Coast’s newest café has Southern lunch specials and all the makings for dinner
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Johnny Pizmo’s expanded with a café serving lunch and premium meat dishes.
- The butchery offers high-quality meats, house-made sauces, and ready meals.
- Plans are underway to double the store size as customer demand continues to grow.
Even before the burgers and hot sandwiches are cooking for lunch, the aroma at Johnny Pizmo’s Butchery & Marketplace seeps out of the smoker and fills the store and cafe.
“I’ve got beef bacon in the smoker at the moment,” said Clay Barney, director of operations, and several more varieties of bacon already in the case.
Customers have choices of how they want to experience Pizmo’s.
Three years ago, John Tynes and his father, Gil Tynes, who both have worked for years in the food industry, decided east Gulfport needed a good butcher shop. They opened Johnny Pizmo’s at 512 Cowan Road and filled it with meats and their own sauces and seasonings for those who want to cook — and grab-and-go meals like gumbo and beanless beef tenderloin chili for those who want to let someone else do the cooking.
Three months ago, they added a café in the shop, where customers can discover just how good a burger or sandwich is, when made with quality meats and ingredients.
And soon the building will double in size as the business expands again, said owner John Tynes.
Lunch has Southern flair
Lunch is served Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and the $12 daily specials are Southern-style goodness. Monday it’s red beans and rice with boudin, potato salad and cornbread. Thursday’s special is smoked and flash fried pork chops with mashed potatoes, gravy and greens that customers especially enjoy. “They tear it up,” Barney said.
Instead of Taco Tuesday, it’s Tamale Tuesday. Wednesday’s blue-plate revival is black Angus meatloaf and Friday is chopped steak, with potatoes, gravy and vegetables.
Mississippi pot roast sandwich is another favorite, along with a Cubano that has layers of flavor from the pork shoulder, dry cured ham, horseradish pickle, Swiss cheese and their own Delta Mojo. Pork ribs, chicken, pulled pork and sliced brisket come from the smoker.
Burgers start with great cuts of meat and are cooked in 100% beef tallow, Barney said. Customers who go for the smash burger now can try the new Philly smash burger, made with shaved sirloin and ribeye — “Just good, tender beef,” Barney said, topped with sautéed mushrooms, peppers, onions and cheese.
Lunch selections with a decidedly Southern twist are their Dirty Bird chicken wings with Delta Mojo or Bayou Q sauce, and the smoked Ahi tuna dip with horseradish pickles and tallow chips.
Make it or take it
Johnny Pizmo’s combines great ingredients and customer service with help for dinner. Barney, who studied at Delgado Culinary School in New Orleans, tells customers how to prepare the meat and typically writes out 20 recipes a day for them.
“If you go to a butcher shop, you expect better service. You expect good quality. We greet you when you walk through the door. We thank you for coming here,” Gil Tynes said.
The cases are full of choice beef, pork, chicken, lamb and other meats that Barney said aren’t much more expensive than the grocery stores to get natural cuts with no antibiotics or additives.
Customers take dinner home with some of their grab-and-go selections such as smoked meats, twice-baked potatoes, corn and crab bisque, and their own bread pudding.
Tailgaters place their barbecue to go orders Monday through Wednesday for whole and half brisket or rack of ribs. Barney said he smokes them Friday and they are hot and ready to go Saturday.
Those staying at the nearby campgrounds discover Johnny Pizmo’s, “And once they find out about us, they come here year after year, and they buy their meat here,” Gil Tynes said. They also can pick up Biloxi shrimp and even find dog bones, which are one of the market’s biggest sellers.
“I think we exceed a lot of people’s expectations every time they come in,” Barney said.
