Category Archives: Uncategorized

You’ve Come A Long Way, Mississippi In 1987, when I opened The Purple Parrot Café in my hometown of Hattiesburg, the wine situation in Mississippi was bleak. At the time the Alcohol Beverage Control Division of the Mississippi State Tax Commission, the state agency that purchases, stocks, and distributes liquor and wine, had only beenContinue reading “You’ve Come A Long Way, Mississippi”

Restaurant Bathrooms and Parenting I was having lunch with my family in a very nice restaurant on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain the other day. The dining room was packed and everyone was dressed in their Easter finest. Halfway through the appetizer course, my six-year old son came walking out of the bathroom fasteningContinue reading “Restaurant Bathrooms and Parenting”

Spring Break 2008 Part II I just finished the second half of a spring break sandwich that started in the South Louisiana swamps of Cajun country and ended in the French Quarter of New Orleans. My wife, son, daughter, and I had fun during the first leg of the vacation, but the trip to NewContinue reading “Spring Break 2008 Part II”

The conversation went something like this: “Billy and his parents are going snow skiing during spring break,” said my son. “Susie’s family is going to the beach,” said my daughter. “Where are we going, again?” “To Breaux Bridge, Louisiana,” I replied. So began Spring Break 2008, the year my family chose to split from theContinue reading “Spring Break 2008”

48-Hour Food Journal I recently travelled to New York for a business meeting. I ate way too much. The following is my 48-hour food journal Wednesday 8:20 p.m.: Checked into the Soniat House hotel in the French Quarter the evening before an early-morning flight to New York. I now have a new favorite hotel inContinue reading “48-Hour Food Journal”

Fasting I have a friend who is fasting during Lent. I’m not talking about a not-eating-meat-on-Friday fast, or an I’m-gonna-give-up-red-wine-for-40-days-but-still-drink-white-wine fast. No, he’s doing an honest-to-goodness, Mahatma Gandhi-type fast— nothing but water. Fasting is a method of religious observance, penitence, and purification which is practiced in several religious faiths. I am of the protestant persuasion,Continue reading “Fasting”

Las Vegas LAS VEGAS— I am in a suite in the Venetian Hotel high above the Las Vegas Strip. I don’t gamble, I don’t drink, and I have trouble staying up until midnight. I am not in this city for most of the reasons that people come to this over-electrified desert locale. I am hereContinue reading “Las Vegas”

Deer Sausage I am not a deer hunter, yet I have a freezer full of deer sausage. A few weeks ago I wrote a column about the so-called Obese Bill (HB 282). In it I offered several pieces of alternative legislation to the Mississippi House of Representatives bill that proposes to ban fat people fromContinue reading “Deer Sausage”

We the (Obese) People My home state has made national headlines once again. Three legislators in the Mississippi House of Representatives proposed a bill (HB 282) that would ban restaurants from serving obese people. As a restaurateur and businessman, doing business in a state where more than 30% of the populace is obese, I amContinue reading “We the (Obese) People”