An Indonesian in Mississippi. Not as catchy as "An Englishman in New York"
Appetite for Jackson
We made it to Appetite for Jackson after all, and I’m glad we did. Fun event that can be completely free if one so chooses, good food and music, a celebrity appearance, and a warm (by winter standards), beautiful day–what’s not to like?
Appetite for Jackson is happening Saturday, 1/28/2012, 2:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the new Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The event will feature great food from local restaurants and live bands. All proceeds benefit the Craig Noone Miracle League (Craig was the recently deceased co-owner of Parlor Market). If that’s not enough to get you to attend, eatjackson.org says Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame will be there as well sometime between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm, and according to visitmississippi.org he’ll be there with his TV crew for his new show Appetite for Life.
Admission is free. Just pay $5 per plate for food from any of the participating restaurants if you so choose. Otherwise just enjoy the event. If you need parking “there will be free parking at City Center across from Thalia Mara Hall on Pascagoula Street during the event” per Appetite for Jackson’s Facebook wall. Also according to posts on their wall this will be a family friendly event, which means you might see us there. Look for the Asian guy with the big camera (as if that’s not stereotypical enough) with wife and 2 kids in tow.
What: Appetite for Jackson
Where: Mississippi Museum of Art
When: Saturday, 1/28/2012, 2:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Why: Awesome food and music, proceeds benefit the Craig Noone Miracle League, and Andrew Zimmern will be there
Appetite for Jackson Facebook page
Appetite for Jackson website (How about some contact info, peeps? I want to volunteer to take event photos since it’s for a good cause, but I can’t figure out who to contact and how.)
Craig Noone, chef/owner of Parlor Market passed away last night. He was involved in a fatal car accident.
I don’t do a very good job of keeping up with local news. The only reason I know about this is that yesterday I had wrangled a couple friends to go with me to Parlor Market today, and this morning one of those friends told me the news. I went to Parlor Market for the first time a couple weeks ago and had been working up a head of steam to go back a few more times, try a few different dishes, and report on the restaurant (not that it needed any publicity boost–it’s pretty popular already).
From what I’ve heard from friends and other people who are Parlor Market regulars, Craig really changed the game in Jackson. He was all about local and seasonal, which are big trends elsewhere but strangely not in Jackson until he opened Parlor Market. I’ve only met him once so I can’t speak to his character, but as far as the food scene in Jackson I know that he’ll be sorely missed.
Parlor Market is closed through the weekend. I don’t know what will happen to it but hope that it continues on.
Steve's Downtown Deli
This is a long overdue post on Steve’s Downtown Deli, one of the best lunch spots in downtown Jackson. It’s the closest restaurant to my office, so whenever I’m in a rush or can’t be bothered to walk further for lunch, Steve’s is a constant standby. Maybe I’ve taken them for granted all this time. Forgive me, Steve! » Continue Reading…
That should be “… or lack thereof.” There still aren’t food trucks in Jackson, and it seems that there’s a war brewing between those in favor and those not. Gringo Tacos and Tortas is a food truck business that is awaiting a Jackson city ordinance governing food trucks before launching. Their Twitter feed shows that they are confident they’ll be able to serve food somewhere in the Jackson Metro area, but less overtly confident about doing so in downtown Jackson where I think they’d do great business if permitted. A quick read of a couple articles from Gannett’s local newspaper branch explains why downtown might be a tricky proposition:
Ideas for regulating food carts collide in Jackson
Food fight? Eateries want say
On the one hand I can understand restaurant owners’ concerns regarding the stagnant business lunch crowd audience in downtown and the danger to their business by allowing food trucks to come and go. On the other hand if they’re only doing lunch business maybe they should consider packing up and doing trucks of their own instead of maintaining hefty downtown rent for 5 meals a week. Besides, what other businesses get to tell city council not to allow competition to open up nearby for fear of losing to the competition? Anti-competitive much? Steve Long of Steve’s Downtown Deli (their brisket wrap is superb) has the right idea, saying that he wants in. We need forward thinkers like him, not those trying to cling to outdated business models and stifle competition instead of keeping up through improvement and innovation.
The only argument I’ve seen against food trucks is they’ll negatively impact existing eateries. I’d like to know if I’m just missing the point here, but that’s no kind of argument in a country that (mostly) favors free commerce. Whatever happens, this will be an interesting battle in light of Jackson’s recent efforts to mimic more modern and forward-thinking cities in terms of city planning. I have a feeling there will be tight restrictions on when, where, and how food trucks can operate. I have no issue with regulations, but if past Jackson policy is any indication I fear we might end up with an ordinance straight out of the dark ages instead of something progressive and modern. I hope I’m wrong. I’ll definitely be watching.
Edit 4/20/2011: Found this post at Jackson Jambalaya with supposed details of the proposed ordinance. The comments section contains comments from none other than Tom Ramsey, the chef pushing the Gringo Tacos and Tortas truck, and Jeff Good who was quoted as being concerned about the effect of food trucks on downtown eateries. Good stuff here.
Time to get your Fair on! The weather is finally cold, at least until the sun comes out, and the 2010 Mississippi State Fair starts tonight at 5 p.m. Admission and parking are free on weekdays from 10 a.m. through 1 p.m., although rides don’t start until later (see daily schedules). Get all the details at the Mississippi State Fair Commission site. Deep fried Oreos here I come.
Hurry
I had hosted Nifty for quite some time–too long really by the somewhat loose rules of the Nifty exchange program–so it was time to say ‘goodbye’. The night before I was to pack him up for his trip to his next host, I took him up to the top level of the parking garage next to my office and took some shots, including the last two posts here and here. Jackson doesn’t have much of a skyline, but I showed Nifty the sights anyway. He’s the silent type, so I don’t know what he was thinking, but I think it was a bitter-sweet moment for him too. We’ve had some good times together these past few weeks. » Continue Reading…
Taste of the Island Caribbean Take-Out
I’m blessed to be able to split work time between the office and home–3 days a week in the office and 2 days at home. Still, going to the office can be a drag, and on office days a good lunch can just make the whole day. Today I walked a block away to Taste of the Island Caribbean Take-Out for my lunch. This is actually the 2nd day in a row that I’ve been there. Yesterday was my 1st time ever.
Taste of the Island is a Caribbean cuisine restaurant on the corner of Capitol and President in downtown Jackson. You can see from the outside that they took over what used to be a diner-style restaurant that closed a while back. I had seen the temporary banner they put up a while back while renovating the place and had been excitedly waiting for them to open. » Continue Reading…