The Best Mississippi Restaurants, From the Delta to the Coast

I’ve spent years crossing Mississippi for stories, meals, and the sort of drives where the landmarks are not grand so much as familiar: the water tower in Greenwood, the Oxford Square at dinnertime, the porch crowd outside Taylor Grocery, the casino glow on the Coast, the old downtowns where the restaurant everyone mentions first has usually been there for a reason. I’ve eaten in Delta dining rooms that still feel tied to the town around them, in college-town spots that learned how to do dinner without getting self-important, and in Coast restaurants that finally gave Mississippi the kind of ambition it had long deserved.

Over time, I’ve kept a running list of the Mississippi restaurants worth planning around, the places I’d send somebody without hedging or adding a backup suggestion. I’ve got a full list already for Jackson restaurants. But for this list I wanted a sample from everywhere, a collection of the very best restaurants across Mississippi right now.