This is a nice little spot close to the Grand Hotel where I was staying. Tablecloths and black garbed waitstaff cooly reciting the specials when they returned with whatever drink you had requested. Like a lot of places, Cotton Alley emphasizes their New Orleans connection with their menu and they are both river towns. What distinguishes our northern neighbor though, is the emphasis on desserts. When I looked in and saw this, I had to take a table.
I can’t think of many places in BR or NO that aren’t bakeries that have a dessert display case in the dining room. Dessert carts are pretty rare as well, but it is a thing up here and also in Huntsville, Alabama, the next leg on my journey. Here’s a pic from the City Cafe Diner up there.
So how about we skip to the chase and look at the house made chocolate eclair I had for dessert (fancy name for Mississippi mud pie) , then circle back to the beginning of the meal?
Yes, it was delicious. This one had a graham cracker crust, and you can see the s’mores resemblance. Not really anything like an eclair, but tomato, tomahto. The house salad dressing was a very brisk and interesting garlic/sour cream concoction, and the house pasta was a bechamel with tomato, artichoke, and capers. I do love the kick capers bring to everything from smoked salmon to pizza to pasta sauces. I got them to sub shrimp for the grilled chicken it normally comes with.
Part of the elite funkiness that every operator in downtown historic Natchez ascribes to is splashes of local art on the walls, and sculpture where there’s room for it. I, of course, am all in. Anyone who gives local artists an opportunity to display their work scores points in my book. Everything at Cotton Alley Cafe was a positive, and I enjoyed it very much, but it doesn’t really rank as can’t miss. If you are in Natchez and something else catches your eye then by all means check that one out, but if you are casting about for a place to just chill and have a good meal then linger over coffee and dessert or an aperitif before taking a stroll along the river, Cotton Alley Cafe will always be there for you.
