Louisiana people head down the Gulf Coast for sun, sand, boating and maybe some bushwacker frozen drinks. Expectations for adventurous food and refined dining experiences? That’s something they usually leave at home.
But that's changing. The economic boom that's transforming the cities and towns stretching from Pass Christian to the far reaches of 30A is also transforming its restaurant scene. Baskets of royal red shrimp and beach burgers are still the mainstays, but changing tastes, ambitious chefs and even the influence of so many travelers from food-obsessed Louisiana is changing the landscape.
I recently plotted out a road trip to explore what’s new along the Gulf Coast. I didn’t touch the beach sand once; this trip was all about restaurants.
In Fairhope, Alabama, for instance, I found Hope Farm, an upscale restaurant that feels like a trip to wine country between all its patios and lush gardens. Farm-to-table restaurant sourcing is one thing. At Hope Farm, some produce comes from beds within arm’s reach of the outdoor tables. The same people now have a second restaurant in Fairhope, called Little Bird, further developing the scene.
About an hour down the road in Pensacola, Florida, across the bay from the beaches, the restaurant Pearl & Horn is elevating familiar standards with dashes of global flavor, like broiled oysters with black garlic and miso and fried snapper collars enhanced with an Eastern European chile sauce from the chef’s own homeland of Georgia, the country that is.
And over in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in a strip mall off Hwy. 90, I found a restaurant and butcher shop called Butcher Baker with house-made bread and charcuterie next to outright culinary exotica. Cue the raw, marinated softshell crab, bursting with juicy, unvarnished crab essence, an exceedingly rare find at restaurants anywhere, much less one in small town coastal Mississippi.
Traveling the Gulf Coast means navigating a landscape of green horizons and blue water, big skies and marsh-lined inlets over long causeways and swooping bridges. With more restaurants now coming up along the coast you can pack an appetite for fine food too.
