Author Archives: Robert

In 1999, I received a telephone call from the local newspaper, The Hattiesburg American. They asked if I would be interested in writing a weekly column focused on food. I said, “No, thank you.” They pressed. I held firm. They kept pressing. Finally, after exhausting my long list of excuses as to why I couldn’tContinue reading “Death By Garlic, Roux, and Macaroni”

Dr. Henry Heimlich performed his famous life-saving maneuver for the first time when he was 96-years old. When I learned about that a few weeks ago the news took me aback. I had assumed that the creator of this often-used maneuver would have been a pro at it. As it stands, I am almost anContinue reading “RSJ 4 Heimlich 1”

My friend Julia Reed once said, “You would never see a naked block of cream cheese in the South. It will always be coated with one of at least three delicious things: Pikapeppa sauce, Jezebel sauce, or pepper jelly.” Julia and I are the same age and we both grew up as children of theContinue reading “Cream Cheese in the 21st Century”

Shark Week is only a few days away. I don’t watch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, yet I know it’s coming soon because there’s an advertisement for it every 10 minutes on my television. Even though I’ve never seen it, it’s easy for me to imagine what Shark Week entails— a lot of underwaterContinue reading “The Continuing Adventures of Shark Boy”

I don’t dine in buffet restaurants very often. Though a few times a year I like to visit my friend Roger Bickham at his restaurant The Movie Star on Old Hwy 11 in Hattiesburg. Roger runs a great buffet— it’s local, the portions are replenished often, the food is hot, it tastes good, and he’sContinue reading “The Buffet Beast”

I have two teenagers on the household payroll who think I am absolutely clueless. I feel like I’m fairly “plugged in” when it comes to modern culture. Though, it’s likely that the actual problem lies within the previous sentence. People who are hip and cool today would never use the term “plugged in.” For thatContinue reading “A Sticky Subject”

When my son was five-years old one of our favorite games to play was inventing our own superheroes. We would each describe what our hero would look like, where his headquarters was located, how his suit appeared, who his villains were, and— most importantly— what specific superpower each held. My son has a very activeContinue reading “Superpowers”

This is part three in a series on Chicago CHICAGO— Two or three emails land in my inbox each week that solicit opinions about places to eat in a certain city here, or in a European country. The most frequent solicitations come from people who are travelling to New Orleans, New York, Chicago, or SanContinue reading “Chicago's Greatest Hits”

This is the second column in a three-part series on Chicago restaurants CHICAGO— In the 1990s one of Saturday Night Live’s most popular recurring skits was a group of “pure” Chicagoans who were superfans of the Chicago Bears football team. The characters sat around a table in a sports bar discussing Windy City sports andContinue reading “The Best Donut in Chicago”