by The Great Foodini
I’ve been told by more than one Biloxian that I just have to do a review on Southport Line.
Since I live off the suggestions of my reader’s favorite places, I drove over to a cute little spot nestled into a converted turn-of-the-century house (1898) that bumped up against the original trolley lines off of Howard Avenue in downtown Biloxi. The spot is decorated with Biloxi art and memorabilia of days gone by with a unique feel of the old days with its distressed wood look. This place has character and touts a large menu of items hard to find anywhere else on the coast with one-of-a-kind flavor combinations.
This spot is the only place I know on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that you can get poutine. I hope Chef Jean-Paul Lavallee from over at the Oak Crest Manson Inn comes back to try this out with me to tell me if it lives up to the French Quebec standard.
Typically, I try to give you a “my favorite dish” line around this part of the column. I really can’t do that here, so here are my three favorite dishes on this menu. I mean….dang. These were amazing.
My favorites (not necessarily in this order):
1. The Dill Brined Chicken Thigh. Man oh man, the flavor explosion from this sandwich is unreal, with a grilled chicken thigh brined with a homemade pickle brine, pimento cheese, roma tomatoes and a good dash of Louisiana hot sauce. I had a hard time pacing myself because of this po’ boy.
2. Black N’ Bleu. This po’ boy is a unique combo of hand-sliced ribeye smothered in melted blue cheese crumbles and blueberry balsamic reductions sauce, mayo, arugula and roma tomatoes. This piece of heaven has a strong, delicious flavor that will have you longing for more later in the evening.
3. Pork Maque Choux. What an awesome experience! This dish is definitely worth a dozen return visits. This dish is a grilled pork ribeye on top of smashed Cajun boiled fried red potatoes, topped with Cajun corn maque choux, Mississippi stinger hot honey (honey infused with serrano from Purvis) and drizzled with Louisiana sugarcane vinegar. For those of you who have not been introduced to maque choux, it is a traditional dish of southern Louisiana. It’s a mixture of corn, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, celery and tomato – a perfect topping, sweet and savory in one bite.
Now most of you know that I am a carnivore to the 10th power, BUUUTTTTT the ratatouille po’ boy adorned with sautéed squash, zucchini, eggplant and roma tomatoes smothered in basil puree packs, a lot of flavor, and is a vegan-approved meal. Another cool vegan option is the grilled portabella bahn mi (Vietnamese-styled po’ boy), with house brined carrots and celery, sliced cucumber, cilantro vinaigrette and pickled daikon radishes.
There is so much more to this intense menu that I am running out of room, but I would be negligent if I didn’t mention the pimento burger or the multiple ways they cook up wings like garlic parmesan or the Southport Stinger, which seems to be a crowd favorite.
So if you do venture out to historic downtown Biloxi, be sure to tell them the ole Foodini sent ya and if you happen to be a poutine connoisseur, let me know if they are on the money or not.
