Magnolia Bend Grille

For A Friend

Continuing this series of "birthday dinners" that was never intended, I went to Nesbit, Mississippi to dine at a restaurant owned by a longtime friend. Originally, I planned to eat there on my actual birthday but that proved to be a logistical problem. With my driving privileges suspended due to bad judgment on my part, getting to the Magnolia Bend Grille from Memphis wasn't easy, as in not cheap. So I had to postpone going there that day, eventually dining at a more practical restaurant. I went to McEwen's for an excellent dinner with a bonus of being waited on by one of my favorite servers, Haley. A few days later, my Dad took me to Char for another birthday dinner (after a previous pre-birthday dinner at the restaurant's Nashville location). That was followed up by a "birthday adjacent" dinner at Ecco the night before the Nesbit trip where I had a tasty pork chop that was far better than the one I had at another restaurant the year before (a big disappointment from the 2025 "Best Restaurant" according to readers of the Memphis Flyer). Needless to say, I did a lot of eating in the weeks surrounding my birthday. Despite all that, I wasn't going to let my friend down by not visiting his place (he probably doesn't see it that way). With that in mind, I was determined to get to Magnolia Bend Grille for my last "birthday dinner" and hopefully see my friend, Chef Michael Patrick.

Magnolia Bend Grille is a part of the Bonne Terre wedding and event venue in Nesbit, Mississippi, a few miles west of Southaven. Judging from the pictures, it looks very impressive in terms of landscape. The restaurant is embedded deep into the resort, definitely not pedestrian friendly (especially at night when there's little lighting on the property). When I got there, it was dark so I couldn't see anything that was noteworthy. Still, I wasn't there to sightsee, but rather get my final "birthday dinner" of 2025.

This time, instead of getting a fancy appetizer (something I couldn't afford due to the expense of getting to the restaurant), I opted for the house salad before getting the main course. After looking over the menu, I crossed off some things that I had at Chef Mike's former restaurant Rizzo's Diner (including the delicious Lobster Pronto Pups) and decided to get the Pan Seared Salmon. Crusted with Panko breading and placed atop sautéed spinach and green beans in pistachio cream sauce, the salmon plate looked great. In terms of taste, dipping the salmon in the cream sauce produced a buttery flavor that was very delicious. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't sense any pistachios in the cream sauce, but it was flavorful nonetheless and enhanced everything in the plate including the vegetables that were good on its own. If money wasn't a factor, I probably would have gotten a glass of white wine to go with the entrée, but light beer in the form of a Michelob Ultra proved very suitable. In all, the Pan Seared Salmon was great, showing again why my friend Mike is one of the Mid-South's best chefs.

After I finished my salmon, I was ready to head back to Memphis but apparently, I wasn't done with my dinner. My server, very friendly and attentive, told me that I had dessert coming. I almost forgot that I was celebrating my birthday, albeit after the fact. I ended up getting the Blueberry White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bourbon caramel sauce and whipped cream, with a candle on top and additional blueberries. The bread pudding was very filling as well as sweet. It was so filling that were it not for my conversation with Chef Mike (who is very happy that he made the move with his wife to Mississippi), I might have stopped halfway through the dessert and gotten the rest of it to go. Fortunately, I eventually finished the delicious dessert (that was "comped") and completed another extraordinary meal from Chef Mike.

Although the food at Magnolia Bend Grille is excellent, I'm not sure if this dinner would have happened if I wasn't friendly with the chef. As I explained earlier, getting there wasn't easy. Knowing that an expensive Uber ride was infeasible, I tried to employ a tactic that I used before. When I went to Prince's Hot Chicken in Nashville (another in my series of "birthday meals"), I took a couple of city buses to get there. It didn't make sense to pay fifty dollars to a ride share service to get a twenty-five dollar meal. Despite it being time consuming, it was worth it in the end. Logically, it made sense to use that same tactic to get to Chef Mike's restaurant. The only difference between the two trips was distance from the bus stop to the restaurant. Unlike Prince's that was two blocks away during the day, my night trip to Nesbit had me getting off the bus far short of Chef Mike's restaurant. I figured it would cost about ten bucks to get there via ride share, but things didn't go according to plan. With the bus being so slow and me running late, I got off the bus far short of where I intended to depart (Elvis Presley and Holmes). I figured "ok, I will spend fifteen bucks to get to Nesbit." That calculation was a bit off, for my eventual Lyft ride from Elvis Presley Boulevard (a few blocks from Graceland) to Bonne Terre ended up costing me twenty-five dollars, not including the tip. I thought about either returning home or going somewhere in Midtown for dinner, but I wasn't going to disappoint my friend. I have known Chef Mike for about twenty years, and I can attest that he a good friend who has had my back. For friends like that, I will literally go the extra mile to support them. I don't mind doing it, for a good friendship is worth preserving. By the way, my return trip home cost thirty dollars, plus tip. If I ever return to Magnolia Bend Grille, I hope to do it with a friend who is driving but not drinking alcohol. And if I can get there, then no one should have an excuse in not supporting one of the best restaurants in Memphhh... errrrr, Nesbit.

Website: MagnoliaBendGrille.com