A letter from Midtown · Off The Square
Snackbar
Bouchon-inspired brasserie, Gujarati grandmother — Vishwesh Bhatt's Oxford living room
Bouchon-inspired, Oxford-based
James Beard Award-winning chef John Currence founded Snackbar in 2009 as a Bouchon-inspired Southern brasserie tucked into Oxford's revitalized Midtown shopping center, just off the town Square.
From day one, he handed the kitchen to Vishwesh Bhatt, a Gujarat-born chef who had moved to Mississippi in the late 1990s and started weaving the flavors of his childhood into the raw bar and vegetable-forward menu. Bhatt won the James Beard Best Chef: South award in 2019 and calls Snackbar Oxford's neighborhood 'living room.'
Gujarati grandmother, Mississippi farmer
Bhatt's cooking sits at the intersection of Gujarati grandmother and Mississippi farmer — corn chaat, catfish with curry leaves, okra chaat with sea island red peas.
He rewrites the menu every six weeks, more often in summer, and says he has to stop himself from putting every vegetable of the season on the board.
Off the Oxford Square
Snackbar anchors the Midtown Shopping Center, a short walk from the Oxford Square and Ole Miss campus. It sits alongside Currence's other City Grocery Restaurant Group rooms.
It has become one of the essential stops on any Mississippi food trail — drawing writers, publishers, SEC football weekenders, and Faulkner pilgrims to the same tables.
With gratitude,
John Currence & Vishwesh Bhatt
Founder & Chef, Snackbar
Order this
The dishes that made Snackbar
Corn Chaat
Chef Bhatt's suggested appetizer — charred summer corn tossed with tamarind, cilantro, and chaat masala.
Mississippi Catfish
The entrée Bhatt himself points first-timers toward, prepared with rotating regional and Indian accents.
Raw Oysters on the Half Shell
Gulf oysters served ice-cold at the bar with mignonette and Snackbar's own hot sauces.
Good to know
Snackbar, answered
When should I go?
Sit at the bar for happy hour (4–6pm) for a dozen oysters and one of the restaurant's carefully crafted cocktails.
How do I know what's on the menu tonight?
Ask what changed this week — Bhatt rewrites the menu every six weeks and treats the current sheet as 'a very right-now thing.'
What's the sleeper move?
The vegetable dishes. Order two or three and let them anchor the meal.