A McComb Meal That Starts With a Lazy Susan

At this McComb dining room, lunch or supper begins with a large round table and a Lazy Susan loaded with dishes. You may arrive with your own family, a friend or no companion at all, but the open seats around the table are often filled by other diners. Then the turntable starts moving, plates are passed, and a meal that might have been ordinary restaurant dining becomes a shared affair.

The basic pleasure is wonderfully low-tech: turn the center of the table until the fried chicken, eggplant, beans or cornbread comes your way, help yourself, and give the table another spin for the next person. There is no need to flag someone down for every side dish. The food is within reach, and so, before long, are the people sitting across from you.

This is old-fashioned Southern food served family-style, not a formal dinner built around individual orders. The dining room suits people who enjoy a generous spread, a little table talk and the agreeable business of deciding what to try next.

Communal seating is central to the visit. Diners are often placed at the first available spot at one of the big round tables rather than automatically being given a private table. A family might find itself sharing with a larger group, and a solo traveler can end up among people who had never met one another before sitting down.

That arrangement tends to produce the easy introductions that are getting rarer in everyday restaurant life. Conversations commonly wander through hometowns, road trips and where everyone is headed next. Locals mingle with travelers from elsewhere in Mississippi, Louisiana and beyond, with the table itself supplying a natural opening line: have you tried the eggplant yet?

The room can be lively, with laughter and overlapping conversation, but it is not all commotion. There is also the quieter pleasure of settling into a long meal where people can actually hear one another. For a group celebrating something, the shared layout keeps everyone in the same orbit instead of scattering the party across separate tables.

Fried chicken is one of the enduring favorites, arriving hot and ready to claim space on an already busy plate. Fried eggplant has its own devoted following and is more than a token vegetable option; it is a dish people return for specifically.

The rest of the turntable changes with the day, which keeps repeat visits from becoming too predictable. Depending on the meal, the spread may include ham, barbecue ribs, steak in gravy, baked chicken or chicken and dumplings. Red beans are another recurring favorite, particularly welcome beside rice and gravy.

Vegetables get real attention here. Collard greens, black-eyed peas, lima beans, sweet potatoes, squash, corn salad and creamed corn have all appeared in the rotation, along with dressing, coleslaw and cornbread. The creamed corn, in particular, has been noted for tasting like the traditionally prepared version rather than something simply opened from a can.

There is a pleasant rhythm to the meal: take a little of something unfamiliar, rotate the table, then return for more of the item that caught you off guard. Because the dishes are shared, sampling comes naturally. A plate can hold a bit of fried chicken, a spoonful of beans, some greens and a piece of cornbread without anyone having to commit to a single entrée.

Chicken and dumplings belong to the soft, comforting side of the spread, while ribs and fried chicken bring a little more heft. Steak in gravy, when it is on the table, is another nod toward the kind of home-style cooking built for passing around rather than arranging with tweezers.

The meal is abundant without requiring diners to treat it as a challenge. You can take modest portions on the first pass and come back around when the Lazy Susan returns. Servers keep an eye on the shared dishes and replenish food as needed, so the table does not gradually turn into a collection of empty bowls.

That attentive service matters in a format with so many moving pieces. Plates are refilled, additional portions arrive, and the meal keeps its relaxed pace. One small kindness has even extended to helping preserve a diner's meal when an unexpected need to care for an infant interrupted the visit.

Dessert is woven into the meal rather than treated as an afterthought. Assorted pies, cakes and other sweets appear alongside the main spread, giving the table one more reason to make another turn.

Coconut cake is a particularly memorable mention, the sort of old-school finish that pairs nicely with a plate that may already have included gravy, greens and fried chicken. A piece of pie has its own appeal, especially for diners who prefer a simple slice after a full Southern dinner.

Since the menu varies from day to day, it is best to regard particular desserts as happy possibilities rather than promises. The changing selection is also a reasonable excuse to come back and see what has taken the place of last visit's favorite.

The format has room for many kinds of meals. Solo diners can slide into the ongoing conversation, families can share a big table with other families, and larger occasions have included wedding-party dinners with food arranged and ready for the group.

It also makes sense as a McComb stop for people traveling near the I-55 corridor. Some diners make a substantial drive for the meal and return over the years, drawn by the combination of familiar food and a dining style that has not been replaced by the usual order-at-your-own-table routine.

Indoor seating is built around the large round tables and their rotating centers. Free lot parking has been available, with free street parking also reported. Reservations have not generally been necessary, though the dining room can get busy and availability naturally varies by day and time.

A private, quiet table is not the point here. The appealing oddity is that your dinner companions may begin as strangers, while the chicken, vegetables and desserts keep circulating between everyone.

For diners who welcome that setup, the meal offers a simple kind of sociability: pass the dishes, take another spoonful of creamed corn, ask someone where they are from, and see where the conversation goes.