26 January 2026
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A road trip is the most natural way to understand the breadth of Mississippi's new MICHELIN landscape. Highways unfurl through rolling farmland, pine forests and coastal marshes, linking college-town mainstays, capital-city innovation and Gulf-side refinement. From Oxford’s meat-and-three institutions and chef-driven Southern brasseries to Jackson’s resurgence — shaped by Italian cooking, Gulf seafood and modern barbecue — and the Coast’s seafood-centric tasting menus, each restaurant in The MICHELIN Guide reveals a distinct facet of the Magnolia State’s evolving culinary narrative.
Oxford
Begin in Oxford, where literary legacy and culinary ambition share the same historic square, a walkable downtown hub centered around the Lafayette County Courthouse. Incorporated in 1837 and named for Oxford, England, the town has long served as a landmark of Southern literature and academic life.
A short walk off the square leads to Rowan Oak, author William Faulkner’s longtime home, its white columns and 29 wooded acres offering a quiet counterpoint to the bustle downtown. The cedar-lined path continues along the Bailey Woods Trail to the University Museum, home to rotating exhibitions of art by Georgia O’Keeffe and Theora Hamblett alongside historical artifacts and Civil War-era material. The University of Mississippi, anchored by the 1848 Lyceum, reinforces the town’s sense of heritage, while institutions like Neilson’s Department Store, open since 1839, and Square Books, which has hosted more than 2,000 authors since 1979, shape Oxford’s enduring creative identity.
Oxford’s culinary identity rests on a balance of tradition and reinvention. Around the square, enduring institutions like Ajax Diner stand alongside Chef John Currence’s City Grocery, where Southern cooking is refined through seasonality, European technique and an ambition that defies the expectations of a small college town.
Ajax Diner — MICHELIN-Recommended
Ajax Diner has anchored the town square since 1997, welcoming guests into a dining room adorned with Christmas lights, Mississippi license plates and red vinyl booths. Instead of repainting, owner Randy Yates leaves the walls covered in decades of handwritten signatures — from local students, musicians from Proud Larry’s bar next door, and visiting diners — showcasing a living record of everyone who’s passed through the doors.
The cooking at Ajax Diner is rooted in the South’s most enduring traditions — meat-and-three plates built around fried catfish, chicken and dumplings, butter beans and turnip greens. Desserts like chocolate chess pie, cobbler and a famed banana pudding round out the experience. The style is unfussy, generous and deeply tied to the town’s sense of place. MICHELIN Guide Inspectors note the value of skipping appetizers altogether and heading straight for the main-course plates that define the diner’s appeal.
Snackbar — MICHELIN-Recommended
A short drive from the town square leads to Snackbar, the Southern brasserie opened in 2009 by Chef John Currence. Today, the kitchen is led by Sebastian Markowitz, whose approach blends Southern sensibility with personal influences from his Italian-American upbringing. Expect to see a touch of both: the menu shifts seamlessly from dishes like sweet-tea brined fried chicken with cornbread and pepper jelly to chicken parmesan with Grandma Pariso’s red gravy. The wood-clad dining room is accented by a note-worthy oyster bar and bustling cocktail counter, setting a lively vibe.
City Grocery — MICHELIN-Recommended
City Grocery has been a cornerstone of Mississippi dining since 1992 and is the restaurant where Chef John Currence cemented Oxford’s place on the culinary map. Exposed brick arches and rustic wood paneling create a sense of history, reinforcing its reputation as Oxford’s living room.
The menu rotates frequently, guided by seasonality and a respect for Southern classics. Shrimp and grits are a signature, while dishes like catfish meunière and fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade speak to a refined tradition. The famed burger — topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle, sautéed onion, mayo, mustard, special sauce and American cheese — is another enduring staple. MICHELIN Guide Inspectors highlight generous, shareable portions and note that lunch delivers exceptional value.
Taylor Grocery — MICHELIN-Recommended
Housed in a former dry goods store, Taylor Grocery has been offering its signature catfish since 1977. The fish is served three ways: cornmeal-dusted and deep-fried, simply grilled or blackened. Crisp hushpuppies and sides like okra and greens reinforce the restaurant’s commitment to Southern simplicity. The dining room wears its history openly, with walls layered in photographs and mismatched memorabilia. Since no reservations are taken here, the front porch fills early and the wait doubles as a social hour, with live music playing inside and carrying out to the porch.
Jackson
Heading south to Jackson on I-55 entails driving through stretches of farmland, picturesque water towers and the northern edge of the Mississippi Delta. For those willing to make a short detour, Greenwood adds only half an hour to the journey and offers a deeper look at Delta culture. Once the Cotton Capital of the World, the town later became the filming location for The Help, and its historic storefronts still echo that era.
One hundred miles south of Greenwood, you’ll reach Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, which is home to historic neighborhoods and a growing culinary scene shaped by chefs who have returned to their native city to define its next chapter.
