The Top 21 Places to Eat Near Southern Roots
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- Wine Enthusiast Forward 50 Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 3. The Noble South
New American
Brick walls, wood tables, and a menu that changes with whatever the nearby farms are sending over, this New American restaurant on Dauphin Street has been quietly doing farm-to-table before the term became an eye-roll. The kitchen keeps things passionate rather than preachy, cycling through snacks, small plates, and entrees that land Gulf shrimp and blue crab alongside local grits. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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- Eater The Best Restaurants Worth Visiting in Mobile, Alabama
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South · Jim Smith
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South · Arwen Rice
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: South · Arwen Rice
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Rank 19. A Mano Panino
Italian
A fast-casual sandwich shop tucked inside a converted historic hospital, A Mano Panino is built around schiacciata, a Tuscan bread that lands somewhere between focaccia and a cracker in the best possible way. Roast beef with demi-glace, ahi tuna with caper mayo, the menu reads like someone took Italian technique seriously but still wanted lunch to be portable. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Grab a seat on the patio.
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Rank 20. Lucky Dough Pizza
Sourdough Pizza
The sourdough starter has a name, Curtis, and the chef tends to it daily with the seriousness most people reserve for houseplants they actually like. Lucky Dough is an outdoor sourdough pizza spot in downtown Pensacola with a menu so tight it reads like a manifesto: two apps, a salad, ten pizzas. The raw-passed tomato sauce tastes less cooked than conjured. Ranked on 50 Top Pizza USA, and the setting still feels like someone's very well-curated backyard.
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