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Robert St. John

Restaurateur, author, enthusiastic traveler, & world-class eater.

Featured Column

Birthplace

PETROGNANO, ITALY— It’s true that there’s no place like home, and I deeply and dearly love my hometown of Hattiesburg…

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Loblolly Stories

Ten Things I’ve Learned Opening a Bakery

I am opening a bakery today. Opening any style of restaurant is one of the most stressful activities one will…

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It’s A Tough Job but Somebody’s Got To Chew It

“No one trusts a skinny chef.” In my business— if you posess the body style I walk around with every…

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Neck Deep In King Cake Development

It looks like 2023 will go down as the year of the king cake— at least in my book. I…

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RSJ's New Orleans Favorites

RSJ’s New Orleans Restaurant Recommendations 2023

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

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RSJ’s Top 10 New Orleans Breakfasts

The following is the first in a summer-column series that will cover dining in New Orleans. Over the next four…

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An Engagement to Remember

This past weekend was a memorable one for our family. Our 26-year old daughter got engaged to her longtime boyfriend.…

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Recent Columns

Oh, Jesse Where Art Thou? — A True Tight Spot

VALENCIA, SPAIN— It was a tight spot. Not in the figurative sense in which one is faced with a challenging…

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Spanish Breakdown

MADRID— The motto of the Boy Scouts of America is to be prepared. That’s all well and good, except I…

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Burgers I Have Known

There are long stretches in my life when I dedicated all my culinary focus, research, development, and meals to fine…

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The Best Job Ever

There are many emotions associated with parenthood. Joy and amusement come to mind immediately. The early responsibilities of parenting can…

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Nobody’s Poet

In the late 1990s I was asked by my local newspaper to write a weekly food column. I politely declined…

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Bad Food

It took me 60 years to start eating like an adult. I am 62 so I’ve only been eating responsibly…

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Ed’s

Since 1999 I have written every week in this space, a thousand words a week, never missing a week. That’s…

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I Love This Business

In the 1985 Ron Howard movie, “Cocoon,” a group of senior citizens from a retirement home break into an abandoned…

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Fried Shrimp

The late great Ella Brennan, long-time matriarch of the New Orleans restaurant scene as head of the Brennan clan— and…

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Cakes Fit For A King

It’s king cake season. Those four words don’t carry a lot of weight across 90% of this country. Though in…

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Good Morning, Hattiesburg

A few weeks ago, an interviewer asked, “Give me a typical day in the life of Robert St. John.” I…

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Next Up in New Orleans

I have often wondered what it must have been like to have attended the Beatles first live performance as a…

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Robert’s Top 10 of 2023

For the 25 years I have written in this space I have always reserved the final column inches of the…

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The Currency of Christmas

Everyone has a favorite holiday. Many of my friends are partial to Halloween. They have fond memories of trick-or-treating through…

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Not Your Typical, Everyday, Run-Of-The-Mill Christmas Message

Let’s talk about failures. The holiday season may seem like a peculiar time to air personal disappointments but stick with…

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Cousin Jim

They buried my cousin last week. He was sent to his reward with full military honors in one of the…

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Mississippians Feeding Mississippians

It is said that Texans have an unparalleled pride for their state. My wife grew up there and my father-in-law…

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It Takes a Village (or at least a dedicated team)

There are a lot of factors that go into the process of writing, testing, re-testing, editing, photographing, re-editing, styling, re-re-editing,…

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All In the Family

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— It could be said— and probably has often been said— that I am a slow learner. It took…

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From A Hot Dog Cart

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE— This week will mark the final week of my most recent work stint in Italy. I host tours in…

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When In Rome (mostly)

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— One of the travel codes I abide by is the when-in-Rome-do-as-the-Romans-do dining philosophy. No matter where I am…

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Tuscan Son

BARBERINO-TAVERNELLE, TUSCANY— I first came to this part of the world in 2011 on a three-week stopover with my wife…

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It’s All Lessons All the Time

It’s funny how at different ages I have assumed I had life completely figured out. When I was 19 no…

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Breakfasts Abroad

PALAERMO, SICILY— Ten weeks out of each year I work over here leading tours of Americans through European countries. It’s…

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It’s Good Work If You Can Get It

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth…

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An Engagement to Remember

This past weekend was a memorable one for our family. Our 26-year old daughter got engaged to her longtime boyfriend.…

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Wonderland

Everyone has a personal wonderland. When my brother visits a hardware store, a garden center, or a tackle shop he…

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The Blue Crab Invasion of 2023

Featured image:  "Crabs" by Wyatt Waters, from our book A Southern Palate One of the most frequent questions I am…

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RSJ’s New Orleans Restaurant Recommendations 2023

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

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My Latest Addiction

Let's talk about addiction. I know what you’re thinking. Ol’ St. John is about to ramp up all that recovery…

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If These Walls Could Speak

“If these old walls could speak Of things that they remember well, Stories and faces dearly held” – Jimmy Webb…

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How Tuna Came to the Panhandle

WATERCOLOR, FLORIDA— Once a year I bring my wife, our kids, and their friends to the Panhandle of Florida to…

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Potatoes, Peas, Popcorn, and Pancakes (but not all at once)

A few weeks ago, I wrote that 2023 will go down as the summer of watermelon. I mentioned how I…

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Ten Things I’ve Learned Opening a Bakery

I am opening a bakery today. Opening any style of restaurant is one of the most stressful activities one will…

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A Good Foot Forward

Last week I read an online article about feet. I can’t remember where I read it, or from which website…

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Watermelon 2023

Cartoon by Marshall Ramsey If I were to make a list of my favorite fruits, it would be extensive. Peaches…

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