Angela Johnson’s smile lights up the interior of her food truck where she runs her business, Angel’s Eats. Her employees smile a lot, too, testimony to the agreeable atmosphere and the friendly people within it.

Angel’s Eats churns out delicious foods from within a mobile food truck weekdays between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A creation of Angela’s determination to be self-sufficient, the mobile food truck sits in front of Emmett’s Marine at 358 Dale Trail in Brookhaven.

Emmett Johnson is Angela’s husband of 13 years.

“We’ve worked together for 13 years and we were once again on the back porch arguing about something, I don’t know what. And Emmett said, well, what’s gonna make us last?”

It’s not easily apparent if Emmett meant the marriage or the business … or both. Anyway, Angela’s reply came to her pretty easily.

“Get my own business,” she said.

And that started it all.

Angel’s Eats — so named because Angela’s grandmothers called her “Angel” because she “had two older brothers who were meaner than snot” — offers New Orleans flavor right here in Brookhaven. She has poboys — “served on real New Orleans French bread” — in shrimp, roast beef, catfish, oysters and more. She also has smoked turkey, meat pies, boudin balls, boudin egg rolls and hay pickle fries (“deep fried Julianne pickles, served with ranch, remoulade or comeback sauce”).

She offers plate lunches with different seafoods as well cochon de lait (“slow smoked savory pork butt smothered with provolone and homemade spicy Cajun slaw”).

Yet the pièce de ré·sis·tance is her assortment of fascinating french fries. The hand-cut loaded fries can come to you in three variations:

Gravy cheese fries — smothered in debris gravy topped with Swiss cheese

Gumbo fries — thick-cut fries covered in homemade gumbo, topped with cheddar (we tried this and it was divine)

Cochon de lait fries — savory pork topped with pepper jack and spicy Cajun slaw

Angela started this business for many reasons, one being the ability to offer food she felt was needed in Brookhaven. “I can cook gumbo in my sleep,” she says laughing. She had first thought to offer barbecue, but she felt there was already great barbecue being offered in the area. So she went to her roots – she and Emmett are both from Louisiana – and started up this food truck in December 2021. She hopes one day to attend events to provide food from the safety of the truck – a bonus in these pandemic times.

So while Emmett’s Marine continues as “the largest aluminum boat dealer in Southwest [Mississippi],” Angel’s Eats will remain out front near the road, ready to take your order for a good ol’ Cajun meal. Check her Facebook page for her soup of the day or just tell her to add debris to most anything and you can’t go wrong.