NATCHEZ — Elbert Williams proudly has the nickname “Heavy” for a very obvious reason.

But as a front yard chef it suits him because everyone knows that a small cook can’t be a good cook.

On Sundays his prowess with food is on full display when a group of lifelong friends come to his house almost as religiously as they attend church.

“They come over to my house,” Williams said, “Because they know I’ll be cooking, and they know it will be good.”

When The Dart landed Sunday on Irving Lane in Natchez, Williams was in his front yard preparing to fry some fish.

“We always try to do something different,” said Anthony Goodwin, Williams’ son, who was hanging out with him.

Williams sits by the fryer and waits for the usual 10 to 15 of his friends to show up.

“This has been going on ever since I can remember,” Goodwin said. “They come over and eat and sit in the backroom and watch football.”

Even after football season is over the get-togethers don’t end. Even though the sport they are watching changes, Williams’ cooking is always the constant.

And for the most part, he is a self-taught chef.

“I’ve always been cooking,” he said. “My mom was always cooking too, but I mostly learned it all from doing it.”

For Goodwin, his father’s cooking extends past Sunday into every part of his life.

“If I was ever planning something,” he said. “I always knew it would be here and he would be cooking.”

“We know it will be good.”

But on Sundays for Williams, Goodwin and who every else comes over, the food, no matter how good, is a means to an end.

“It is all about relaxing,” Williams said. “We are just trying to take it easy before the next week starts.”