In the southern portion of the state of Mississippi sits the city of Hattiesburg. It was founded in 1882 and has the nickname “The Hub City”. That came about at the turn of the century because the city was a major railroad intersection (www.hattiesburg.org). It is also home to the University of Southern Mississippi.
There are several highly rated restaurants throughout the city. After checking out several menus online, some friends and I decided to try Cotton Blues. They use fresh ingredients and try to source as much as they can locally. After reading over the menu choices, I had a great feeling that I was going to have a unique dining experience.
When you walk up to their front door they are celebrating everything cotton. Their monogram “B” on the building is filled with cotton buds just like you would find on the plant in fall.
They kept the theme going throughout the restaurant. There were cotton wreaths on the wall and cotton on every table.
The restaurant was beautiful. There were reclaimed wood tables and farm doors in the bar area. It made me feel like I was eating in someone’s farmhouse kitchen.
Although I had looked at the menu on their website I still ended up changing my mind on what to order for dinner when I was physically holding the menu. They had so many wonderful choices, it was a hard decision. At one point I just had to put the menu down so I would not change my mind again.
While we waited to order dinner, we started off with some cocktails. Since we were in “The Hub City” I went for the Hub City Mule. They use citron vodka mixed with ginger beer and fresh lime. It was very refreshing and served in a copper cup which I am convinced makes the drink taste better.
For an appetizer, the table decided on the corn and crab dip. It was fresh corn sautéed in a creamy sweet sauce. Then they put a generous portion of lump crab meat on top. It was served with tortilla chips which was the perfect way to scoop up the corn and crab mixture. I loved how sweet this dish was. I could not stop eating it.
Also for the table the waitress brought out some bread, which included homemade cornbread. This cornbread was sweet and buttery. There was no need to put anything on it. For the white bread, there were three spread options, butter, a lima bean puree (it was like hummus but made from lima beans), and a liquid that I was not familiar with. The waitress described it as pot juice – the liquid that was used to cook all the veggies, like collard green. It was loaded with flavor and had a tangy taste. It could have passed for a bouillabaisse.
For dinner I went for the citrus lobster pasta. They had me at lobster! They use fettuccine pasta noodles, Maine lobster, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil. They tossed all that in a creamy citrus Alfredo sauce. The sauce was extremely creamy and the flavor was fresh with the citrus accents. The lobster was tender and tasted marvelous with the cream sauce too. It was an extremely generous portion of food that could have been shared by two people.
Now all of us at the table were full but we knew we had to try at least one dessert. They do greet you with their assortment of desserts at the front door.
The perfect dessert to share was the skillet chocolate chip cookie. The cookie came out so warm and gooey. The melted chocolate chips were in every bite. They also put a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, so when it melted it acted as a sauce for the cookie. It was a fantastic ending to the meal.
If you are planning a trip to Hattiesburg put Cotton Blues on your list. If you go for dinner or just for dessert you will not be disappointed. Check them out at www.cottonblues.com
Enjoy!
T
Like this:
Like Loading...