Elvie’s — Bib Gourmand
Set in a restored home in Belhaven, Elvie’s channels the ease of an all-day New Orleans café, serving omelets and biscuits in the morning, po’boys and salads at lunch, and more serious dishes at dinner, such as venison and bone marrow pie and the popular redfish almondine (a highlight for MICHELIN Guide Inspectors). Chef Hunter Evans, a Jackson native, honed his craft in NYC restaurants as well as under Chef John Currence and was even crowned the 2019 Seafood King of Mississippi. He opened Elvie’s in 2020, naming the restaurant after his grandmother, May Elvieretta Good, whose influence threads through the menu. His mission at Elvie’s is clear. “Growing up in Mississippi, I think people were limited to blue plates [a hearty, low-priced meal], fried catfish or chicken, and collard greens,” says Evans. “I try to explore and dive into Mississippi foodways.”
Pulito Osteria — MICHELIN-Recommended
At Pulito Osteria, hometown Chef Chaz Lindsay offers Italian favorites like wood-fired pizza and handmade pasta, as well as classics like pork and ricotta meatballs, and a must-have Caesar salad (a crowd favorite and called out by MICHELIN Guide Inspectors). Southern ingredients are peppered throughout the menu in enticing ways. Look for Delta Grind polenta finished with parmesan, local collard greens spiked with Calabrian chili, and butter beans sourced from nearby farms.
Sacred Ground Barbecue — Bib Gourmand
About 20 miles northwest of Jackson along US-49, the aroma of post-oak smoke hits you before you see Sacred Ground Barbecue, named for its setting near the Pocahontas Mounds, a Native American archaeological site on the National Register of Historic Places.
The kitchen smokes meats Texas-style, low and slow, while using regional barbecue traditions that favor pork-forward cuts and different sauces. Meats are sold by the half-pound, including brisket with a deeply charred bark, pork butt paired with house mustard sauce and crisp smoked wings. On select evenings, bluegrass nights stretch the meal into a communal experience, with music spilling across the shaded patio, setting an easy, family-friendly tone.
The Coast (Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs)
Continuing south, the road opens toward the Coast along US-49. Pine forests give way to the rolling approach toward Hattiesburg, Mississippi’s fifth-largest city, long known as The Hub City for its crossroads location at the intersection of I-59 and US-49. It’s a worthwhile stop en route to the Coast. Downtown, the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum, billed as the state’s smallest museum, sits hidden in an alley lined with street art.
In the final stretch before hitting the Coast, a quick stop at the former World’s Largest Rocking Chair provides a lighthearted roadside photo-op before US-49 descends into Gulfport. The Coast unfolds as a chain of waterfront towns shaped by fishing heritage, historic architecture, and a dining culture rooted in Gulf seafood and long-standing local relationships with producers.
Siren Social Club — MICHELIN-Recommended
Hidden behind a discreet door inside Hotel Vela in Gulfport, Siren Social Club operates as a tiki-themed speakeasy where Chef Austin Sumrall crafts high-end dishes with a decidedly fun vibe: pickled Gulf shrimp served with fried saltines, for instance, and a French onion burger with double smash patties and a side of French dip. Don’t miss out on the extensive raw bar and house made pastas too. Appropriately, the playful cocktails lean into tiki tradition, from a clarified mojito and a frozen Bushwhacker (a creamy blend of rum, coconut, chocolate and coffee) to the Siren milk punch, made with Jamaican rum and banana liqueur. Tropical decor, sultry lighting and the hum of the lively bar complete the scene.
White Pillars — MICHELIN-Recommended
Located in a restored neoclassical mansion built in 1905 near the Biloxi waterfront, White Pillars offers a lovely look at Biloxi’s past. The building, listed on the National Historic Register, serves as the architectural foundation for Chef Austin Sumrall’s seasonal, farm-and-sea-to-table cooking.
“We’re sandwiched between some of the most nutrient-rich waters in the world and some of the lushest farmland in the U.S.,” says Sumrall. “We let the seasons guide us.” That philosophy carries through the menu, with dishes like wood-grilled Gulf fish paired with corn purée, local tomatoes and crispy okra, and peach cobbler paired with sweet corn ice cream. An emphasis on relationships underpins the sourcing, from cayenne peppers grown at Deakle Farms in nearby Grand Bay to French Hermit Oysters farmed in Biloxi waters. The bar program, housed in the former billiards room, highlights Gulf spirits and house-infused ingredients.
Vestige — MICHELIN-Recommended
Set in a historic home in downtown Ocean Springs, Vestige has been a fixture since 2013, offering one of Mississippi’s most ambitious tasting menus in an intimate, warm and unpretentious setting. Led by husband-and-wife duo Alex Perry and Kumi Omori, the kitchen presents a five-course menu that changes daily, shaped by the freshest seasonal ingredients as well as Japanese ingredients, such as bafun uni (Japanese sea urchin roe), matsutake mushrooms, and koji (a fermented starter). Vestige supports small scale local and regenerative farmers as well as sustainable seafood. Reservations are required.
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Hero image: ©Visit Mississippi / The Crossroads
