Restaurants in McComb

The family-owned and operated Slidell eatery offers a seasonal menu of fresh Cajun and Creole cuisine to brighten bored palates. Start with a “colossal” lump-crab-meat salad with fresh veggies and a garlic-cocktail vinaigrette ($18) before moving on to one of Joyce and Darnell's signature entrees. The seared maple-leaf duck breast ($17) recalls the breeze over Caribbean waters, dressed atop a hammock of tropical couscous with a port-wine demi-glace. The seafood pasta (sautéed shrimp, crawfish, scallops, and crab meat tossed with veggies in an asiago cream over orchiette, $18) and succulent grilled filet mignon (with au-gratin potatoes and a crab-and-brie cream, $24) will tempt seafood-eating land mammals and land-loving mermaids alike. Make any meal or choral performance end on a happy note with praline bread pudding swimming in crème anglaise ($6) or a spiced Guinness cake with cranberry compote and a glistening mound of vanilla-bean ice cream ($6). Nestled in a handsome house adorned with wreathes and trees, the breezy eatery offers an upscale and comfortable dining experience, which makes it an ideal setting for your next marriage proposal or dramatic interruption of a marriage proposal in progress. Call ahead for a reservation.

When Mike Kantrow founded his original sandwich shop in 1979, he thought the name Byron's looked too boring. So, as he explains on his restaurant's website, he scratched the s and added a z to the end, giving birth to both a local legend with the Big Byronz sandwich and a local controversy over how to pronounce "Byronz." "If you want clarification on how to say it," Mike explains, "don't ask me."

So while regulars may fight over phonetics, few argue over the flavors infused in Bistro Byronz's southern-styled bistro cuisine. Hearty entrees anchor both the lunch and dinner menus, inviting diners to dig into the roasted potatoes that flank a French-cut pork chop marinated in Abita root beer. Comfort dishes soothe the soul, such as tender pot roast that wades in creole gravy and the signature Byronz sandwich with three types of meat, cheeses, dressing, and black olives.

If the wooden tables that stretch across Country Kitchen’s dining room were any less sturdy, they would buckle under the weight of the sizzling platters of Southern fare that chefs trot out for unlimited buffets. Old-time recipes of fried and baked chicken vie for attention alongside a menu of specialties that rotate daily; the weekend’s seafood gumbo and fried catfish give way to succulent barbecued sausages that can spice up any Monday. Southern cuisine is known for its show-stealing sides and desserts, and Country Kitchen delivers in spades on both counts. Fried hush puppies and vegetable dishes refuse to take a backseat to their main-course counterparts, and a dessert bar exudes nostalgia with heaping servings of bread pudding, peach cobbler, and ice cream. Between bites, guests seated under cheerful framed artworks or beside a colorful rooster statue can reminisce about childhoods spent wrestling catfish or plucking ripe morsels of corn bread fresh from the vine.

The margarita- and Jimmy Buffet–loving owners of Jerk's Island Grill & Daiquiri Bar started dreaming up their perfect restaurant while on a free-spirited pilgrimage to the Caribbean. They soaked up island culture, memorizing their favorite food, drinks, and vibes, which they enthusiastically transported to the U.S. and installed in Jerk's Island Grill & Daiquiri Bar's dining room, down to the shady palm trees stretching overhead. There, diners sit down to plates of Caribbean-inspired cuisine spiced up with a staggering selection of colorful cocktails. In the kitchens, quality beef, chicken, and seafood are rubbed down with the restaurant's signature jerk seasoning and plated up as sandwiches, tacos, and entrees. A row of churning dispensers mixes up 13 different frozen daiquiri varieties, and bartenders handcraft specialty margaritas and punches on request beneath a thatched cabana. Diners can sip their drinks out on the sunny outdoor patio, where families dine while enjoying the weather and searching the sky for clouds shaped like the heads of U.S. presidents.

In an effort to find a healthy alternative to fast food without sacrificing speediness, the creators of The Pita Pit began assembling their signature sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks. At each location customers can sample thin, Lebanese-style pitas that encircle lean, grilled meats and fresh veggies. Sandwich selections span the spectrum from gyro meat and falafel to turkey and prime rib. The staff empowers customers to make healthy choices by displaying nutrition information for its bread, meats, and post-meal toothpicks and offering a selection of healthy sandwiches, which dining companions can wash down with fruit smoothies.

Ruby-red and canary-yellow walls, soft lighting, and a flat-screen television create a vibrant atmosphere for Magnolia Grill and Bar's spin on comforting Southern and Cajun dishes. Chefs harness the natural sweetness of fresh fish from the Gulf, lump crabmeat, and jumbo shrimp to craft hearty entrees, which also include soul-soothing classics such as chicken-fried steak smothered in white gravy and slow-roasted pulled pork zestified with hickory sauce. Appetizers of Magnolia bread sprinkled with parmesan cheese or fried green tomatoes paired with shrimp rémoulade jump-start digestive engines, and frosty brews from Abita, Corona, and Heineken irrigate throats without digging a series of ditches that leads to the kitchen sink.