Grass Roots Cafe

The food is great and owner Ellis Bradley’s enthusiasm and friendliness is infectious. He and other North Mississippi businesses were struck by a cowardly act of hate crime earlier this summer as someone spray-​painted vile words and symbols on Bradley’s food cart and other nearby businesses. He is currently focusing on catering jobs but I hope his cart comes back. He’s a gem and it’s so sad to see him and the others treated that way.

I live right around the corner from this spot. The hours are consistent which is important for the carts in this hood. The variety is wonderful.

Dear Grass Roots Café, could you please use the BBQ sauce that is less (like…75% less) sweet? While the meat in the pulled pork sandwich was of superior quality and abundance, I found the amount of sugar in the sauce to be just criminal. Strangely enough, I even specifically requested the spicy sauce, which makes me wonder how much sweeter the sweet one is. Or maybe I just need to work on my nodding techniques when asked to make a choice, although «spicy» and «sweet» are too dissimilar of the words to misinterpret. But I’ll share ³⁄₅ of the blame for it anyways (hence, 3 stars) and will choose your sucrose-​infused treats over the ones at McD’s any day, even though I’d probably need an extra can of SanPellegrino to gobble them down.

Ellis makes the best burgers! The mac-​n-​cheese is a guilty pleasure of mine! Now he tells me he’s added bacon to the mac-​n-​cheese, so hard to resist! Ellis is always super nice and has great suggestions! The fries are really good too (Lulu really likes’em too!)

WOW! is the best description I can give. The orange milkshake took us back to childhood and the 2-​Pac Bacon Burger was one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten! Fresh cut steak fries are outstanding and the pulled pork sandwich amazing! If you think I’m exagerating, you better check it out, you won’t be sorry! Thanks Ellis, Dom and gang! Yummy!

I tried this place over the weekend with a friend after we scored Groupon deals that were literally free for BBQ beef sandwiches, fries and drinks. Free BBQ? Why not.
When we arrived, the girl manning the booth had no idea how to redeem our Groupons, which surprised me because I figured there would be plenty of people showing up that day for the Groupon deal; I had her write down our certificate numbers instead. Her boss was out of town for the day and they actually didn’t have that item on the menu that day so she substituted a pulled pork sandwich, fries and a drink for us instead, which was great.
The sandwich is huge, and positively stuffed full of moist, flavorful pulled pork. The bun was pretty substancial and held the meat well, even when it was all sauced-​up; though I chose to eat mine with a knife and fork. We chose the house sauce, but they have a few other options for sauce as well. The fries were a cross between a traditional french fry and a jojo, and were nicely cooked and crispy.
Parking in the area was pretty decent for us and this little cart pod had a small little covered area with picnick tables where we were able to enjoy lunch.
If I end up over at this cart again in the near future I will probably share a plate with whomever I’m with. However, the rest of our food made terrific left-​overs for the friends that we met up with; just spreading the left-​over love.

Our wait was very long. We had ordered 3 things and they were ready at different times about 10 minutes apart so my husband and I ate separately. We had asked for peppers on the burger… there were none. Fries were cold. Pulled pork was dry and the bun was burned, oh and lucky me, I got a nice chuck of bone as I bit into it! The last thing we got were the wings that were ok later that day because we did not get those until after we were done eating. We will not be back.

I had the Fat Darrell it was BBQ pulled pork with peppers on it topped with french fries. The Fries were a tad greasy but tasted fine. The Bacon Mac was good would like to try some more food from it to really figure it out. The best thing that i had was the deep fried Twinkies… mere words cannot express how good these are… I am going back this week to try them again… They also have lots of wings which I did not try and some different looking sauces for them.
P. S. the man behind the counter is really cool and loves to talk food… which I like to do as well ahha.

What a great experience!
With my groupon, I had the chicken and waffles, a huge salad, and the hubby had a veggie burger with sweet potato fries. Enough for two meals. The salad was good, and the blue cheese for the dressing had fresh blue cheese balls. Stop it. No, keep going!
It’s literally been six years since I’ve had chicken and waffles (at Roscoe’s in Inglewood, CA) and I had the craving again. It was wonderful. The waffles were fluffy and the chicken was tender. The dipping sauce was divine.
The veggie burger and sweet potato fries were tasty too. I asked for a side of the sweet chili for the fries and got that plus another that had bacon mixed into it. Mercy, that was wonderful.
An excellent, excellent meal. Thank you Ellis!

