Iconic Mississippi Coast breakfast and lunch spot getting new life from a renowned chef
The sign in the window of what was one of the most iconic restaurants on the Coast says The Downtowner will open soon at the former Triplett-Day in Gulfport.
Renowned Mississippi Chef Robert St. John announced the new restaurant on Facebook and Instagram, saying: “The Downtowner is putting the ‘classic’ back in Gulfport’s historic downtown, serving up real breakfast and real lunch in a spot that’s been part of your lives for years.”
The new website says: “Get ready, Gulfport. We’re cooking up something exciting for you in 2025.”
For 65 years, the owners of Triplett-Day fed South Mississippi. The combination soda shop, diner and pharmacy closed March 31, 2020, when the owners retired just after the start of the COVID pandemic.
The building, with its distinctive green stripes, stands at the corner of 14th Street and U.S. 49 in Gulfport. The restaurant was known for its breakfasts and lunch and its beignets, which were named by USA Today as best breakfast in the state in 2017.
St. John and his New South Restaurant Group own The Midtowner, a community cafe in Hattiesburg, and seven other restaurants throughout the state.
Preview of The Downtowner
To get an idea of what the menu will be like when the new Downtowner opens, check out the breakfast and lunch menu at The Midtowner.
The full breakfast menu is served until 11 a.m., with several of the favorites available as breakfast all day.
Among the favorites are scrambled egg sandwich with cheese and bacon on sourdough toast with a choice of hash browns or grits, their catfish and grits, and their hot honey chicken and waffle.
A big selection of eggs, omelets and pancakes are on the menu along with more unusual breakfast fare like bananas Foster French toast, sweet potato pancakes with cinnamon cream syrup and praline bacon. For those eating healthy, the menu offers a “fit” section.
The restaurant’s large cathead biscuits are their specialty, and they also bake Southern cornbread.
Besides the breakfast all day choices, the lunch menu at The Midtowner is noted for Maw-Maw St. John’s fried chicken and something South Mississippi craves — blue plate lunch specials.
These specials are standards in the Jackson area of the state but less common in South Mississippi. Customers choose a meat like meatloaf, fried Mississippi catfish and chicken and dumplings. Then they choose one, two or three vegetables — maybe fried okra, black-eyed peas, squash casserole and skillet corn — or go with the four-veggie platter and skip the meat.
A club sandwich is a classic on the lunch menu, along with a kicked-up meatloaf sandwich with with garlic mayo and brown sugar glaze on Texas toast.
Feeding Mississippi
St. John describes himself as “Restaurateur, author, enthusiastic traveler and world-class eater.”
He was born and raised in Hattiesburg and opened his first restaurant at the age 26. He’s authored 13 books.
In 2009 he founded Extra Table, a statewide nonprofit organization that ships more than 300,000 pounds of healthy food at no charge to 60 Mississippi soup kitchens and mission pantries each month.
This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 12:25 PM.
