Babalu

A great chef is not constrained by place. Chef Ferris’ vocational map is evidence of this: From his beginnings at the acclaimed City Grocery in Oxford, MS, to the New England Culinary Institute back south to Walker’s Drive-In (where he trained under Derek Emerson) in Jackson, MS, to the position of Executive Chef at the Viking-owned Giardina’s in Greenwood, MS, Chef Ferris has fed not only countless hungry patrons but, more importantly, his own passion and hunger for knowledge. Chef Ferris has been on the move. Not because he cherishes truck-stop cuisine, but because the restaurant business is his calling, and he has been willing to go wherever it takes to answer and satisfy it. That calling, that passion, that hunger—all of it—has led him to Babalu, where he’s excited (perhaps even a bit tickled) to create the bold, intense, flavorful food that makes Babalu’s clientele happy and heartened. When he’s not at Babalu, Chef Ferris is most likely in the kitchen at home, cooking for his wife and two daughters or the friends who stop by to enjoy his food (his company, too, but let’s be honest—it’s the food. It’s always the food).