Spicy wing challenge! I attempted the Fire Eater Challenge here on 3÷6÷12, merely wanting the thrill of taking down a previously unconquered spicy undertaking.
Ellis had mentioned a couple months back that he would revamp the menu with a spicy challenge and a large burger. He came through on both promises — with a few other tasty morsels to boot.
The Fire Eater Challenge is $ 9.95 and involves taking down 12 wings, coated in his insane heat sauce, in 15 minutes or less. I had all smallish drumsticks on my attempt, making the challenge much easier. You’re allowed about eight minutes for the wings to cool down, so you don’t struggle with both temperature heat and spicy nukage. Winners get their picture on the business website — on the Wall of Fire Eaters — and a $ 5 coupon for your next meal.
The insane heat sauce has ghost peppers, capsaicin, and probably some other fiery goodies. Going into this latest visit, five people had attempted it and zero succeeded. Gee, those are great odds!
Having previously tried the «Bro, that’s stupid hot» chicken burger (which also uses the insane heat sauce), I had an inkling of what type of heat to expect.
Ellis started the timer. Biting into the first wing, I could gauge right then that the challenge wouldn’t be very difficult. When the heat didn’t get overwhelming by the fourth and fifth wings, it was only a matter of time. The wings had a crunchy exterior from the frying process, yet the meat retained some juiciness. Honestly, the wings could have been pulled from the fryer some five minutes earlier. Not the best wings I’ve ever had, but I’ve had worse.
Looking back, I coulda easily cleaned the wings up better, but Ellis counted it anyway. The official time was 2:51. Way to christen the Fire Eater Challenge, eh? Ellis admitted that he «held back» on this batch of insane heat sauce. Now he knows there are people out there that can take these volcanic gutbombs!
Oh! I forgot to sign the waiver before the challenge started! Oops. Didn’t matter anyway.
Yes, I have it all on video. Ellis’ commentary is amusing…
As a bonus to my small, stunned audience, I took a sampler cup of insane heat sauce and chugged it, cleaning the remnants with a spoon. Consuming it like applesauce! Yeah!
Only when I took the sauce straight did I discover its potential power. Over the next few minutes, my throat burned and my stomach threatened mutiny. As time passed, the irritability subsided, with no horrid aftereffects. (I was fine that night and the next morning)
I challenged Ellis to make the sauce hotter, one of massive spicochistic proportions. You know, he should name a sauce after me. I think «spicochist» has that appropriate evil ring to it. For the record, I had previously challenged another chef to up the heat twice for his spicy sauce, so there’s precedent here. You may thank me or curse at me later.
So basically, the wing frying was merely OK. The sauce was enjoyable.
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Ellis has a seriously huge menu. For a «normal» meal, I’d consider such items like his stuffed wings (he has four types) or his Wednesday chicken and waffles special. Fridays and Saturdays feature pork spare ribs.
Are you one for quantity? The «B.F.D. Burger» is a four-​pound mass of humanity. It’s normally $ 20, but $ 15 as a Tuesday special. I’ve seen a photo, and the bun appears thicker than the meat patties. Damn.
One of the most popular burgers is the «420friendsonline Burger» ($ 8). bacon, two beef patties, one egg, mild poblano remoulade, Tillamook cheddar, sweet pickled red onions, lettuce, and fried pickles between… two grilled cheese sandwiches!
Ellis also pitched the Rick Bear Burger ($ 10): two 7 oz. patties, one hot link, one egg, two slices of bacon, mild chipotle mayo, American and provolone cheese, sweet grilled onions, lettuce, and fried pickles between… wait for it… two grilled cheese sandwiches! I think there’s a recurring theme here with the grilled cheese sandwich.
How the hell can I forget dessert? Deep-​fried oreos and Twinkies. A Cherry Bomb («spicy») milkshake. Even a bacon caramel milkshake. WTF. This is torturous food porn material. And to think, I write this stuff all the time. Argh.
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Head to Grass Roots Café to take the Fire Eater Challenge, destroy a huge burger, or get sinful with some other awesome dishes.
I’ll return in the future to redeem my $ 5 coupon and get a «normal» meal here. And judged by the great pictures people have uploaded here, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do…

Well what can I say, I just found this place and don’t know how its not poppin off ²⁴⁄₇. Got the 420 burger, due to the fact every burger needs fried egg, this one has 2, and I love grilled cheese instead of bread. Brunch box has gotten over taken as number 1 burg. I don’t eat much beef so I got a 420 burger with pulled pork instead, yes a pulled pork, bacon, grilled onion, fried pickle, and fried eggs, plus more burger. Must get this, he even said he’d name it after me, SO ORDER THE CHASE M 420 BBQ PORK BURGER. its a few bones extra but the best BBQ I have ever had. Ellis was his grandma’s helper in the kitchen and the lucky devil learned a true trade. GET ON THIS PLACE, its worth a drive and worth the time. Good lord Im in love with this burger joint. Id say either burger I got (420 or bbq pork one today) are the best Burgs I have ever had. The owner is top notch, top notch. Good goooood goooooooood gooooood god its gooood. If he were in a cart on 3^rd or 5^th downtown, he’d own this town by now.

After searching for a food cart that would cater to my need for something veggie and my wife’s desire for some chicken wings, we found a review of this cart on
. I went with a veggie burger and the fries & ‘shrooms, while the wife went with a dozen wings and chili fries.
First off, Ellis is super friendly and loves to talk about his craft, which is really up my wife’s alley, chef that she is. The veggie burger was really delicious, not of the soy variety, but a nice hearty patty of goodness topped with avocado. I was asked if I had anything against carrots, which I do not, so I had a good amount topping the burger, because, as Ellis put it, «I dunno, I got a thing for the color orange lately.»
The fries are spectacular, a nicely seasoned batch of potato wedges. The ‘shrooms, while nice, didn’t add too much to the mix. He also gave me a batch of what he called «420 Sauce», which was a green dipping sauce for my fries. It reminded me a bit of a thinner-​consistency guacamole, very good indeed.
The chili used for the fries my wife got was very, very nice. Even as a vegetarian, I’m not morally opposed to having meat once in a blue moon, which had to be my attitude with these fries, as the chili had nice chunks of pulled pork and just the right amount of spiciness. I was even talked into having a wing, which are ever-​so-​slightly breaded, enough to make them crispy but not enough that you’re fighting through a shell to get to the meat, a la Hooters.
Overall, it’s nice to find yet another great spot for soul food in this town. I’ll be back to try their fish basket and, who knows, if I’m in the right mood, maybe some ribs.