Page 140 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2018

WHITE PILLARS
Chef Austin Sumrall
ADDRESS:
1696 Beach Blvd., Biloxi
PHONE:
228.207.0885
HOURS:
Wednesday-Saturday 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
story and photos by Julian Brunt
Ask Chef Austin Sumrall about his most defining culinary moment and
he will immediately tell you a pretty amazing story. The Roca brothers, owners of one of the best restaurants
in the world, El Celler de Can Roca, called and made reservations at the
Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama, where Chef Austin worked. He was given the enormously stressful task of coming up with the menu, which Chef Austin called “cool but terrifying.” He planned on wowing them with a fourteen course tasting menu, but the only problem was they cancelled their reservations at the last minute. It was a tough let down, but just before service began the next day, they called back and said they were on their way! To make
a long story short, they arrived and everything went splendidly.
The point of starting a dining review with a story like this is to illustrate
the character of Chef Austin. Can you imagine the talent and skills it takes to not only come up with the menu, but to execute it flawlessly as well? This is what White Pillars is all about.
It’s a historic property, but it’s a brand new restaurant, offering a menu that features local ingredients, truly farm fresh, in a style that might be called Modern American, but with deep Southern roots. The menu is not huge (please remember it changes according to the availability of local and seasonal ingredients) but it covers enough territory for almost any diner.
During my visit — my fourth by the way — I was blown away by the Crawfish Avocado Toast, one of nine small plates offered that evening.
140 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • June 2018
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