08/11/2025
Fried Chicken & Chocolate
2025
Today took me back to the best of Saturdays in the Bootheel of Missouri, my childhood.
Some of the happiest moments were spent around an old wooden television with a tube in it, the kind I was always told to get up and change the channel on. But Saturdays were different. Saturdays were the days I got to pick what we watched.
My favorite? Cartoons. The Hall of Justice. And back then, I was always Aquaman. I was gonna swim to unknown worlds.
One of the best things that could happen at our house on a Saturday morning was when Mom got up and made homemade biscuits with chocolate gravy. I mean, think about it; a kid, sugar, cocoa, butter, and all those delicious carbs.
I can still see it: our house on 2nd Street, 70s wood paneling on the wall, dark brown with little shades of black. The morning sun hitting the floor. Me, plate in hand. Mom on the couch. Fresh biscuits and chocolate gravy. Each bite filled with warmth and comfort.
Today, Amy and I went to Hot Stuff. They had biscuits and chocolate gravy and it was so reminiscent of the kind Mom made me as a boy. With one bite, I was transported back to that living room in Hayti. Same Mississippi River, just further north.
One of the things I love about New Orleans is that its connection to the past. From the architecture to the music, the deep cultural traditions, the food: it doesn’t just wink at the past. It walks with it. Embraces it. Inhabits it fully.
And today, at Hot Stuff, it walked me right back to my childhood.
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Thanks for always delivering on your previews and promises. The food always exceeds expectations.
