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>> anthony: some time ago something crawled, or slithered, or grew like a fungus. something that started small, got bigger, lurched like a swamp thing out of the mud and moist earth and humid nights of the delta. then, it took over the world. so next time some smart ass foreigner, horrified by our latest ham-fisted foreign policy blunder wonders out loud, "what good is america?" well, you can always pipe up that the blues, rock 'n' roll, r&b, and soul all came out of this place -- one state -- mississippi. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on m...

Is greenwood. a town with a lot of history. most of it of the not good variety. known unfortunately as much for byron de la beckwith, and tom brady's infamous speech after brown v. the board of education as anything else, fairly or not, it's hard to get past that. during all the years of cruelty and struggle from 1933 on, through it all and until today, this place, lusco's, was a beloved institution. once a grocery store, it turned restaurant to the moneyed class, serving them in discreet quarters in the back where one could enjoy an alcoholic beverage in what was then a dry state. still going...

That is just hard to beat. >> geno: isn't it good? >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> geno: it's a good sandwich. >> anthony: and, of course, some hot tamales. which, at this point in history, are about as mississippi as they are mexican. like the blues, they came out of mississippi in the early 20th century, as mexican migrant workers came in to replace african-americans who were headed to work in the great factories and stock yards of chicago and detroit. >> john t. edge: you know, sitting down here, um, eating tamales, we can sketch a history of mississippi. and that's kind of what i'm most interested ...

The red bean, oh man, that looks kinda good too. yeah, a little bit of that. neck bones floating around somewhere? >> woman: they are, they're right here. >> anthony: okay, yeah i'll have some of those. little rice and gravy on there, yeah thanks. and uh, oh i dunno, a piece of fried chicken there, if you got a thigh that would be great. >> john t. edge: okra's perfect. >> anthony: yeah it is. oh man, that's good. >> willie simmons: now here in the south if you want to, you can throw your fork away and just grab the neck bone. >> anthony: oh yeah, i'll be working on that. once -- >> willie sim...

Catfish for mr. edge, the famous pompano for me. >> john t. edge: it's the kind of mark of being a great restaurant in the delta, if you have pompano. >> anthony: it's a big damn fish. no way i'm finishing this. sitting here, the booths, the curtains, the whole "ring bell for service" thing, it seems lost in time. >> john t. edge: we got a real long and ugly history. but one of the things i love about this place is you can't deny the burden of the past, like it's on your shoulder, it's right there. like you know, america chooses to deny its problems. you know, in many ways, you know. i mean, i...