The Bright Star rates up there as one of my favorite southern restaurants. It's out of another era, a kinder, gentler and more gentile South.

And they do chicken and dumplings right. My definition of "right" is how I see the dish in my mind's eye - chunks of chicken in a rich chicken gravy with tiny soft dumplings dropped in. This is one of those dishes everyone makes differently. It's always good, but usually different than I was expecting.

Started with a bowl of seafood gumbo. One of their specialties and packed with crab.

May 2005