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Friday we'll be heading to the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. We're looking for a "freeway friendly" lunch stop somewhere along the way...say Gulfport or farther east (Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Mobile).

Any one got any gems they'd like to share?
TIA

If you want to keep it simple, and you like BBQ, try the Shed. I think it's exit 59 in Miss , give or take a few miles. There is definately a sign on the interstate for it. Not bad at all for the dump it appears to be......

The Shed is waht I was gonna reccomend. Love their Q.

I stopped at Dreamland BArbeque in Mobile on the way home from evac and im glad I did. It was about less than 10 minutes off I-10, easy to find and worth the trip. Its wet style ribs and the sauce was very good. Sweetish but not too thick which I like. Anyway:
Dreamland:
Take I-65 North to exit 5A-Springhill Avenue Go East, Take 1st right onto Frontage Road Dreamland is located at the corner of Frontage Raod and Old Shell Road Cant miss it.

Thanks, I've got both The Shed and Dreamland BBQ programmed into my GPS. Depending on what time I'm passing through I'll make a decision. Appreciate the replies.
EAC

Went to lunch yesterday at Steve's Marina on Airport Road off of HWY 49 in Gulfport...about 5 minutes south of I10. This was a great harbor restaurant in Long Beach (pre-K). Post K, he moved the restaurant into a golf club in some subdivision that was too hard to find, only went once. He has been in this new and final location for about 3 months and the food is just as good as it ever has been. I had a bunch of appetizers: delicious gumbo, fried green tomatoes with lump crabmeat and fried seafood stuffed mushrooms. Worth the stop.

Not exactly in the area you requested, but McGuire's Irish Pub in Pensacola has the best Reuben sandwich I've ever had, and it's a unique place to visit. It is also a micro brewery and they have a root beer float that will "knock your socks off". If you're heading to Santa Rosa Island, McGuire's is just at the head of the Bay Bridge, so it would actually be on the way. More info at:
http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com/
John

You'll enjoy the wine and cheese event. My smoked cheese operation was one of their original exhibitors in their inaugural year, and the folks running the show are a class act.

Dilfan,

Thanks for the rec. Not sure if I'll be passing on Santa Rosa Island though. When I first looked at the event I thought "nice, I can just stay on Pensacola Beach or Navarre. But after looking closer I saw that Santa Rosa Beach is different from Santa Rosa Island. SRB is east of Sandestin, before Grayton Beach. We may take Hwy 98 back though, which would put us right there.

Duke,

Glad to hear the props for the festival. We booked this nearly 6 months ago and are soooooooo looking forward to a stressless extended weekend. Lots of drinking and eating will be done....along with lots of sleeping.

EatinAintCheatin wrote: We may take Hwy 98 back though, which would put us right there.

There's also a McGuire's in Destin as well. We evacuated to Destin for Gustav (I know, tough life, etc., but it was the only reservation we could get at the last minute), and didn't find out until the last day there that they had opened just about 3 miles from the condo. Since we were packing up to head home, and had to go pick up our puppy who was boarded in Niceville, we just didn't have time to make the stop.
Anyway, have a safe trip and fun time, and come back and tell us all about it.