This Mississippi Restaurant Is Serving Up Some of the Best Southern Cooking in the State

A sunshine-yellow storefront with a screen door swinging open and the smell of cornmeal frying somewhere inside. That is what caught my eye while circling the courthouse square in a small Mississippi town, mostly looking for shade and a place to sit down.

I ducked in without a plan, grabbed a red vinyl booth, and ended up staying long enough to finish a plate of catfish, a wedge of jalapeno cornbread, and half a cobbler I did not need. The place has been feeding this town for decades, and you can feel that in the way nobody rushes you out.

The waitstaff moves with the kind of easy rhythm that only comes from years of practice, and the walls are covered in local memorabilia that tells the story of the community around it. Students, families, and out-of-state visitors all end up at neighboring tables eating the same butter beans, and the conversation flows as freely as the sweet tea.

I sat there longer than I planned, watching the room shift from lunch crowd to afternoon lull, and I have thought about that meal more times than I care to admit. Let me walk you through why it stuck.

A Sunshine-Yellow Front Door Right on the Square

My favorite thing about finding Ajax is that you barely have to look for it. That bright yellow front stands out against the brick and white columns of Oxford’s Courthouse Square, and it acts like a landmark for anybody wandering downtown.

The Square itself is small and walkable, packed with bookstores and boutiques, so a meal here fits neatly into an afternoon of poking around.

Parking is the only real puzzle. Around lunch, spots along the Square fill up fast, and I ended up leaving my car a couple of blocks away and walking, which honestly was more pleasant anyway.

From the sidewalk, the building looks narrow and modest, almost like a small storefront cafe. Step inside and the room opens up much deeper than expected, which surprised me the first time.

Being this central means you can pair the meal with a stroll past William Faulkner’s old haunts or a walk toward the University of Mississippi campus. Plenty of visitors do exactly that, treating Ajax as the anchor of their day in town.

It is a spot you stumble on once, then return to on purpose.

Walls Worth Getting Up For

Somewhere between ordering and eating, I got up to look at the walls. That is not something I usually do in a restaurant, but the decor here practically insists on it.

Framed art, old photographs, and odd little signs cover almost every inch. There are neon glows in the corners, strings of lights overhead, and even Mississippi license plates tacked up in spots, which gives one area a scrappy roadside feel.

The red vinyl booths tie the whole look together, giving the room a nostalgic diner rhythm without feeling staged or themed. Nothing matches, and that is exactly why it works.

Music runs through the room too, mostly roots and older classics, played at a volume where you can still hear the person across from you. It fits the mood better than any playlist a designer would pick.

What I liked most is that the space feels lived in rather than decorated. Nearly thirty years of collected clutter has built up character you cannot fake with a renovation budget.

Bring your eyes as well as your appetite. Half the fun is spotting something new between bites of cornbread.

The Meat-and-Three Ritual That Locals Swear By

Ordering here follows a rhythm that took me about ten seconds to learn and years of Southern tradition to build. You pick a main, then choose your sides, and the plate that arrives is genuinely enormous.

Locals call it the meat-and-three, and around Oxford it is treated less like a menu category and more like a weekly habit.

The mains lean into classics: fried catfish from Mississippi farm-raised fillets, chicken and dumplings, pot roast with gravy, country fried steak, meatloaf, and turkey with cornbread dressing.

Prices generally land somewhere between ten and twenty dollars for a plate lunch, which felt fair to me given how much food shows up. I left with a container to take back to my hotel and ate it for dinner.

What I appreciated was how easy the staff made choosing. Ask for a recommendation and you will get an honest one, often steering you toward whatever side is shining that day.

Come hungry, but pace yourself. The cornbread that comes alongside is not a garnish, and it will fill you faster than you expect.

Sides That Steal the Show

Here is the thing nobody warned me about: the sides may be the real reason people keep coming back. I ordered fried okra almost as an afterthought and it turned out to be the highlight of my plate.

Cornmeal-crusted and crackling, it stayed crisp rather than going soggy, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.

The lineup is long and unapologetically Southern. Squash casserole rich with butter and cheese, hashbrown casserole that regulars call a sleeper hit, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, sweet potato casserole, broccoli rice casserole, and mac and cheese with a warm pepper kick at the end.

Butter beans have their own bit of local lore. Word around Oxford is they are Eli Manning’s favorite, and he has called this his favorite spot in town.

Then there is the jalapeno cornbread. Thin, crisp at the edges, savory, studded with corn and peppers, it tastes nothing like the sweet cake-style versions I grew up with.

My honest advice is to order one side you have never tried. That is how I found the okra.

That Come-As-You-Are Buzz

Seating yourself felt strange for about four seconds, then it made perfect sense. There is no host stand fuss, no waiting list ritual, just find a spot and settle in.

The room hums. Conversation bounces off the walls, plates clatter, and the whole place carries a laid-back Oxford energy that somehow never tips into chaos.

What struck me was the mix of people. College students in ball caps sat a few feet from families with grandparents and toddlers, and nobody looked out of place in either direction.

Dress code is essentially whatever you happen to be wearing. I came in from a hot walk around the Square looking rumpled and felt completely fine about it.

Service moves quickly too. My food arrived faster than I expected, which surprised me for a kitchen turning out casseroles and gravy from scratch.

Several folks working here have been around a long time, and you can feel that steadiness in how smoothly a busy lunch runs.

It reminded me a little of eating in somebody’s family dining room, just with better cornbread and more license plates on the wall.

The Big Easy, an Oxford Legend on a Bun

Some sandwiches are engineered by people who do not believe in restraint. The Big Easy is one of them, and I mean that as high praise.

Created by founder Randy Yates, it stacks country fried steak, mashed potatoes, butter beans, brown gravy, cabbage, mayo, and a pickle onto a bun. Yes, all of it.

Local lore says the whole thing was inspired by Eli Manning’s go-to plate lunch, which somebody decided should be eaten with two hands instead of a fork.

Whether or not every detail of that story holds up, the sandwich has become a small legend on the Square. It is the item people mention when they are trying to explain this place to a friend.

Eating it neatly is not really possible, so I stopped trying around the third bite and asked for extra napkins.

If you are traveling with someone, splitting it is a reasonable strategy. If you are on your own and skipped breakfast, go ahead and take the swing.

Odd as it sounds on paper, it tastes like a whole Southern plate lunch that learned how to be portable.

Old Recipes, New Keys, Same Spirit

Places like this can change hands and lose their soul. That did not happen here, which is the part of the story I find most reassuring.

In April 2024, founder Randy Yates passed the keys to Clay Scruggs, an alumnus of the University of Mississippi who has been clear about keeping the recipes, the look, and the whole business model intact.

Since opening in 1997, the diner has picked up plenty of recognition along the way, including Best Downhome Soul Food from Mississippi Magazine three years running, plus nods for Best Cornbread and Best Plate Lunch. In 2024 it was named Best Casual Dining, Best Lunch, and Best Soul Food in Oxford.

Save room for dessert if you can manage it. Chocolate chess pie, blueberry cobbler, and blackberry cobbler round out the meal in the most old-fashioned way possible.

Hours run 11 AM to 9 PM Monday through Saturday, and the doors stay closed on Sunday, so plan accordingly.

I went in looking for lunch and walked out with a favorite restaurant in Mississippi.

Address: 118 Courthouse Square, Oxford, Mississippi