A Classic Lunch in Laurel Mississippi plus More Shopping

…continuing with our visit to Laurel Mississippi where the HGTV show “Hometown” is based.  As you will see, the ladies weren’t done shopping but we all took a break for lunch.  We were hungry as we’d skipped breakfast…

When you visit Laurel, going to lunch at The Pearl Diner, better known as “Ms. Pearl’s Diner”, is a must!  Knowing that the diner would be busy, I went ahead to check to see if there was a line out front.  As you can see, it was quite long as customers had lined up well before the doors opened.  The second photo shows our vantage point in front of the diner by the time the four of us got in line…

The line continued inside as well.  Customers order their meals and pay at the counter, they receive a number and then they go look for a place to sit down to eat.  In our case, no tables were open so we just took 4 stools along the lunch counter while we waited for our meals.

Of course, the big draw at The Pearl Diner is the food...especially the fried chicken.  What amazes me is just how many folks this restaurant serves during the short time that its open.  The hours are just from 11 AM until 2 PM Monday through Saturday!

This is the menu at Ms. Pearl’s Diner… While its mostly fried chicken and an assortment of sides, if you look closely other items are offered to include meatloaf, ham steak, roast, and ribs.  Catfish is featured on Saturdays.  But what the heck, fried chicken is the feature menu item and that’s what all of us ordered.

You can see into the kitchen through the windows and the staff was furiously working to keep up with the incoming orders!

Sadly, we were really hungry and the fact is that we’d pretty much destroyed our chicken dinners before I remembered to take a photo!  As the result, the photo shown above was borrowed from the Internet.  The chicken was very good as were the sides, although one of my sides was the rice and gravy, which I really didn’t care for...probably an acquired taste.

As we were getting ready to leave, Ms. Pearl herself popped out of the kitchen.  She was very friendly and took down her mask so I could take this photo.  She commented that she’d been in the back just washing dishes.  She said that she couldn’t hire enough help and it seemed like folks just didn’t want to work…

One thing for sure…Ms. Pearl, at 73 years of age, is definitely a successful entrepreneur!  She’d worked as an educator up north but when she retired, she returned to Laurel, her home town.  Her family helps her run the restaurant.  The Pearl Diner is on Facebook at Pearl's Diner - Home - Laurel, Mississippi - Menu, Prices, Restaurant Reviews | Facebook.  She also has her own website which you can visit at Diner, Soul Food - Ms. Pearl's World - Laurel, Mississippi (mspearlsworld.com).  

So after lunch we had to work off some of that southern cooking… For exercise, it was back to shopping!  In my case it was all about taking more photos…

As I mentioned in a previous post about Laurel, we were here because of the HGTV show “Hometown” and its stars, Erin and Ben Napier.  I’d also noted that there are several big wall murals around town.  I suspect that both of these murals were designed by Erin. 

As for that Airstream RV, I’m sure that it’s the one that Ben, Erin and Helen took down to the seashore along the Gulf of Mexico after they’d totally redesigned and rebuilt the interior.  Seeing that old Chevy pick-up truck at the end of the second wall makes me wonder just how many of those old trucks Ben has purchased.

The Laurel Mercantile mural is there for a good reason.  It's painted on the side of Erin’s store and this is the front entrance.  The store has been featured on more than one of the “Hometown” shows.  As the signs on the windows state, the store sells ‘heirloom wares’ and ‘durable goods’.

Here are a couple of views inside the Laurel Mercantile.  I did like the polished concrete floors and the tin ceiling.  As you can see, the store is loaded with lots of “stuff” or “goodies” designed for happy shoppers.  There even is some artwork for sale.

My only ‘complaint’ is that after I quickly perused the store’s offerings, I escaped outside, planning to sit on a bench and wait for Bonnie, Bill and Laurie to finish shopping.  Problem was, unlike all the other stores we’d visited, there were no benches in front of the ‘Mercantile’.

To learn more about the Laurel Mercantile and/or to shop on-line, just go to Laurel Mercantile Co. | Erin & Ben Napier | HGTV Home Town.

However, while in the store, I did spot this giant life-size poster of Ben and Erin, two of Laurel’s local heroes.  While they certainly haven’t been alone in the efforts to revive Laurel and its economy, they are undoubtedly the ‘public face’ behind the town’s current growth and fame.  Ben and Erin were on baby watch while we were in town so we didn’t see them…but hey, we did meet Ms. Pearl!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave