In Ocean Springs, Maringouin appears to be another Southern restaurant in a small coastal town: wood-grain tables lined with delicate plates bearing sketches of oyster shells, soft beige walls hung with a portrait of pelicans whose wings drip with gold foil. Even its name, translating to “mosquito,” is Louisiana French.
But the impression begins to shift with the food.
The menu travels from the Gulf Coast to East Asia: six chewy sausage and shrimp gyoza submerged in a thin red coconut curry; lamb chops served over a creamy, green salsa verde; slices of crisp pork belly scattered with crushed peanuts and mint, served on skewers. Each plate is arranged with an artist’s precision, the dumplings laid out in a zigzag pattern and the lamb chops stacked atop one another.
These details helped earn Maringouin a place in the Michelin Guide to the American South last week, making the restaurant one of four on the Mississippi Coast to be recommended by Michelin. And it did so less than six months after opening inside The Roost, boutique hotel on the cusp of downtown Ocean Springs.
For executive chef Brennan Edmonds, 26, the recognition was more than reassurance that the restaurant was moving in the right direction. Edmonds, who helped curate the menu alongside former executive chef Lauren Joffrion, sees it as a sign that “the tide is turning” for young chefs and women who view the culinary arts as a form of self-expression.
Sous chef Kaylee Seymour and executive chef Brennan Edmonds sit together at Maringouin. Hannah Levitan New Orleans Advocate
“Young chefs have a voice and want to be heard,” he said. “Women chefs have a voice and want to be heard.”
The recognition also points to a broader evolution in the Mississippi Coast culinary scene, where more restaurants are sourcing fresh produce and meat from local farms amid growing consumer interest in health-conscious dining.
For Joffrion, the menu was guided by that farm-to-table approach.
“The process behind creating the menu was I wanted to use as many fresh ingredients as I could,” she said. “Literally everything there is handmade from scratch.”
In January, Joffrion and Edmonds began developing ideas for the menu, turning to their upbringings in the South for inspiration.
Edmonds recalled spending his early years in his father’s restaurant, Jambalaya Shop in La Place, where he would run around, sometimes throwing rocks into the gumbo from outside, and watch the cooks prepare Cajun dishes. Joffrion, a Gulfport native, drew on the South American, Asian and southern cuisine she grew up eating at her parents’ house.
“I took all of my favorite things that were classics and combined them to get different results,” Joffrion said, pointing to the butter bean hummus and lamb chops as examples.
Joffrion and Edmonds used Staigle’s Steakhouse in Wiggins, Maringouin’s sister restaurant that is temporarily closed, as a platform to share their creations. They soon found that customers were receptive to flavors once scarce on the Mississippi Coast: fresh ingredients and culinary influences that extended beyond the region’s traditional fare.
Maringouin has sold more than 10,000 gyozas, each folded by hand — a process that takes an hour to produce just 60. Hannah Levitan New Orleans Advocate
By April, the Maringouin menu was complete. Joffrion described it as “the most ‘me’ a menu has ever been. I put my soul into that menu, so it’s very special.”
Since opening in May, Joffrion and Edmonds have watched dishes they spent months experimenting with, serving and perfecting become bestsellers. The restaurant has sold more than 10,000 gyozas, each folded by hand — a process that takes an hour to produce just 60.
In the kitchen, the team maintains its no-shortcuts approach while continuing to nurture young talent, including 21-year-old sous chef Kaylee Seymour, who assembled the plates of gyozas, lamb chops and pork belly skewers.
Seymour said part of what sets Maringouin apart is the “soul and heart and care” the team puts into its food, its people and its cooking processes, rather than prioritizing revenue. She recited a quote by cookbook author and chef Jeremy Fox: “Peace tastes better than anxiety.”
“So if we’re making your food calm, with peace and love,” she said, “It will always come out better than in a hostile environment.”
