Robert St. John Opens The Downtowner in Downtown Gulfport

GULFPORT, Miss., June 9, 2026 — Veteran Mississippi restaurateur Robert St. John opens The Downtowner today in downtown Gulfport, marking his first restaurant venture on the Gulf Coast after decades of building his reputation in Hattiesburg. The new breakfast and lunch café occupies the historic Triplett-Day Building at the corner of 14th Street and Highway 49.

The opening fills a highly anticipated gap in Gulfport's dining landscape. St. John's New South Restaurant Group has operated multiple successful concepts in Hattiesburg, but The Downtowner represents the group's first deliberate move toward coastal Mississippi, positioning the brand inside one of downtown Gulfport's most recognisable landmarks.

A Community Café Built Around Gulfport's Story

St. John designed the restaurant to reflect the city's own identity rather than import a formula from elsewhere. The dining room features more than 1,000 historical photographs, community keepsakes and artefacts drawn from Gulfport's past, displayed throughout the space alongside a dedicated area called the Triplett-Day Room.

The Triplett-Day Room preserves photographs, memorabilia and artefacts from the pharmacy that previously occupied the building, honouring the generations of Gulfport residents who spent time there.

"The Downtowner was created to be a restaurant that truly reflects Gulfport's story," said St. John, owner and restaurateur. "We wanted to honour the history of this iconic location while creating a place where people can gather, celebrate and make new memories."

St. John described his broader vision for the space as a classless community table. "It's just a community café where everybody is welcome and everybody can eat young, old, black, white, rich, poor," he said. "We want the entire community in there."

Menu Rooted in Southern Heritage Cuisine

The Downtowner's menu draws on what St. John calls "heritage cuisine" dishes sourced from his family's recipes and rooted in Mississippi's culinary traditions. Breakfast centres on scratch-made biscuits, buttermilk pancakes and butter produced at a family farm in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

The lunch menu carries Southern classics including meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, black-eyed peas, turnip greens, butter beans and cornbread. Friday and Saturday evenings extend the offering into Gulf seafood, with stuffed flounder, broiled fish, trout almondine, fried shrimp and fried oysters on the menu.

The concept draws parallels with St. John's Midtowner restaurant in Hattiesburg, another community-focused café from the New South Restaurant Group, though the coastal location adds the weekend seafood programme as a distinct feature.

For more on Southern dining traditions and seasonal ingredient profiles, visit HCP Good Food's .

Historic Building Gets New Life After Construction Project

Construction on The Downtowner began in May 2025 under contractor Dan Hensarling Incorporated. The build-out transformed the Triplett-Day Building's long-vacant retail floor into a full-service café while preserving and showcasing the structure's architectural character.

St. John has spoken publicly about his intent to make the space feel as though it has occupied the corner for decades. "When you walk into The Downtowner, it'll feel like that place has been there since 1948," he said during earlier interviews ahead of the opening.

The restaurant operates Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with extended Friday and Saturday evening service. The address is 2429 14th Street, Gulfport, Mississippi 39501.

Full details on the menu and hours are available on The Downtowner's official Instagram.

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