New diner opens in South MS with flavors of the ’50s and spiced-up choices on the menu
Iconic ‘50s diners with burgers, fries and shakes on the menu and a young and happy wait staff are a thing of memories in South Mississippi — until today.
After a soft opening over the weekend, Luckies Diner officially opens Tuesday at 12316 Mississippi 57.
It’s a great location, where workers can dash in for coffee and a quick grab-and-go breakfast on the way to their jobs. It’s right in front of the high school, where students have a place to go with their friends after classes or a game and snack on fries and classic sundaes with sprinkles.
“We’ve got a lot of them working for us,” Byren Ferguson said of the students who posted on Facebook how excited they are to have small-town jobs in a diner concept that many of them have only seen on TV or in the movies.
Of the 70 people who applied for jobs at the diner, Ferguson said, 23 were hired and most of them are local students.
There are not many places in the Vancleave area for students to get work, said Hanna Ferguson. She and Byren live in Vancleave and are raising their young son in the town where she grew up.
They also raise and sell USDA beef at their Double F Cattle Company. They own Sip Tea & Coffee Shop and The Sip Snowcones mobile unit, and she is a real estate agent.
The young couple incorporated all their business sense into their first restaurant and got more ideas from family and friends.
A friendly, small-town place
“We wanted to bring something that was true family atmosphere,” Hanna said. She doesn’t like to have to strap their son in a high chair at a restaurant for an hour when they go out to eat, she said, and he doesn’t like it either.
She came up with the idea to create a small, enclosed play area where the little ones can romp within sight of the seating counter and the tables in the outdoor dining room.
There are seats for nearly 100 indoors and out, and also take-out windows for to-go meals.
Unexpected are the double sinks right in the middle of the outdoor space for crawfish nights or when kids tackle a banana split. The sinks were the idea of Byren’s father, Quinn Ferguson. “He’s a visionary for sure,” his son said.
On the menu
Their cattle company wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand for Angus beef burgers they expect at Luckies, Byren said, but they named the diner for their prize bull Lucky and used their Double F brand to stamp the concrete at their new diner.
The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m.-9 p.m., and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It will be closed Sunday.
Think quick breakfasts, including biscuits, wraps, croissants and breakfast sandwiches until around 10 a.m. each day.
The same getting-started menu is available for lunch and dinner, and more choices will follow.
For kids with limited budgets and families who like to snack are mozzarella sticks, fried pickles and onion rings that are on the menu at every good diner.
Luckies takes it to another level, with “wacky wontons” that have zesty Southwest filling and a sweet chili sauce for an extra kick. The loaded fries or nachos get their sweet and spicy blend from The Shed’s brisket and barbecue sauce along with queso cheese and jalapenos. Mac and cheese balls are an unexpected blend of breaded jalapeno mac and cheese fried to a golden crisp.
Burgers and more
The burgers are Angus beef and most are double-patty. Already at the soft opening, their Dawg Burger topped with pimento cheese and candied jalapeno and their Small Town Burger — Luckies’ smash burger with grilled onions, their own sauce and American cheese — emerged as favorites. Some other choices are a bacon cheeseburger, Philly cheese steak quesadilla, chili cheese dog and chicken tenders, all with a side of fries.
A special touch is the Luckies Diner brand stamped into the burger buns.
A side salad is on the menu for those who want to eat light, and burgers, nuggets and grilled cheese are on the children’s menu.
Every diner needs pie, and Luckies has classic apple with ice cream.
“The brownie sundae was a huge hit,” during the soft opening, Hanna said, and the banana splits were so popular, they sold out of bananas.
A ‘50s diner is a big treat in any town in South Mississippi and especially welcome in the small town of Vancleave.
“We’ve had so many people pull in,” Hanna said. Now they can stay for their first taste of Luckies.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
