A turn at the intersection of Highway 6 and Thacker Road is a new restaurant where The Shak and Ezell’s Fish Camp were: Route 6, a place for all the comfort food a Southerner grandmother can think of.
On a grey Saturday morning Steve Westbrook, owner of Route 6, changed the channels on televisions in the restaurant to channels airing SEC games. He may be working until 8 p.m. or so but he won’t miss a game, especially not the Ole Miss v. Aggies game. It was 10 a.m., an hour before it opens at 11 a.m. The building is dark except for the kitchen that glowed through the ordering window. The chef, Gracie Annette Dunn, busied herself making cheeseburgers as if she were at a neighborhood barbecue.
“I love cooking. When I’m upset cooking relaxes me, I just love to do it.” Dunn said, Ole Miss Rebels emblazoned on her dark grey shirt, “I invite my neighbors over to eat a lot, I like to feed everyone.”
The sweet chef has been cooking since she was 13 years old. Her favorite kind of food is “soul food, always.” She brainstorms recipes as she goes, making twists and turns here and there every now and then. “Recipes come to me, and I do it, and it’s good,” said Dunn.
She owned a business in 2010: Grace Restaurant and Catering in Oxford. Now she is a chef for Route 6, a restaurant that has been open for only three weeks today.
Steve Westbrook, clad in a navy Ole Miss shirt, said, “Route 6 has been open for about a couple of weeks. I named it Route 6 just because it’s off Highway 6. We have soul food, slow cooked pig, slow cooked barbecue, everything homemade from desserts to fries, just like your grandma would cook it.”
His favorite dish at Route 6? “All of it.”
Route 6 offers up to three meats and four vegetable (“veggies”) combinations that changes every day for ordering for dining here or to-go. Some days have dishes that appear only once a week. Monday has hamburger steak and corn casserole with fried green tomatoes. Tuesday has fried pork chops with smothered chicken. Wednesday boasts smothered pork chop, meatloaf and turnip greens. Thursday brings grilled pork loin with baked chicken and squash casserole. Friday has catfish and spaghetti with Saturday as BBQ day. Each dish does come with bread to mop up all the goodness left on the plate.
There are more combinations available within the price range from $5.37 to $9.99. Hungry customers can order any meal combinations available per day on the go by calling 662-237-1477.
Here is a photo of Dunn’s two cheeseburgers. The dish immediately reminded this reporter of Sunday cookouts at home when the sun was out and the weather was enough to put a little flush on anyone’s cheeks.
Westbrook then gave a tour of Route 6. It is a large, wooden building that makes one think of Beacon from inside. There is a room to the left of the entrance: “Ole Miss room.” The said room has noticeably smooth floors with same wood paneling as a basketball court. Ole Miss memorabilia line the walls with red and blue.
“Private parties can enter this room from another door so they don’t have to use the main entrance,” said Westbrook.
The restaurant has a bar too but the restaurant is focused on food first, not that it’s not hard to be tempted to order some dishes since the bar counter is next to the kitchen. Any patron can smell whatever Dunn is cooking up from their seats.
The kitchen has more than what meets the eye at the ordering counter. It has room-sized grill with wood-rich smoke that the ribs get roasted in.
For more information the readers can consult Route 6’s Facebook or at its phone number 662-237-1477. Driving to Thacker Road would be best way to try out Southern comfort food.
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Callie Daniels is a reporter for HottyToddy.com. You can contact her about this article at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.
Route 6 Offers Grandmother's Cooking in a Restaurant
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