The Little Dooey welcomes famous chef and artist
Famous Mississippians of the show "Palate to Palette" hopped off a bus Wednesday afternoon at The Little Dooey to dine the Fellowship Hall.
The Food Network chef Robert St. John and award-winning watercolor artist Wyatt Waters are currently with 40 tourists on a "Magical Mississippi Tour."
Throughout the journey they experience food, music, culture and art in the deep south. Waters finds inspiration to paint at least two pieces each stop.
The duo piece their experiences into a collaboration of books. So far they have written "A Southern Palate," "Southern Seasons," "A Mississippi Palate" and "An Italian Palate."
The idea for the Magical Mississippi Tour started while they were in Italy.
"Our third book we did together was done in Italy for 10 weeks and while we were doing that people asked us to start taking them on tours to Italy. I'm a restauranteur and chef and he's an artist," St. John said.
"We woke up in Oxford, went to Tupelo, we're here and it'll be Meridian and then Hattiesburg tonight. So we're in the delta for the last two days," St. John added.
Wyatt is from Clinton, Mississippi and owns the Wyatt Waters Gallery there. He's known for his watercolors of southern culture. St. John has worked with Waters for 20 years and describes him as "prolific," saying he will pass by something that Waters would find creatively irresistible to paint.
Together they have just finished their fourth season of Mississippi Public Broadcasting series "Palate to Palette with Robert St. John and Wyatt Waters."
St. John owns seven restaurants, including The Purple Parrot which was named the best fine dining restaurant in Mississippi, with a Four Diamond rating.