The College Town That's Home To 4 Restaurants From A James Beard Award-Winning Chef

Mississippi has been home to hidden foodie gems for years. You can find great eats seemingly any and everywhere, from chicken on a stick at a gas station to the Depression-era Mississippi Slugburger. Even celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain had a favorite Mississippi dish. So, for many it came as no surprise when James Beard award-winning chef John Currence started setting up shop in the state.

When John Currence decided to settle down in Oxford, Mississippi in 1992, he opened a restaurant there known as City Grocery. As time went on, he expanded the restaurant into City Grocery Restaurant Group, which has since become a culinary empire within the college town. Today, it consists of four restaurants: City Grocery, Big Bad Breakfast, Snackbar, and Bouré.

John Currence might've grown up in New Orleans, but now he's a Mississippi fixture thanks to his constantly growing kingdom of restaurants. At the heart of it all remains his love of food combined with his southern upbringing, which has been drawing hungry Oxford customers to his eateries for years.

Oxford is now home to four of John Currence's restaurants, but that all stems from his first eatery, City Grocery. Established in 1992, this restaurant is nestled in the heart of Oxford Square. For the last 30 years, it has been renowned for its fun takes on Southern classics, including crawfish scampi, shrimp and grits, and fried Mississippi rabbit.

A decade later, John Currence followed up his success by opening Bouré, an upscale but down-to-earth take on Creole cuisine. The restaurant is housed in a historic building that was once Leslie's Drug Store, a famed past Oxford local business. The restaurant also features a bar located directly above the dining area in the same building.

John Currence's most recent endeavors in Oxford include Big Bad Breakfast, which opened in 2008, and Snackbar, which opened in 2009. Big Bad Breakfast is, as the name implies, dedicated to all things breakfast. It features a menu of mimosas made with fresh orange juice, made-from-scratch biscuits, and plenty of grits. Meanwhile, Snackbar is the polar opposite, with a primary focus on dinner; it is best known for its raw oysters, internationally inspired dishes, and its use of fresh, local Mississippi ingredients.