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steak we have eaten anywhere, booming with flavor, oozing juice, tender but in no way tenderized. The choices range from a ten-ounce filet mignon up to a four-pound sirloin. Our personal preference is the porterhouse, the bone of which bisects a couple of pounds of meat that is very different in character on either side of the bone. The tenderloin side is zesty and exciting; the other side seems loaded with protein, as deeply satisfying as beef can be. With steak come some of the world’s most delicious French fries—dandy to eat “neat,” even better when dragged through the oily juices that flow out of the steaks onto the plate.

Giardina’s

314 Howard St.

662–455–4227

Greenwood, MS

D | $$$

Opened in 1936, Giardina’s started as a fish market but soon became a restaurant popular among cotton growers and known for its private curtained booths where bootleg booze could be drunk in secrecy. As King Cotton lost its economic hegemony late in the twentieth century, Giardina’s fortunes waned along with those of Greenwood, the South’s cotton capital. But then the Viking Range Corporation came to town in 1989 and the presence of the stove maker turned everything around. The Mississippi Heritage Trust awards Viking has won for the rehabilitation of local properties include the transformation of the historic Irving Hotel from a ratty embarrassment to a stylish boutique hotel called the Alluvian. What we like about the Alluvian, beyond its feather beds and 300-thread-count sheets, is the fact that it is the new home of Giardina’s (pronounced with a hard G).

Giardina’s is stylish, modern, and expensive. Service is polished. Tables are outfitted with thick white cloths and snazzy Viking cutlery. The wine collection—stored in state-of-the-art Viking wine cellars—is impressive. And yet for all that, the dining experience is down-home Delta. When you enter, Mary Rose Graham, a second-generation Giardina, will escort you to a private dining compartment just like in Prohibition days. The menu is upscale cotton-country fare, including hefty steaks and elegant pompano, hot tamales, and a bevy of dishes that reflect the powerful influence of Italian immigrants on Greenwood’s cuisine. These include garlicky salads and a marvelous appetizer called Camille’s bread, which our waiter described as “like a muffuletta but without the meat”—a hot loaf stuffed with olives, sardines, and cheese.

Hicks’

305 S. State St.

662–624–9887

Clarksdale, MS

LD | $

“I am sixty-one years old, and I made my first tamales at age sixteen,” Eugene Hicks told us a few years ago when we asked him why the ones he makes are so especially good. Rich and with a hard kick of pepper spices, each one is hand-wrapped, and they are available by threes, sixes, or twelves. A plate of three is served with chili and cheese, baked beans, and Italian-seasoned coleslaw.

Tamales are what put Hicks’ on the map, but there is a whole menu of ribs, rib tips, and chopped pork shoulder cooked over flaming hickory logs and topped with house-made sauce. In addition, there are Hicks’-made pork sausages, fried catfish, and a fourteen-inch “Big Daddy” sandwich that is made with a combination of sliced barbecued pork and smoked turkey.

The first day we stopped in, a sign by the drive-up window advertised hog maws at $3.69 a pint. While the car ahead of us loaded up what looked like a meal for twelve, we debated for a moment what, exactly, hog maws are. Jane was sure maws were some part of a pig’s mouth (inferred from the expression “shut your maw”); Michael believed they came from the far other end of the animal. When it came our turn Jane asked the woman behind the window, “Is this maw you are serving a mouth or a rectum?” She looked at us wide-eyed and explained that they are parts of a pig’s stomach. For us, they turned out to be an acquired taste we have yet to acquire.

Lusco’s

722 Carrollton Ave.

662–453–5365

Greenwood, MS

D | $$$

To occupy one of Lusco’s back-room private dining booths, into which waiters sidle through Sears-catalog floral-print curtains, and