Category Archives: Weekly Column

Music has been a constant companion throughout my life. It has accompanied me in times of joy and sorrow and never let me down. My earliest memories are of my bedroom on 22nd Ave in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I was probably four or five years old. I had a small, cheap, table-mounted open-topContinue reading “If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On”

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— Naples is the birthplace of pizza. It’s an ancient and historic seaside city that can be a little scary at times these days, but it is Ground Zero for the savory pie the world has come to love. The Neapolitan version has been around Southwestern Italy for more than 500 years. Pizza eventuallyContinue reading “Pizza Ground Zero”

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, ITALY— As a kid almost every restaurant in my hometown was independently owned and local. Granted, there weren’t too many full-service restaurants in my hometown back then, but it’s all we knew. It wasn’t until the 1990s that we began to see the influx of chain restaurants as the city expanded westward. We areContinue reading “EAT LOCAL”

PETROGNANO, ITALY— It’s true that there’s no place like home, and I deeply and dearly love my hometown of Hattiesburg and my home state of Mississippi. I could live other places, but I never will. My roots are in South Mississippi. I am a seventh generation citizen of the Pine Belt and I am MississippiContinue reading “Birthplace”

VALENCIA, SPAIN— It was a tight spot. Not in the figurative sense in which one is faced with a challenging situation that needs immediate attention. Though this was a very challenging situation that needed immediate action, but it was also a literal tight spot. The word “literally” is thrown around by many these days, usuallyContinue reading “Oh, Jesse Where Art Thou? — A True Tight Spot”

MADRID— The motto of the Boy Scouts of America is to be prepared. That’s all well and good, except I got kicked out of scouting as a Webelo (the stage between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts). I was never awarded a preparedness merit badge, and don’t even know if there is such a thing. ThoughContinue reading “Spanish Breakdown”

There are long stretches in my life when I dedicated all my culinary focus, research, development, and meals to fine dining restaurants and fine dining principles. The first restaurant I opened in 1987 was a white-tablecloth concept, The Purple Parrot Café. The Parrot had a great 33-year run in my hometown of Hattiesburg. We garneredContinue reading “Burgers I Have Known”

There are many emotions associated with parenthood. Joy and amusement come to mind immediately. The early responsibilities of parenting can bring worry and guilt. There can be irritation and disappointment as well. The unique thing about being a parent is that sometimes one can feel several of those emotions— contradicting as they may be— atContinue reading “The Best Job Ever”

In the late 1990s I was asked by my local newspaper to write a weekly food column. I politely declined citing an overloaded schedule and lack of any known writing skills. They were persistent and kept asking until one day, after the fourth or fifth ask, I gave in and agreed. Once that first columnContinue reading “Nobody’s Poet”