Dino's Grocery

THE SMALL TOWN CRITIC

- Coop Cooper/A.K.A

Directly off of the south end of Main Street in Rosedale – which also happens to be Mississippi Highway 1 – stands an inconspicuous building just a stone’s throw from the Ol’ Man River.

As you enter the place, you notice a few unique things such as the bar counter made of carefully-placed beer bottle caps of various brands, suspended in a clear shellac. There are also paintings and other artwork hanging on the walls, made by Mississippi artists, and posters for the local Crossroads Blues and Heritage festival held every May in Rosedale. There are also comfortable, homey touches such as checkered picnic-style tablecloths and string lights hanging from the wooden ceiling, not to mention the mouth-watering aroma of steak, seafood, and good, Southern cooking coming from the steam-filled kitchen.

That building is Dino’s Grocery, owned and operated by Cleveland native Joey Lamb, who started working in the restaurant business in his high school days.

“I needed an after school job so I started working at this little steak house in town,” says Lamb. “I went to Delta State, went to Moorhead, and had no idea what I wanted to do. I was still working in restaurants the whole time, so I started picking around online and found this school out in Breckenridge, Colorado, called Colorado Mountain College that had a culinary program. So I went out there, went to school for three years and moved to Nashville at the end of 2002.”

Lamb worked at three or four restaurants in Nashville as a sous chef, dishwasher, and executive chef until 2012 when he moved back to Cleveland.

“I worked in Merigold at Crawdad’s for four and a half years, then I bought this place,” says Lamb. “I leased Crawdad’s for three years. I was the proprietor, but I never owned it. This is the first place I’ve owned and operated on my own.”