Sorry about the delay... I got a little sidetracked with my blog because of the arrival of little Dylan. He wasn't actually "due" until yesterday, so the Monday arrival caught me off guard! Congratulations again to Kara & Mike... now, on to finish the story of my Mississippi trip!
After researching some places to go for the 4th, we decided on historic Vicksburg. My Mom knows how much I enjoy planning trips, so she asked me to do some research and map out our day in Vicksburg. I jumped on the computer and did just that! I found us a fun place to eat lunch, got the details on the National Military Park, booked a river tour and found out about the July 4th fireworks celebration. Mom made us a hotel reservation for that night and my Dad was our driver, so we were all set! We hit the road Saturday morning and made the 2-ish hour trip. Our first stop would be "The Tomato Place" for lunch.
I found out about "The Tomato Place" on the Vicksburg visitors website. It had a write up that made it sound like a place we didn't want to miss. It said it was a "Caribbean/New Orleans themed “funky little shack” hidden under the guise of a roadside produce stand." For our lunch it promised a "full menu including salads, signature sandwiches and po-boys, and lunches featuring in-season vegetable sides. Fresh cut fries, regular and sweet potato. You haven’t had a BLT until you’ve tried ours made with a “Real Tomato” – certified by a real old-timer. Fresh squeezed lemonade and iced tea. Leave room for what we’ve got baking in the oven." Sounded perfect!!! However, when we got there.... well....
You would have missed the place on the highway if you weren't actually looking for it. It was a colorful but run down shack. Outside it had random and eclectic artwork, junk, handmade birdhouses mixed in with a few stands of fresh produce. We just kind of looked at each other wondering if we wanted to go inside. I think my Dad was pretty hungry by that point, so he was the one who finally said, "Let's give it a try!" My Mom and I reluctantly followed. I have to say now... thank you Dad. It turned out to be a real diamond in the rough and I am so glad we went in!!! It was a true taste of The South.
The inside was just as run down as the outside and had no A/C (in the muggy Mississippi summer heat). However, once you got past that, you saw lots of vegetables, fruit, fresh baked bread and random food items. They even had bottles of "Mississippi Fever" which they explained was a homemade recipe of a "sweet & spicy sauce for meat".
Most walls were covered by shelves of homemade canned goods including jams, preserves, pickled veggies and honey with the comb. Walls that didn't have shelves for food were painted in random, bright paint colors like yellow, red and blue. They were weathered, rickety and covered in random dusty, pictures and newspaper clippings. For those of you have ever read the book , "The Secret Life of Bees", this is exactly what I pictured as where August, May and June Boatwright lived. 
We made our way through the store front and in the back was a very small room with about 3 tables. We decided this must be the "restaurant" part of The Tomato Place". We ordered our lunch and sat down taking in our surroundings. We were joined by a few locals. With thick Southern accents, they would order a slice of Tomato Pie and Sweet Tea. The waitresses were casual and playfully gave attitude to the patrons.
One part of the website write-up I didn't mention was it said, "Open air seating available." We soon realized what that meant... there were no windows. I mean there were openings FOR windows, but no glass or screens. They had wooden swinging doors in front that had been pulled back to allow a little bit of breeze and a whole lot of humidity in!
When our food arrived, we were pleasantly surprised. I had ordered a Turkey Club sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries and the fries were PILED on top of the sandwich and tasted awesome.
Mom had ordered their famous BLT and my Dad had ordered a barbecue plate and some of their freshly squeezed Limeade. As a side dish for my Dad's bbq and on our sandwiches were massive slices of fresh tomatoes. They were at least an inch think and 4 or 5 inches wide!
I had also ordered one of their freshly made fruit smoothies... it was to.die.for.yummy. I have never had a smoothie so yummy- it was made with fresh strawberries, cantaloupe and lightly sweetened with honey and I don't even have the words for the sweet yumminess it provided. (How many times can I use the word "yummy" to explain this smoothie??)
After enjoying an unexpectedly wonderful lunch, we were dripping sweat but our tummies were full. We said our goodbyes to The Tomato Place. We silently apologized for judging it by the outside and vowed to return again someday. We welcomed the cool A/C in the car as we headed to the Vicksburg National Military Park. 
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