Weekly Column

The Forest and the Pine Trees

I had to drive five thousand miles from home to figure out what was sitting in my own front yard.…

A Cow in Wiggins Is Better at Her Job Than I Am

There is a hamburger in Stone County better than 90% of the hamburgers being served in this country, and it…

Table 19

Bacon is one of the few things on earth that a man can use to measure whether he's home or…

Between the Arctic and Africa

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” — Dalai Lama LISBON—Seven weeks ago, I stood in snow 200…

The Yonderlust Twenty

The whole thing started with restaurants. In 1999, when this column was young, the job was simple — eat somewhere,…

A Life at the Table

Before the restaurants, before the trips, before any of it — there was my grandmother's table. She had two of…

Work Is Not a Four-Letter Word

A twelve-year-old with a push mower and six neighbors who needed their yards cut — that's as close to a…

Nobody Plans For This

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Most of the people I pick up at the Florence airport have never met each other. By the…

4,000 Miles from Home

MILAN—There's a moment — right before the northern lights appear — when the sky looks like it's deciding whether, or…

The Bridge

BERGEN, NORWAY—Two years of planning a year-long trip collapsed in a single sentence at a Volvo dealership in Gothenburg, Sweden.…

The Table Gets Bigger

STOCKHOLM—A restaurateur has no business leading tours through the frozen tundra of Scandinavia. Then again, a restaurateur has no business…

Squirrel!

My ADHD is so bad that I just forgot what I was going to write in this opening sentence. That's…

Depth

CHICAGO—Most people know they need to try other restaurants when they're in a great food city. So do I. And…

Breakfast in Bed

I had breakfast in bed this morning. I'm 64 years old and I'm not sure that's ever happened. Maybe once,…

28 Degrees and Warm All Day

There are many intelligent ways to sell king cakes. Standing on a frozen sidewalk in Gulfport while the wind removes…

Taproots

Marco had never seen a pine plantation. He and our friend, and co travel host, Marina were visiting from Tuscany—her…

The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me

There was a kid from my hometown who had it all figured out at twenty-one. Charm, dreams, a family who…

Tea, Over Time

Iced tea has been called the house wine of the South. Rick Bragg once wrote that a glass of iced…

Mardi Gras in the Hub City

Most people who aren’t from around here don’t realize how much Mardi Gras matters in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.…

RSJ’s Top 10 Meals of 2025

At the end of every year for the past 25+ years, I have listed my top ten dining experiences from…

Showing Up for Christmas

For over three decades, Christmas never really meant a day off. That lesson came early. I was sixteen years old…

The Meaning of Christmas

Author’s Note: This column started back in 1999. What began as a simple weekly commitment has carried on without missing…

The Last Strand of Tinsel

Author’s Note: Robert St. John’s Mississippi Christmas hit the shelves a couple of weeks ago (click to purchase). It’s a collection…

Making Mississippi Extra Full This Christmas

There are moments in life when you don’t realize you’re stepping into something bigger than yourself. Back in 2009, the…

The Heart of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving shifts on you as life goes on. But the earliest memories stay put. Our family used to drive to…

Time Well Spent

There was a time, not long after our daughter was born, when it felt like the whole world could shrink…

A Mississippi Christmas, Early

Christmas has a way of showing up early at my house—usually while the pumpkins are still on the porch. We…

Where Are We Going Next?

LONDON—It shouldn’t work, but it does. Twenty-five Americans, most of them from the South, gathered around a breakfast table in…

How One Thing Became Everything

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” —…

Onward Part III

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY — We were finishing dessert on the terrace last night when one of my Yonderlust Tours guests looked…

So, I Guess This Is It

At six years old, I wanted to be Darrin Stephens from Bewitched. He worked in advertising, came up with ideas,…

In the Blood

When I was a kid, the number sixty-five always carried one meaning— retirement. That was the finish line. My maternal…

What I Learned About Impact

“Since when is life about happiness? It should be about impact.” That line from Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify,…

He Ain’t Heavy

“To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we…

From Roast to Toast

There are tributes in life that make you proud and others that make you sweat—the Mississippi Press Association Roast of…

The Table Is the Real Destination

SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC—Flying home from Scotland, I feel two things at once—tired and thankful. Travel always does that to…

The Ninth Wave

ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND—There are meals, and then there are journeys disguised as meals. This one began with a boat…

Holding On

Before every party at our house—whether it’s a fundraiser, an engagement, or just another excuse to gather people—my wife finds…

