"Best experience in many years. We visited King’s Tavern on recommendation from several locals who said that the new ownership had really done something special with the place. They were right. The restaurant has a rustic exterior (oldest building in Natchez, MS , and an equally period-correct interior. It feels as if you have walked back in time to the early 1800s, into a turn-of-the-century tavern. The new owners (Regina and Doug Charboneau plan on starting a small-batch rum distillery in the tavern soon, and I can’t wait until it’s up and running. Upon entering, Ricky (our bartender – more on him later informed us that they specialize in local produce and small-batch drinks. This was emphasized when we ordered a Coke, and were told that they only had rootbeer, ginger ale, freshly-brewed iced tea, and mixed drinks. My wife ordered an iced tea, which was excellent. Ricky asked me what kind of drinks I preferred, upon which I informed him I enjoyed rum drinks, or perhaps a bourbon cocktail. Being that Ricky recently worked in Miami (and was from my hometown of New Orleans , he fixed me what turned out to be the best mojito that I’ve ever had. Ricky also had me taste a Ron Zacapa Centenario rum, which was stellar. Ricky really knows his stuff. He teaches a mixology class at the Tavern, which will DEFINITELY be on my to-do list when we return (which can’t come soon enough ! And, to top it off, he was the quintessential restaurant front man. He provided interesting tidbits about the restaurant, made good suggestions based upon qualifying questions, and made sure that our every need or want was satisfied. We ordered several different things for dinner. My wife started with a prosciutto, apple, and parmesan salad on mixed greens, topped with a lemon vinaigrette. The prosciutto was thinly sliced and provided a salty counterpoint to the sweet apple and nutty parmesan. The greens were obviously fresh, and the dressing was light, with just enough lemon juice give you that back-of-the-jaw punch on your first bite. I opted for their wood-fired oysters as an appetizer. They arrived in a small cast-iron skillet baked in their own liquor and some olive oil. They were easily some of the tastiest oysters I’ve ever had – that coming from someone who eats oysters probably once per week, lived in New Orleans, and recently shucked an entire sack over a weekend for eating raw and grilling. They were served alongside some grilled flatbread. We also had a small bowl of their sweet potato and Andouille sausage soup. The sweet potatoes were obviously fresh, as the soup still had some smaller chunks of potato. It was creamy, without being overly filling or rich. And, the sausage was superb. My wife commented that she could have made a meal out of just a few bowls of the soup. For our meals, we opted for their flatbreads. They have a wood-fired oven in-house, and they make wonderful use of it. I had a flatbread topped with brisket, caramelized onion and drizzled with a horseradish cream sauce. The brisket was very tender – not “fork tender”, but more along the lines of “blunt spoon” tender. The onions were sweet, and the horseradish was spicy. Taken all together, the smokiness of the flatbread and brisket, the sweetness of the onions and the spiciness of the horseradish made for a surprisingly good meal (though, upon reflection, I should not have been surprised, as everything we had was superb . My wife had their Madeline flatbread (for an interesting story, read up on the significance of “Madeline” as the name associates with King’s Tavern . It arrived with a sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, farm-made mozzarella slices and fresh tomatoes. It was very reminiscent of a true-Italian “margherita” pizza. Without a doubt, this was the best single dish of the night. It was everything that a true margherita should be – full of flavor, but not heavy, thereby allowing you to taste and savor each ingredient, then adding them to each other to reach a new level of taste. Our last dish as a desert called the Black Bottom Pie. It consisted of a ginger-snap crust, filled with homemade dark-chocolate ice cream, and topped with a Bourbon cream topping. Like so many of our other dishes, it was simple enough so that we could enjoy every single ingredient, but each item seemed to be chosen so that the whole dish was better than simply the sum of its parts. To say that we enjoyed our meal is a gross understatement. Being from New Orleans, I am all-too-often disappointed when I travel and eat out. Even the best restaurants in other cities frequently fail to compare to the run-of-the-mill places in New Orleans. The King’s Tavern, on the other hand, can easily stand up to the best of the best. If you want run-of-the-mill fare, look elsewhere. If you want hoity-toity ambience and tuxedoed waiters, again – go elsewhere. If you want some of the best dishes, coupled with amazingly good drinks, served in a true colonial-style ambience, and tended to by the quintessential bartender, then head to King’s Tavern. (And, expect to return again and again! On a personal note, I want to thank Ricky and his staff for making my anniversary one to be remembered."
