Author Archives: paul

Since 1999 I have written every week in this space, a thousand words a week, never missing a week. That’s over 1,300 columns and more than 1,300,000 words in print. I mostly write about food, restaurants, travel, food in the South, and growing up in the South. Over those years I have made great effortsContinue reading “Ed’s”

In the 1985 Ron Howard movie, “Cocoon,” a group of senior citizens from a retirement home break into an abandoned indoor swimming pool filled with alien pods. The energy radiated from the pods at the bottom of the pool gives the seniors bucketloads of youthful vigor and renewed energy. I haven’t been swimming in aContinue reading “I Love This Business”

The late great Ella Brennan, long-time matriarch of the New Orleans restaurant scene as head of the Brennan clan— and the perennial owner/operator of Commander’s Palace, the much-celebrated bastion of fine dining in the Garden District— once said of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, “You know why kids love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? BecauseContinue reading “Fried Shrimp”

It’s king cake season. Those four words don’t carry a lot of weight across 90% of this country. Though in most of Louisiana and the majority of South Mississippi things reach a fever pitch in and around bakeries during this time of year. There are readers of this weekly column from almost all the 50Continue reading “Cakes Fit For A King”

A few weeks ago, an interviewer asked, “Give me a typical day in the life of Robert St. John.” I had never thought about it and so my knee-jerk reaction was, “Every day is different.” That’s true. But there is a certain structure to how my day typically begins. When I’m working out the dayContinue reading “Good Morning, Hattiesburg”

I have often wondered what it must have been like to have attended the Beatles first live performance as a group at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961. I would have loved to have been in the gallery on the 18th green at Tiger Woods’ first PGA win at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational.Continue reading “Next Up in New Orleans”

For the 25 years I have written in this space I have always reserved the final column inches of the year to reflect on the top 10 meals I enjoyed over the previous 12 months. Here is this year’s list. Honorable Mentions Poke Bowl, Oka, Barberino-Tavarnelle, Tuscany— the best poke I have ever eaten wasContinue reading “Robert’s Top 10 of 2023”

Everyone has a favorite holiday. Many of my friends are partial to Halloween. They have fond memories of trick-or-treating through the neighborhoods of their youth and still dress in costume every time October 31st rolls around. Several people I know are fond of Thanksgiving, mostly because hunting season is cranking up and the deer campContinue reading “The Currency of Christmas”

Let’s talk about failures. The holiday season may seem like a peculiar time to air personal disappointments but stick with me. My father died when I was a small child. An even more unorthodox way to begin an inspirational pre-Christmas column, but that event still holds as the worst thing that ever happened to me.Continue reading “Not Your Typical, Everyday, Run-Of-The-Mill Christmas Message”