Vacations Through Time

Vacations weren’t part of my childhood the way they were for most kids I knew. While my friends packed up…

Regret

Shelby Foote once talked about the time he went to see William Faulkner in Oxford, back when he was still…

Onward

Fourteen years ago, my wife, 10-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter, and I packed up a few suitcases, flew to Sweden, picked…

Who Was Across from Me

I’ve eaten thousands of meals in restaurants. The ones that have stuck weren’t about the food. What I remember is…

Lessons Between Courses

CHICAGO— My wife’s off on a girls’ trip, and my son happened to have two days off work. That was…

What Pancakes Know

Some things in life are constant. For some people it’s a favorite hymn or a favorite breed in a family…

The Sandwich Principle

Sometimes I catch flak from my daughter. My wife gives me a hard time, too. They say I overshare on…

A Roast Beef Poboy and a Curtain Call

We landed in New Orleans on Sunday, which isn’t when most people arrive in New Orleans unless they’ve made a…

Crusts Off

My paternal grandmother was one of the sweetest, most loving people God ever put on this Earth. She didn’t fuss.…

The Best Job I’ll Ever Have

Father’s Day has come and gone, at least according to the calendar. But I’m still carrying it with me. There…

A Long Thank-You Note

There’s a lot of talk these days about self-made people. I’m not one of them. Whatever I’ve done, whatever I’ve…

This Wasn’t Supposed to Be About Milkshakes

Ice cream didn’t play a big role in my childhood. Never cared much for cream or shakes. Candy was more…

The Door at the Bottom

On May 25, 1983, I was 21 years old—lost and heading nowhere fast. That night, I was fspeeding down 4th…

RSJ’s Advice to Upcoming Graduates 2025

A few years ago, when both of my kids left for college, I wrote each of them a letter. Nothing…

Eight Weeks, Fifty Memories, One Grateful Heart

By the end of this year, more than 1,400 people will have traveled with me on RSJ Yonderlust Tours. It’s…

Onward Toward a Creative Life and Not an Unlived Life

There’s a quiet fear I carry that never really goes away. It doesn’t keep me up at night, but it…

A Spring of Celebrations

YPRES, BELGIUM—This spring has been a long celebration—one after another, in a beautiful blur. It all started with Mardi Gras,…

The Gift of Work, the Blessing of People

(A Life I Didn’t Plan, But Am Grateful to Live) PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Two full days off. That’s a rarity over…

Friendship

PETROGNANO, Italy — Something unexpected happened over the course of the last 13 years. A quiet village in the Tuscan…

Rolling Fork is Truly Rising

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Since 2017, over 1,350 people have traveled with me on more than 55 trips to seven European countries…

Onward

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY—I wear a cap most days with a single word stitched across the front. “Onward.” A guest of mine…

No Sign, No Menu, Just Home

No one signs up for a European tour expecting to have lunch in a stranger’s home in a village so…

The Romance of a Pig Farm

SEVILLE— No one expects to use the word romantic when talking about a pig farm. But standing in the soft…

A Father’s Reflection on a Wedding Weekend

There are only a few moments in life when time slows down enough to let you take it all in.For…

The Weight of a Wedding

Life tends to deliver milestones in clusters, never spreading them out at a leisurely pace, but stacking them up all…

End of an Era: The Last Chapter of Coney Island Café

Some people judge towns by their population. Others point to school systems, parks, water and air quality, or thriving local…

The Wedding

These days, emotions are running high. One minute, I’m in my truck thinking about our restaurants or the travel business,…

Ribeyes, Foxes, with a Side of Zebras

In the 1990s, I was at a statewide board meeting for the Mississippi Restaurant Association, and during a discussion about…

My Kind of Town: RSJ’s Chicago Favorites

CHICAGO— This city has been a part of my life for the past thirty-five years. It’s a city that holds…

S’mores Are a Sticky Lie

Last week, a polar vortex blew through the region and New Orleans got eight inches of snow. I think that’s…

The Weight of Weather and a Wedding

A bitter cold has settled into the Pine Belt of Mississippi this week, and it’s the kind of chill that…

A King Cake Conversion

Most of my life, I wasn’t a fan of Mardi Gras king cakes. Even during the decades when I consumed…

Holy Smokes: Discovering Barbecue Heaven at Sacred Ground

For most of my early life, barbecue wasn’t much of a staple. Not because I didn’t like it—far from it—but…

RSJ’s Most Memorable Meals of 2024

For the past 25 years, my final column of the year has always been a list of the top 10…

