Category Archives: Uncategorized

Move Over, Ralph Lauren, The Burger King’s In Town When I was a young boy, a neighbor asked if Santa was going to bring me everything on my Christmas wish list. I told her, “Yes.” My mother jumped in and said, “Don’t be so sure, Robert. You know Santa keeps a naughty and nice list.”Continue reading “Move Over, Ralph Lauren, The Burger King’s In Town”

Robert’s Top Ten 2008 Each year, my final column is a list of the top ten dining experiences I enjoyed over the previous twelve months. The list is never based on price or atmosphere. I believe that good food can be served in a fine-dining environment or in a run-down diner. The only considerations areContinue reading “Robert’s Top Ten 2008”

Eggnog I am not a fan of eggnog. I quit drinking alcohol over two decades ago, but that has nothing to do with my dislike of eggnog. I could drink the non-alcoholic variety if I wanted to; I just never developed a taste for it. Earlier today, while watching a football game, my 11-year oldContinue reading “Eggnog”

Give Me Some Skin Big Ganny During the first 20 years of my life I never encountered a boneless, skinless chicken breast. When I was a child, all chicken came under cellophane with bone and skin attached. The drumstick, the breast, the thigh, and even the wing, all had skin and bones. That’s the wayContinue reading “Give Me Some Skin Big Ganny”

Newk’s Evil Chocolate Cake I am on a diet. A diet is a serious problem for someone in the restaurant business. It also poses a predicament with my second day job— being a food writer— which requires, at a minimum, eating a lot of food and then writing about it. There are several food itemsContinue reading “Newk’s Evil Chocolate Cake”

Three Mississippi Girls (and one man) The holiday shopping free-for-all has begun. The retail craziness used to start the day after Thanksgiving, these days shopkeepers begin gearing up the week before Halloween. No one knows what effect the economy will have on this Christmas season, but one thing is for sure: Whatever happens in 2009,Continue reading “Three Mississippi Girls (and one man)”

Free My Fine-Feathered Friends!Tuducken… the campaign begins Thanksgiving is almost here and anyone within 100 miles of the Louisiana border will soon be hearing long-winded and glowing tributes to one of the world’s strangest culinary oddities— the turducken. A turducken is deboned turkey, which has a deboned duck stuffed inside it, and just in caseContinue reading “Free My Fine-Feathered Friends!Tuducken… the campaign begins”

I have often written that if I ever visited Scotland, I would eat haggis. I have never been to Scotland, but I can now say that I have eaten haggis. Yesterday, my family and I attended the 23rd Scottish Highland Games and Celtic Music Festival on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A friend was competing inContinue reading “Haggis”

Hibachi My family eats at the neighborhood hibachi restaurant, often. Actually, what we Americans have come to know as “hibachi” is actually teppanyaki-style cooking. A hibachi is a small, portable grill like the ones I used on my apartment balcony during a very lengthy and tenuous college career.Teppanyaki-style cooking is done on a flattop griddleContinue reading “Hibachi”