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during steam heat South Over lunch, served family style on a giant Lazy Susan, restaurant owner Andre Davis has seen people go from complete strangers to lifelong friends.
His restaurant, The Dinner Bell, in McComb, Mississippi, has only four tables. Large and circular, they can seat upwards of 15 people. At the center of each is a Lazy Susan holding a stack of plates of food, moving back and forth as customers stack their plates.
On any given day, anyone could be sitting around the table. Davis’s customer base ranges from European tourists to locals. According to Davis, the tables have hosted water treatment plant workers, church groups and a bar, British actor Hugh Bonneville,
“We have people sitting there who had nothing in common except the table they were sitting at,” Davis said.
For restaurant goers, revolving tables provide a unique opportunity to meet new people, hear different perspectives, and connect over the shared enjoyment of classic Southern food and the restaurant’s famous fried eggplant.
“We’ve met doctors, lawyers, teachers,” said Wayne Dyson, a regular customer. “And find out that most people are good people.”
He added, “Especially if they’re eating.”
Dyson and his wife have met countless people from across the country while frequenting the restaurant over the past 40 years. Over lunch earlier this month, the pair quickly mingled with a group of strangers, laughing as if they’d known each other for years.
Justin Monistere and his family stopped by for lunch to celebrate his sister’s graduation from nursing school. By the time he left, he was calling the Dysons “Mom” and “Pop.”
He said, “In today’s time we don’t talk as people. It’s either through messages or through the phone.” This is the first meal he’s had since childhood where no one took out their cellphones, he said. “I think it’s a great thing they’re doing here.”
Unique food style, which is also associated with Sugar Restaurants built in Mississippi in the early 20th century.
According to Charles Morgan, owner of the now-closed Revolving Tables restaurant in Mendenhall, family-style restaurants developed along the railroad tracks to easily serve the large numbers of people commuting by trains.
The restaurant has been in the Morgan family since it opened in 1915. He grew up listening to people talk about politics and college football around an 18-seat table.
Both Morgan and Davis have seen similar restaurants pop up over the years, but there are fewer of them in some parts of the country.
“You definitely don’t see a lot of them anymore,” said Morgan, whose own restaurant closed after his father retired in 2001. She and her sister hope to reopen.
This type of food isn’t for everyone, Davis said. Some people shrink within their social circles, while others blossom.
Some days are quiet, just a few regulars gathered around a table to exchange farming tips. At other times, the restaurant is bustling as tour groups and families chat with adventurers eager to spin the roulette wheel with whom they will sit that afternoon.
Davis said he saw people from all walks of life interacting. Some people form friendships, others have a simple sense of respect. A couple, a widower and widow, met at the restaurant and later got married.
“It’s ridiculous, some people are sitting next to each other,” Davis said. “You couldn’t do it on purpose, you couldn’t plan it, and you couldn’t accomplish it.”