His Biloxi supper club wowed A-list celebrities and was the 1st of its kind in Mississippi

It’s been nearly 50 years since Gus Stevens served a meal or held a live performance in his iconic Biloxi restaurant, but the seafood eatery and bar with his namesake is one that will never be forgotten on the Mississippi Coast.

Gus Stevens Seafood Restaurant & Buccaneer Lounge began as a barbecue drive-in on Veterans Blvd. The restaurant’s menu boasted a number of specialties, including home-cooked barbecue, seafood, western steaks, spaghetti dinners, and mouthwatering southern fried chicken.

Stevens was not from Biloxi — Gus Stevens isn’t even his real name. Here’s how he became a legend in South Mississippi.

Constantine Stamatios Kouvarakis, born in 1911 in Chester, Pennsylvania and relocated to Greece with his family when he was 4.

The family would return to the U.S. in 1930, settling in Mobile. However, the Great Depression pushed Kouvarakis to Houston, where he completed his schooling and took his first steps into the restaurant industry.

In 1939, he enlisted in the Navy and adopted the name Gus Stevens and learned to cook for large numbers of people. After his military service, he went on to establish his own eateries, the White Palace Cafe and the Juicy Pig, both located in Alabama.

Moving to Biloxi

Stevens relocated to Biloxi, Mississippi in 1946 and stopped by a small cafe on Beach Blvd. Here he met and conversed with Bob Thompson, who agreed to sell his restaurant to Stevens, who provided a $1,000 down payment and signed a bill of sale on a napkin.

The restaurant, which stood where Beau Rivage is now, was known as Gus Stevens Cafe & Bar. One day during World War II, a few women of Greek descent walked in collecting donations for the Greek war relief fund. Stevens fell in love with one of the women, Irene Mitchell, and they were married in October of the same year.

Unfortunately, a hurricane in 1947 destroyed the new restaurant and the Stevens’ barely managed to escape the building with their lives.

Later that year, he went on to purchase a small barbecue drive-in on Veterans Blvd., a spot that would eventually transform into the renowned Gus Stevens Seafood Restaurant & Buccaneer Lounge.

Dinner service and live entertainment in Biloxi

In a time prior to the casinos and nightclubs, Gus Stevens made history by bringing a combination of dinner services and live entertainment to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the very first time. In 1949, New Orleans pianist Ronnie Kole and his trio entered the barbecue restaurant and asked Stevens if they could perform a live show.

“He got some Coca-Cola cases and made a makeshift stage and then he sent out his newly arrived Greek cousin, George, to get the spotlights for the trio to play,” said Stevens’ daughter, Elaine. “They hooked them up, the band began to play, but the trio began to sweat, then Mr. Kole stopped and said ‘Mr. Stevens these aren’t spotlights, they’re heat lamps.’”

Stevens would eventually create a modern stage with the proper spotlights and began hosting numerous performers in what would become the Buccaneer Lounge. These captivating performances, which ranged from burlesque dancers to musical stars, drew audiences not only from the local area but also from North Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, turning his establishment into a regional entertainment hub.

Celebrities visit Biloxi restaurant & club

Its reputation eventually spread like wildfire, attracting numerous famous stars that would also become close friends and business associates with Stevens, including Jerry Van Dyke, Andy Griffith, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tex Ritter.

“We lived and worked and played with these folks,” said Elaine. “They were friends, not just people we saw on stage, they became part of an extended family.”

Gus Stevens’ restaurant even caught the attention of the legendary Elvis Presley, who paid a visit on several occasions. The restaurant is also unfortunately remembered as the location where Jayne Mansfield gave her final performance before the tragic car accident that claimed her life in 1967 in Slidell, Louisiana.

Nonetheless, the restaurant remained the Gulf Coast’s most unique supper club and fine-dining establishment. Like the lounge, the menu remains fondly remembered, having featured a number of delectable dishes, from barbecue oysters and milk-fed half-fried chicken to imported Australian lobster tails. Gus Stevens also offered a massive selection of beverages, including scotch whiskey drinks, fancy cocktails and an assortment of wines and liqueurs.

Gus Stevens took great pride in the freshness of his ingredients, extending an invitation to customers to explore the Stevens Rainbow Ranch in Saucier. The eggs were handpicked here each morning at 5 am, and numerous other ingredients for the restaurant were collected. Furthermore, the freshest seafood was procured directly from the boats at Biloxi harbor.

“We often look back and wonder how he did it,” said Elaine.

Gus Stevens Restaurant and Supper Club closes

By the 1960s, the establishment came to be known as Gus Stevens Restaurant and Supper Club. While it gradually lost some of its initial allure, it inspired numerous other clubs, restaurants, and entertainment venues along the famed Biloxi Strip.

Regrettably, Gus Stevens closed his restaurant’s doors in 1975. For decades, the building sat mostly vacant, though it did house a Mexican restaurant at one point. However, in 2000, the building met its final fate when it was demolished to make way for a new surf shop, taking a large piece of Mississippi Gulf Coast history with it.

According to Elaine, Gus Stevens is still well remembered because “he gave the people what they wanted. He gave them good food, personal hospitality, and entertainment.”