New smokehouse also serves seafood, handmade pasta and a sprinkling of ‘piggsy dust’
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- Boonies on the Bayou opened near Bay St. Louis waterfront, free parking available.
- Kitchen produces smoked meats, handmade pastas, seafood and house sauces.
- Open Wed–Sat 11–9 and Sun 11–3; owners plan catering, deck grilling seasons.
Boonies on the Bayou just opened last week and the name reflects the attitude of the restaurant as much as the location.
Boonies sits right along the bayou at 10408 Mississippi 603, just two miles north of U.S. 90 in Bay St. Louis and three miles south of Exit 13 of I-10.
“I’m not much of a city person,” says owner and chef Roderick Herring Jr., but with strong social media and good food, he said, a restaurant can be in the “boonies” and people will come. And unlike downtown, parking is easy and free.
His wife, Michaela Herring, handles the social media posts to draw customers and Roderick and his kitchen staff turn out smoked meats, handmade pasta, steaks, salads, sandwiches, uncommon sides and sweets.
He describes the menu as “very out of the box, very rustic, refined.”
Pair that with the casual dining room decorated with old photos that show a horse and buggy heading down Main Street in Bay St. Louis and other memories, along with an outdoor dining deck overlooking the bayou for when the days turn warm.
What’s on the menu?
“It’s definitely scratch,” Herring said, with most everything made in-house. The menu is super-sized and will get still bigger when he fires up the outdoor grill and adds Sunday brunch.
For those craving a smokehouse vibe, the carnivore is the big daddy of the menu.
“That’s got a little bit of everything,” Michaela said. “It’s got pulled pork, it’s got ribs, it’s got the chicken wings, it’s got the brisket, the turkey and the pork cracklings.” The wings are slow roasted tender and then fried crispy. Pickled collard greens and brisket beans are on the side.
Most smokehouses and barbecue joints lean toward pickles, but Herring said he went with the pickled collard greens instead. “I just didn’t want to be like most,” he said.
The smoked St. Louis style ribs, sliced brisket and turkey breast come as entrées and some on sandwiches served on Leidenheimer French bread.
Bayou Alfredo with Gulf shrimp, crawfish and crabmeat and smokehouse scampi are two of the handmade pastas. Steaks with the chef’s own smoked garlic and herb seasoning and smothered chicken come hot off the grill.
From the bayou are baskets of catfish, mullet, oyster, Gulf shrimp baskets. Their onion smash burger with caramelized onions and hand cut fries won a contest in Bay St. Louis and their tacos are filled with shrimp, catfish or smoked brisket and are topped with the pickled collards instead of coleslaw.
Sides, sauces and ‘nibbles’
The list of sides includes salad and baked potato for traditionalists, but also choices like jalapeño cheddar hush puppies, seafood dirty rice and hot honey brussels sprouts.
One of Herring’s favorite things on the menu is Biloxi bacon dip, made with smoked mullet and served with fresh tortilla chips. He previously owned Twisted Magnolia food truck and when he tried traditional mullet preparations, they didn’t go. He turned the mullet, called “Biloxi Bacon” into a substitute for tuna dips, “And it flew,” he said. “I’m pretty proud of that one. That’s a big hit,” he said.
Burnt ends is one of the list of other appetizers, or “nibbles” as they call him. They are different, he said, because the small pieces of brisket are double smoked, candied and get a sprinkling of their “piggsy dust” flavoring.
“Their sauces are amazing,” said Morgan Stevens, a customer from Pelahatchie. To enhance the flavors, especially with the smoked meats, Herring created three house sauces — traditional sweetened with Barq’s root beer, their sweet and hot jalapeño honey sauce and their version of a Carolina sauce made with pickle juice instead of vinegar to give it a Southern tang. He also uses little butter and instead cooks with beef tallow.
Michaela makes the desserts, which also are out of the box. In addition to her homemade banana pudding is a seasonal cobbler. Right now it’s apple with her own batter and topped with their homemade vanilla ice cream.
The path to Boonies and still to come
The menu at Boonies comes with history and miles.
“I traveled a lot in my younger days,” Herring said. After Hurricane Katrina, he worked at Lake Tahoe for a few years. “Until then, I’d never been outside of the neighboring states of Mississippi, and I had an opportunity to follow one of my mentors over to Lake Tahoe. So I took the opportunity and I drove from Mississippi to California and took Route 66. Spent a little bit of time in Texas, little bit of time in South Korea,” he said. He picked up little tricks from all over, he said, and brought them home to South Mississippi.
In addition to her skills in social media and as a dessert chef, Michaela has experience as a large venue event coordinator and the two are planning to cater and host parties and other events.
The restaurant is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday brunch will be added soon. Once the deck opens, Herring will fire up his Argentina wood burning grill and start grilling oysters in season. After that they’ll go right into crawfish season, he said.
