Katherine Swetman
Chefs Stephanie and Michael Paoletti of Food, Booze & Hiccups present intimate, specialized dining experiences in Ocean Springs. The chef couple are one of our three 2022 Small Town Chef Award Winners.
For eight years now, Country Roads has had the distinct pleasure of discovering and celebrating the Gulf South region’s Small Town Chefs through our annual awards, which honor chefs working in towns with populations under thirty thousand. Nestled meekly in between the raging culinary destinations of this food-centric region, these small towns—for one reason or another—offer something to these chefs that the big cities can’t.
This year, our winners are drawn to Coastal Mississippi, to Central Louisiana, to small town Acadiana for a very particular reason: it’s where they grew up. After acquiring experience in the restaurant business elsewhere, they each felt a calling to open something new, innovative, and elevated in their own small town—bringing with them new experiences, economic opportunities, and ways to support local food producers.
Take chefs Stephanie and Michael Paoletti, for starters, whose pop up experience, Food, Booze & Hiccups, in Ocean Springs is featured on our cover. Their creative take on dining experiences allows them the flexibility to curate intimate interactions with food selected precisely for its locality, seasonality, and its intrigue. Read the whole issue, including our Small Town Chef Awards Features, here.