Page 66 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2016

Bartender Michael Brooks at Corks and Cleaver Gulfport
ADDRESS:
1308 27th Avenue Gulfport
PHONE:
228.206.6310
WEBSITE:
www.corksandcleaver.com
HOURS:
Mon. - Wed.
11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Fri. - Sat.
11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Closed Sun. Closed Thurs.
story and photos by Brian Lamar
Corks and Cleaver has done what many restaurant owners could only dream. They have combined decadence and luxury with comfort food. Executive Chef David Dickensauge, who was recently listed on Louisiana Cookin’s Chefs To Watch roster, is a proclaimed 20+ year seafood enthusiast and it shows in his passion and love for crafting dishes for all to enjoy.
The carefully selected menu has a certain elegance for someone wanting to dine out for a special occasion, but yet
a familiarity if some old friends want to get together to catch up over a pleasant and comfortable dinner.
The chicken and dumplings on the starter menu is a great example of how Chef Dickensauge has taken a down home classic and created a whole new
savory concoction that pleases the eye, nose, tongue and most importantly, the belly. Don’t be fooled, this delicious dish isn’t how grandma used to make it. Hand-picked sweet potatoes and ricotta gnocchi, are roasted with baby turnips, cauliflower, baby leeks and drizzled with truffled pan sauce, which all blends together in a bouquet of flavors that will please the soul.
Other locally adapted dishes such as the Creole devils on horseback will
have most diners telling their coworkers about their experience around the water cooler Monday morning. To craft the Creole devils into perfection, the chef stuffs sweet medjool dates with boudin and andouille sausage then seals them up in a wrap of Creole smoked bacon drizzled with a slightly spicy piquillo-
CORKS AND CLEAVER
66 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • January 2016
FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net
ABOVE: BRAISED SUN CHOKE with saffron poached lobster, juniper apple, candied bacon and chive oil.
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