Mississippi’s dining scene was recently recognized for a handful of culinary treasures around the state.
Ten Mississippi restaurants were named to the prestigious Michelin Guide in November of last year. It’s the first time any Mississippi restaurants have been included in the guide.
In Oxford, Ajax Diner, City Grocery, and Snackbar were placed on the guide’s Michelin Recommended list. Taylor Grocery, in nearby Taylor, also made the same list. Michelin Recommended restaurants are establishments that serve above average meals with a chef that uses quality ingredients that are well cooked, according to the Michelin Guide.
In Jackson, Pulito Osteria is now a Michelin Recommended restaurant. Two other Jackson restaurants — Elvie’s and Sacred Ground Barbecue — were recognized by the Michelin Guide with a Bib Gourmand rating. Although not awarded a star, Bib Gourmand restaurants are recognized for serving serve good food at moderate prices.
On the Gulf Coast, White Pillars in Biloxi, Siren Social Club in Gulfport, and Vestige in Ocean Springs made the Michelin Recommended list.
“The thing I really love about this recognition is that Mississippi is involved, and it shows something that we already know — Mississippi has some of the best restaurants in the country,” said Austin Sumrall, co-owner of White Pillars and Siren Social Club.
Sumrall also said the Michelin Guide really “got Mississippi.”
“Because it’s not just fine dining. You have a catfish place, a barbecue place, and a meat and three place. They understand Mississippi,” Sumrall said.
Sumrall said the owners found out about their inclusion in the guide when they were invited to a Michelin weekend event in November celebrating restaurants of “The American South.” Restaurants from Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, the city of Atlanta, North Carolina, and South Carolina were named to the guide.
According to the Michelin Guide, anonymous inspectors assess restaurants around the world each year and use five criteria – quality of ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his or her cuisine, value for money, and consistency between visits.
The Michelin Guide — started by the Michelin tire company — has been around for over a century to foster a culture of travel and eating out.
Taylor Grocery
Taylor Grocery owner Sarah Margaret Hewlett has been working in her family’s restaurants since she was 8 years old.
“My parents started this business in 1999. It used to be a general store that sold groceries or whatever you could think of. You could even get a haircut years and years ago,” Hewlett said.
Taylor Grocery — a member of North East Mississippi Electric Power Association — is known around the south as THE place to eat catfish.
At the time Hewlett’s parents bought and opened Taylor Grocery, they were also running a barbecue restaurant in Oxford called Dixie Creek. The overlap was brief, and they closed their Oxford restaurant and concentrated on Taylor Grocery.
The restaurant first became known for catfish when the previous owner, Mary Katherine Hudson, sold catfish out of the store for about 17 years.
“But my dad is the one who really made it the place to get catfish.”
How do you become the most famous place in Mississippi to sell fried catfish?
Word of mouth, Hewlett said.
“When we started, we fed about 60 people a night. And we thought that was pretty good. Today we serve about 500 meals a night,” she said.
People will wait in line to get a seat inside. Taylor Grocery is only open on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. If there is an Ole Miss home football game that weekend, you better get there early.
Taylor Grocery prepares about 200 pounds of catfish a weekend. That doesn’t include the restaurant’s popular steaks they prepare as well.
“People keep coming back because of consistency. That’s the key. Consistency for 30 years. People come back, and they bring their friends,” Hewlett said.
Instead of traditional corn meal, Taylor Grocery uses a specially milled corn flour that makes the fish crispy.
“And we cook it longer at a lower temperature,” she said.
Hewlett said she’s extremely happy about the Michelin Guide recommendation.
“I know I haven’t a led a normal life, but I’m extremely grateful. I live to give people an experience here.”
City Grocery
New Orleans native John Currence has been in Oxford for a long time.
Following restaurant stops in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and his hometown, Currence opened City Grocery in 1992 in Oxford’s Courthouse Square.
Today, Currence owns four restaurants in Oxford, including Boure, Snackbar, and Big Bad Breakfast.
City Grocery, known for its casual but elegant fine dining, also has a reputation as a hangout for writers.
There’s a bar above the restaurant where Oxford’s creative set gather to imbibe.
“The bar’s clientele has been local authors, the college’s rugby team, and derelict law students,” Currence said with a smile.
Currence said the first friend he made at the bar was the late, great Grit Lit author Larry Brown.
Currence, a James Beard Award-winning chef, said the restaurant’s reputation really took off when four stories about City Grocery all published around the same time in 1992. The publications were, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Delta Airlines’ inflight magazine, and the London Times.