Parental Pride

Pride is a complex emotion. Sitting in the audience, watching my son walk across the stage to receive his bachelor’s…

Team and Leadership

Last night, my leadership team gathered for our 37th annual Christmas dinner—a tradition I cherish. It’s a moment to pause,…

Success Starts with Failure

My success today is rooted in the failures of my past. Failure can be a necessary ingredient for success, and…

Thanksgiving in the Kitchen

Thanksgiving was different this year. The usual hum of our family traditions felt even richer, the air filled with the…

Mom part II

It’s a strange position to be asked to write an obituary for your mother. It was something I dreaded for…

No Place Like Home

HATTIESBURG, MISS— After seven weeks overseas, I’m finally home. My time in Italy was a whirlwind of hospitality, history, and…

The Yonderlust Spirit

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY—Bringing people together has become one of life’s greatest joys, and that’s exactly what these RSJ Yonderlust Tours are…

Exposure

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY—Yesterday, I took my guests to a local friend’s sheep farm just down the road from our villa. It’s…

The Hospitality Gene

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Last night I was sitting at the long dinner table in our Tuscan villa. Fourteen of my American…

Gratitude and Candor

At 63, I’m still a work in progress. If you'd asked me at 30, I’d have told you I’d have…

Mom

My first clear memory of her is not a happy one. It’s when she came into my brother’s bedroom and…

Sicily 2024

Palermo, Sicily— Travel has a way of opening the world, peeling back the layers of the familiar, and revealing the…

A Silver Anniversary of Sorts

There’s something comforting about a Saturday night in a Mississippi catfish house. The smell of catfish frying, and the familiar…

Mississippi You’re on My Mind

“Home is the nicest word there is.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder It's true that there’s no place like home, and…

The End of an Era

"A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence." — James N. Watkins The…

Michelin Dreams and BBQ Realities

My 23-year-old son is starstruck. It's not Hollywood celebrities that have his attention these days—it's the stars awarded by Michelin…

Labor Day at the Lake: A Family Affair

My iPhone read 8 a.m. when I woke up this morning. For anyone who knows me, that’s quite the feat.…

Florida 2024

WATERCOLOR, FL— August. The end of summer. It’s that time of year. Since our first child was born, 27 years…

Core Values

This year has been the year for core values around here. One would think that New South Restaurant Group, a…

Breadlike Dreams

Young boys dream. In my early years, while friends fantasized about being astronauts, soldiers, and firemen. I wanted to be…

Ice & Tweezers

My initial exposure to a fine dining restaurant was Galatoire’s in New Orleans. I was probably five or six when…

Jubilee 2024!

When I was a kid, there always seemed to be chaos surrounding the scramble to get ready for Sunday School.…

Breakfast By the Bay

SAN FRANCISCO— Whenever I'm in a new city, I always go to the front desk of the hotel and ask,…

A wide view of the Mahogany Bar Patio with feet propped on the fire pit ledge.

To the Morning

One of the more unique and unusual pleasures of my life is sitting in the stillness of one of our…

A photo collage of family photos over the years.

Location, Location, Location

The older I become the more I appreciate crossroads in life. All of us reach different crossroads at various times…

RSJ’s New Orleans Restaurant Recommendations

NEW ORLEANS— In a poll of national food critics I believe New Orleans would be listed among the top three…

The Bear Truths

The third season of the Hulu original program, “The Bear” will air this week. If you’re unfamiliar with the series,…

Father’s Day 2024

By the time this column is published Father’s Day will be several days in the rearview mirror. That may be…

For the Love of Fish

This month kicked off my 44th year in the restaurant business. The first seven years were spent working for other…

Big Apple Birthdays

BROOKLYN— Growing up I had relatives in New York. My maternal grandmother and grandfather lived here for 10 years or…

Simply the Best

For the 26-plus years this column has been in existence I have typed over 1,000 words a week, every week,…

My Kind Of Town

CHICAGO— No one would ever accuse me of being a creature of habit. Other than my morning breakfast routine, I…

My Top 25 Cookbooks

The view from my desk is inspirational. I’ve been in the same office for 27 years. There are no windows,…

Travel Connections

QUEENS, NEW YORK— After 62 years, and millions of miles logged, I have learned that travel is about one thing—…

A True Magical Mystery Tour

LIVERPOOL— I am midway through a 10-day tour of England and Scotland with a group of 26 Americans. All have…

RSJ’s Advice to Upcoming Graduates 2024

My advice to upcoming graduates: You are a few years away from beginning your professional life, but you are only…

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