With dishes like Jamaican jerk hot wings and crawfish cakes, one local restaurant is piquing college students’ appetites with a taste of the unusual.
The owners of The Veranda, the restaurant on Lincoln Green in Starkville, say students and Starkvillians in general are enjoying the restaurant’s somewhat unusual dishes that, with names like Reese Orchard blackberry pork chops, can be a mouthful in more ways than one.
The Veranda, in addition to serving up variations on traditional foods like pork chops and hot wings, is also offering special opponent-oriented entres for home football game weeks. For Mississippi State’s first football game against Oregon, the restaurant served-what else-duck. College students like a little variety when it comes to menus, owners Frank Jones and Jay Yates said.
Foods like cheese logs and chicken tenders are prepared in nontraditional ways to differentiate the restaurant’s offerings from those at other local dining places.
“We do some familiar things, but with a twist,” Yates said. “We have Jamaican jerk chicken wings instead of the usual flavors, for example, and we have fried crawfish cakes instead of crab cakes,”
Some of the nontraditional items, like the Reese Orchard blackberry pork chops served with Vardaman sweet potatoes, incorporate local foods in creative ways while dishes like Thai spiced chicken cater to broader appetites.
Yates said the idea to serve specialty dishes for home football game weekends came naturally when he found out the Oregon Ducks were first on the roster of opponents.
“We were going to be playing the Oregon ducks and it was a no-brainer,” Yates said. “Whenever we’re serving something based on the other team’s mascot, we ring a cowbell in the kitchen and clap and yell whenever someone puts in an order for it. It’s a lot of fun.”
Although Veranda owners said they want to appeal to many tastes, they do have things specifically targeted at the college community. Unlike most Starkville restaurants, The Veranda stays open late on weekdays and weekends and offers drink specials like local bars.
Yates and Jones said the Veranda serves a varied clientele, depending on things like the time of day and the time of year. Yates said that for the most part, though, there is a good mix of different customers. He and Jones designed the restaurant to function for different crowds, with private areas for receptions and parties as well as a bar and outdoor dining area.
“I think they have a great variety of food for a Starkville restaurant and a great atmosphere,” said Will Johnson, a Mississippi State student who plans to attend culinary school.
MSU student Amy Bond said she also enjoys The Veranda. “They make really good martinis and mimosas, and the atmosphere is a refreshing difference from other places in Starkville,” Bond said.
As far as upcoming developments go, Owners Jones and Yates have planned a chef’s dinner and wine tasting for Wednesday, Sept. 24, and hope to hold that event once a month after it gets off the ground. They expect about 40 people to pay in advance for an evening at The Veranda. The dinner will include five courses, with a different wine for each course, and an explanation of food preparation and wine selection by the chef and a wine expert, or sommelier.
Yates said he is pleased with the success of the restaurant and feels that The Veranda has gotten off to a good start.
“We’re off to the races now,” Yates said.
2Reflector Newspaper2SORT ‘™2STR
o”