Sunday kicks off the MS Coast’s biggest food week of the year. What will you be eating?
Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest food day of the year after Thanksgiving, and this year it’s immediately followed by Mardi Gras Day on Tuesday and Valentine’s Day on Wednesday.
Forget dieting over those four days, because Coast chefs are working overtime to turn out menus filled with classics and surprises for each day.
Three holidays in four days is an opportunity for local restaurants and resorts, and a good reason for people to spend the weekend on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, said Tessy Lambert, chief marketing officer for Lodging & Leisure Investments. The company operates Margaritaville Resort Biloxi, White House Hotel and Legends Resort in Biloxi.
The Super Bowl will be playing at all the resorts, she said, and Margaritaville has a menu of Mardi Gras drinks.
“It is prime time to be right here,” she said.
Super Bowl Sunday
The big three on the menu for Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers are wings, pizza and chips and dip, served, of course, with beer and alcohol.
Forbes reports that 73% of Americans who will celebrate with food during the game are planning to eat chips and dips, which could be the old standard potato chips with onion dip, or chips and salsa or guacamole.
Favorite wing places on the Coast each follow their own recipe to win fans. Murky Waters BBQ in Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis smokes and flash fries their wings and serves them with a choice of sauces.
Trip Advisor lists Big Play Entertainment Center, The Blind Tiger, Woody’s Roadside and Adventures Pub & Spirits as some of the favorite wing places on the Coast. Uncle Joe’s Pizza & Wings in Bay St. Louis and Diamondhead lets customers enjoy both pizza and wings without having to choose between the two.
The sports books at all the Coast casinos will be busy taking bets, and those watching the game on the 430-inch TV at Hard Rock Biloxi can head over to the Sugar Factory for something sweet or savory. They’re going big, with a hot honey wing platter or BBQ Pounder Burger that fills the bun with two Angus beef patties, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, crispy onions and barbecue sauce . Cajun chicken nachos also is on the menu, along with a Half Time milkshake, topped with red velvet pancakes, a chocolate chip football and other sweets.
Mardi Gras Day
Call it “Fat Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras Day,” and you’re talking about the same last opportunity to feast before Lent begins.
Some of the best restaurants are on the parade routes, or close by, for those looking to enjoy Cajun specialties before or after the parades.
While waiting for the Biloxi parade to begin, find The Greenhouse, tucked in just off Howard Avenue, and discover their king cake apple cinnamon biscuit with fluff, icing and sprinkles.
Down the street in downtown Biloxi, Parrain’s Jambalaya Kitchen has the ultimate party platter — The Swamp tour sampler of their jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee and red beans and rice.
For the Sunday parades, head to Cafe New Orleans in D’Iberville for a taste of boudin bites or crawfish etouffee and to Bacchus on the Beach in Pass Christian for oysters, Mardi Gras poppers and seafood gumbo.
Valentine’s Day
The sweetest day of the year falls in the middle of the week this year and, “We don’t know what to expect because it’s on Ash Wednesday,” said Richard Chenoweth, owner of Scranton’s Restaurant in downtown Pascagoula.
With schools closed for Mardi Gras, some families may be on vacation this week and miss Valentine’s date night. They could bring the kids, he said, wait until the weekend to share a dinner or skip it this year.
Scranton’s will host a Mardi Gras party Saturday and will be closed from then through Tuesday to let the staff enjoy the Mardi Gras festivities. “They do come back in a better mood,” he said.
Lambert said the chefs have prepared for Valentine’s Day on Ash Wednesday and created menus that feature lots of fish at Doe’s Eat Place at Margaritaville, Sapphire Supper Club at Hotel Legends and Cora’s Restaurant at the White House in Biloxi
Mississippi was passed over for the 100 most romantic restaurants list by Open Table, yet South Mississippi has steakhouses, seafood restaurants and other romantic places to enjoy a candlelit dinner and a toast of champagne or to enjoy dinner for two at sunset.
The chandelier room at Trilby’s in Ocean Springs is romantic, as is the sunset view from Thirty-Two atop IP Casino in Biloxi, where a special Valentine’s menu could start with an oyster salad or cast iron baked brie, followed by a petite filet, lobster “Oscar” and a finale of chocolate dipped strawberries and chocolate truffles plus two glasses of champagne.
Be sure to make reservations for these and other romantic places on the Coast: White Pillars and Mary Mahoney’s in Biloxi, Vestige and Maison de Lu in Ocean Springs, the Sycamore in downtown Bay St. Louis, Field’s in Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, Brady’s Steak and Seafood in Pascagoula and Half Shell Oyster House in Biloxi and Gulfport.
Waffle House is bringing back its romantic Valentine’s dinner for two and this year restaurants in Gulfport, Moss Point and Waveland areon the list of places with white tablecloth service that night.
Let the good times roll
Beyond these celebrations, people in South Mississippi will be going out for Galentines Day, a celebration shared with the girls instead of a romantic date, and Chinese New Year, which begins Saturday, Feb. 10, and lasts for 16 days.
Fun places to get together with the girls are Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at the Golden Nugget Casino Biloxi, where the waiters make it lively, and Tien at IP Casino Biloxi, where Thai Tom Yum Shrimp is a shrimp and lemongrass special most people have likely tried before and dragon fruit cheesecake for dessert, to celebrate the new year.
