Neighborhood Business Highlight: Snackbar
Chef John Currence is known throughout Oxford for his four fantastic restaurants: City Grocery, Big Bad Breakfast, Boure and Snackbar. These restaurants helped to elevate Oxford’s restaurant scene and continue to draw visitors (and locals) year round. Snackbar continues to be one of our favorite restaurants in Oxford!
We recently spoke with Jeffrey Grimes, who handles marketing for Snackbar. He shared, “Snackbar opened back in 2009, with an emphasis on creating a communal space, hence the 20 seat community table. Originally, it had an "English hunting lodge" feel with classic New Orleans cocktails. Since then, it has transformed into something else with Chef Vishwesh Bhatt at the helm as Executive Chef. He uses "Southern" ingredients and molds it with French and Indian cuisine. He is really a genius in this respect. Aside from Chef Bhatt, Snackbar has Sous Chef, Kate Marshall; General Manager, Allie Hamil; Assistant General Manager, Lauren Grimes; and Beverage Director, Derek Baker, all working together to make Snackbar what it is: special.”
With football season fast approaching, Oxford will experience a rush of visitors each weekend and Snackbar does take reservations 30 days out from each game. You could get reservations for every game and have a completely new experience each time at Snackbar, since they change their menu frequently. Jeffrey shared, “The menu is ever-changing. Every four weeks, Chef Bhatt and his team will use seasonal ingredients to create a menu. It's things like this that help keep Snackbar relevant. It's never the same experience, in a good way. You can come one month, and the next have a completely different dinner menu. The same goes for the Bar Menu. Derek works hard on getting interesting, new wines, as well as, crafting cocktails that awaken the senses...and allow you to take a moment and chill.”
We ask our Neighborhood businesses how the Oxford and Lafayette county real estate market affects them. Jeffrey shared, “There is definitely a large group of our guests that have "weekend" getaways in Oxford. Also, we host numerous Ole Miss parents during various parts of the year. Move-in, move-out, etc. And just the other day, we had a real estate broker from Jackson, MS in 3 nights in a row. He must know what's up!”
We are grateful to Snackbar for providing that communal, neighborhood space for everyone to come, feel welcome, get a delicious cocktail or a fantastic full meal with friends. Snackbar is located at 721 North Lamar Blvd. They are open Tuesday – Thursday 5:00-10:00 pm, Friday – Saturday 5:00-10:30 pm and Happy Hour Drinks & Oysters are available Tuesday – Saturday 4:00-5:00 pm.
Neighborhoods close by: North Lamar Historic Residential, The Morgan, Savannah Square, Avent Acres, The Lamar