New Biloxi restaurant has a balcony and local menu with blue crab beignets, BBQ shrimp
It’s hard to imagine, but the number of new restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast continues to grow.
Just a few weeks ago, One Thirty One Lameuse opened and is already creating quite a stir. It’s a lovely restaurant, located on the second floor — take the elevator if you like, but make sure to check out the old Biloxi photographs at the top of the stairs.
It has a spacious feel to it, with a dark unfinished ceiling, lots of windows, a cool L-shaped bar and an interesting stained wooden wall with windows that serves as a privacy partition.
There are separate menus for lunch and dinner, and a Sunday brunch menu coming soon. The lunch menu is petite, as so many wise restauranteurs have learned from the pandemic. A smaller menu is much easier to maintain, and if it is smartly composed, as this one is, will satisfy almost all appetites.
This menu takes its cue from the slow food movement, so it is all about locally sourced foods, quality and food ideas that have local roots. The menu will be revised six to eight times a year.
The lunchtime small plate menu starts with blue crab beignets, as lovely an idea as I have ever encountered — New Orleans-famous beignets stuffed with lump crab served with a Green Goddess sauce. What a cool idea!
Next comes Biloxi famous shrimp toast, made with seasoned shrimp on toast, that has been deep fried with sweet chili sauce and red pickled onion. You might also want to take a look at the duck poppers, duck breast with jalapeno cream cheese and bacon.
There are two soups to choose from, a gumbo and a gazpacho and I just love the sides: smothered greens, Gouda cheese grits, fries and pimento mac and cheese.
There are six entrees to choose from, and they all looked good, but I could not resist the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. It’s made with fried chicken, hot sauce, aioli and mixed greens, served on fresh brioche. It is as good as it sounds.
Perhaps the star of the show is the BBQ Gulf shrimp. This is a dish that often leads to disaster, it is tricky to get it right, but One Thirty One nailed it.
Shrimp sauteed in Lazy Magnolia beer, butter, garlic, peppers and a special house-made barbecue sauce, with French bread and collard greens. The sauce is delicious and served in a generous quantity, just right of dipping with the French bread.
One Thirty One gets high marks in all categories, including friendly service. I really like the numerous menu revisions that allows the option of changing to trends and seasons.
But the high point is the quality of the food. All the innovation in the world does no good if what comes out of the kitchen is not delicious.
Give the BBQ shrimp a try, and I think you will agree.
One Thirty One Lameuse
131 Lameuse Street, Biloxi
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday–Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday-Tuesday
Contact: 228-207-1689 or https://www.facebook.com/OneThirtyOneLameuse