“It was like an explosion went off,” Currence said.
Currence said his most popular dish at City Grocery is probably the shrimp and grits.
Some of that shrimp and grits recipe comes from Currence’s time working at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill for Chef Bill Neal. Currence said that was the first time he had ever seen shrimp and grits on a menu.
On the Michelin Guide recommendation, Currence said, “we could not be more flattered.”
“We were part of significant number of restaurants recognized around the state and that’s pretty great,” Currence said.
White Pillars
White Pillars co-owner and chef Austin Sumrall and his wife Tresse opened the beach front restaurant in 2017.
White Pillars, built in 1905, was also a restaurant from 1969 to 1989 under different owners.
Sumrall, a McComb native and Ole Miss graduate, was crowned “King of American Seafood” when he won the Great American Seafood Cook-off in New Orleans in 2021.
White Pillars, Sumrall said, specializes in local farm to table cuisine.
Many restaurant chefs might start with a protein and then choose vegetable side dishes as an afterthought. Sumrall said he starts off with the vegetables first.
“The menu changes daily. It’s not just spring, summer, winter and fall. It’s microseasons. Could be an ingredient that’s only around for a week,” he said.
As an example, Sumrall was using Ponchatoula, Louisiana strawberries — considered by many the best in the south — for cobbler recently.
“There’s a small window for that,” Sumrall said.
Because of that approach, it’s hard for Sumrall to pick a favorite dish.
“It’s whatever is the newest thing. Depends on what we get in fresh.”
Sumrall called the Michelin Guide inclusion “a huge deal.”
“We’re so proud,” he said.
Photos by Whitley Daughtry
The Michelin Guide
The restaurant rating system
Three stars • Exceptional cuisine, worth a special trip.
Two stars • Excellent cooking, worth a detour.
One star • High quality cooking, worth a stop.
Bib Gourmand • Not a star but, an esteemed rating that recognizes friendly restaurants that serve good food at moderate prices.
Michelin Recommended • A restaurant that serves an above average meal with a chef using quality ingredients that are well cooked.
Anonymous inspectors assess restaurants around the world each year and use five criteria – quality of ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in his or her cuisine, value for money, and consistency between visits.
Source: The Michelin Guide
For more information about the Michelin Guide, visit guide.michelin.com/th/en/restaurants.
Mississippi’s 10 Michelin Guide restaurants
For the first time in history, restaurants in Mississippi made the prestigious Michelin Guide in 2025.
AJAX DINER
Michelin Recommended
118 Courthouse Square
Oxford, MS 38655
662-232-8880
ajaxdiner.com
Owner • Randy Yates
CITY GROCERY
Michelin Recommended
152 Courthouse Square
Oxford, MS 38655
662-232-8080
citygroceryonline.com
Owner • John Currence
SNACKBAR
Michelin Recommended
721 N. Lamar Blvd.
Oxford, MS 38655
662-236-6363
citygroceryonline.com
Owner • John Currence
TAYLOR GROCERY
Michelin Recommended
4A Deport St.
Taylor, MS 38673
662-236-1716
taylorgrocery.com
Owner • Sarah Margaret Hewlett
ELVIE’S
Bib Gourmand
809 Manship St.
Jackson, MS 39202
601-863-8828
elviesrestaurant.com
Owner • Hunter Evans
PULITO OSTERIA
Michelin Recommended
800 Manship St.
Suite 104
Jackson, MS 39202
601-914-9696
pulitojackson.com
Owner • Chaz Lindsey
SACRED GROUND BARBECUE
Bib Gourmand
1052 Pocahontas Rd
Jackson, MS 39206
601-900-9769
sacredgroundbbq.com
Owner • Derek Emerson
WHITE PILLARS
Michelin Recommended
1696 Beach Blvd.
Biloxi, MS 39531
228-207-0855
biloxiwhitepillars.com
Owners • Austin Sumrall and Tresse Sumrall
SIREN SOCIAL CLUB
Michelin Recommended
Hotel Vela
1409 24th Ave.
Gulfport, MS 39501
228-678-1000
sirensocial.com
Owners • Austin Sumrall and Tresse Sumrall
VESTIGE
Michelin Recommended
715 Washington Ave.
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
228-818-9699
@vestige.restaurant
Owners • Alex Perry and Kumi Omori
Video Extra
White Pillars owner Austin Sumrall talks about his local, farm-to-table cuisine philosophy.
