concept of the battered home fries, but they just missed the mark.

Overall, this was a great experience. A true small, mom and pop type of place that was the norm for having lunch anywhere in Mississippi until the mid-80's and the explosion of chain establishments from the gulf coast to the delta.

If you're driving through Magee between Hattiesburg and Jackson, Windam's is worth a stop, and my guess is you'll probably try it again.

Pericos Mexican Grill in Wiggins

Traveling around South Mississippi you come across all sorts of intersting places to eat. Today I was passing through Wiggins and decided to find somewhere to take in a late lunch. I stopped in at the new location of Perico's Mexican Grill. The lunch crowd was thinning out and they were not terribly busy.

They have an extensive menue of Tex-Mex and a few more traditional Mexican items on the menu. I saw a dish that you don't see too often in establishments around South Mississippi - Huevos con chorizo.

It's traditional dish that is pretty simple and straight forward eggs and chorizo (Mexican/Spanish sausage) scrambled together and served with re-fried beans and Spanish rice.

My server brought out the obligatory chips and salsa, the salsa was about average and the chips were good and fresh.



In addition to the huevos con chorizo, I ordered a tamale. The tamale was better than average and the chili sauce served over it was a nice compliment and quite good.

There was a wait for the main course, but that's fine. Lets me know that weren't just taking it out of a box and putting into a microwave.



The texture and flavor of the Huevos and chorizo was very good, it was a more traditional Spanish (hard) style chorizo than what you find in most grocery stories in the States.

The beans and rice were good, not great. But the heuvos con chorizo was much better than I expected, you never really know what you're going to get at a small town place, but I would recommend Pericos'.

Divine Swine BBQ

There are a number of good barbecue places in Hattiesburg, moreso than you would generally expect for a town this size. Another interesting aspect of barbecue in the Hub City is that there are influences from just about every regional variation.

I could do an entire series of blog posts on how under appreciated Mississippi barbecue really is on a regional and national level.

For lunch I stopped in at one of my favorites Divine Swine BBQ. Located on Hardy Street just off the USM campus, is consider by more than a few to be Hattiesburg's best barbecue. Divine Swine shares it's store front with the Jr. Food Mart and it's easy to miss if you're not paying attention.



I've pretty much sampled everything on their menu and haven't found much of anything that I don't consider to be quality. Today I ordered the large rib plate. It consists of six large smoked pork ribs with two sides, I selected baked beans and mac & cheese. The plate comes with a roll and a side of their signature sauce.

Divine swine blends two different styles of barbecue into a taste that is pretty unique. They begin with a Memphis style dry rub of herbs and spices that crust the outside of the meats when they're being smoked out back on the big smoker that's fed with pecan and hickory. They serve pork ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket and chicken at Divine Swine covering pretty much every regional favorite as far as the meats go...All of them get a nice coating of the dry rub before going into the smoker.



The second part is an Eastern Carolina style dipping sauce with a Southern drawl. I don't believe there is any tomato in the sauce at all. They guard their recipe but it seems to be a vinegar based sauce that starts out sweet and finishes with a spicy kick. It's sweeter than a traditional Eastern Carolina sauce, which is why I say it has a Southern drawl. It's got to have a sweetener like honey blended with spices including an ample amount of red pepper flakes that you can see in the sauce.

The ribs I had today were nice sized pork ribs, fall off the bone tender and the dry rub was crusted perfectly bringing out the flavor of the meat. The dipping sauce was a perfect compliment to the dry rub and they blend together for a unique barbecue experience.

The sides were fresh and hot, the mac & cheese is a house made favorite that will bring back a lot of memories, but you didn't get mac & cheese like this out of a box when you were a kid. The beans are better than average.

The dining area is pretty simple a few gold picnic tables, some USM posters on the walls and one TV usually turned to a ball game. It's simple and clean. They could use more parking but, being land locked as they are I suppose they're doing the best they can with that.

In the end the unique blend of the Memphis dry rub with the Eastern Carolina style sauce is just about barbecue perfection for me. Divine Swine is my pick for the Best Barbecue in Hattiesburg, and that's saying a lot because the Hub City is a Barbecue Town and there's a number of really good barbecue joints here.

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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.