Asian in a Strange Land

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.

Just goes to show how much I don’t pay attention to current events–the 2011 Jackson Restaurant Week (inaugural?) is October 2-8, 2011, and since it’s the 5th right now it’s already underway.  There are a bunch of participating restaurants, and I think some are giving discounts while others are doing package meals of a special appetizer + entree + dessert for a nice price (although I’ve spotted a few that look like they might be regular price).  You can also vote for your favorite local charity while at participating restaurants, and the winning charity will receive $10,000.  Definitely at least check it out and see if anything piques your interest

China Express Restaurant at closing time

Score another local find for Denise.  A couple months ago she noticed that China Express Restaurant had taken up residence in the old location of the by-then-defunct Euphoria Smoothies and said that some Asian folks were eating in there.  I remember her saying that but for some reason it didn’t register in my consciousness that this could be the first solid Chinese place in Clinton, so we didn’t go until recently after being reminded of its existence by a friend from church (thanks, James!).  Maybe the name made me dismiss it right off the bat, but whatever the reasoning at the time I was sorely mistaken.  Oh, China Express… please forgive me for neglecting you.  I prone myself before you both begging for mercy and basking in your magnificence, for you are truly a marvelous restaurant–to my knowledge the first and only authentic Chinese restaurant in Clinton.

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Burrito Mexpress

“Burrito Mexpress”!?  Really!?  The name of this new restaurant in Clinton filled me with nothing but doubt.  Thankfully Denise convinced me that we should try it, and because of that we’ve discovered the first authentic Mexican restaurant in Clinton and the best tacos in town.

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Posting about Lula’s Cafe reminded me of this since they have similar food.  Since my 1st post about Froghead Grill a couple years ago we’ve been back quite a few times.  Good food and a nice variety–what’s not to like, right?  Well, let me throw some caveats out there:

• The excellent calamari appetizer is dead.  Deceased.  Done for.  Not on the menu anymore.  Quite a shame, that.
• Speaking of items coming off the menu, they like to rotate items on and off the menu.  As far as I can tell it’s not for reasons like seasonal ingredients or anything.  Point is, don’t get too attached to anything as it might not be on the menu next time you go.  Assuming their online menu is kept up to date, I’d check it before heading out.
• Service is slow and scatterbrained.  If you’re getting food to go, be prepared to wait a long time unless you get there super early to beat the dinner rush.  Then make sure you double-check your order because if they forget anything and you call them up they’ll offer to have the missing item(s) ready for you to come pick up yourself before begrudgingly also offering you a free dessert after you complain about leaving your hot food at home to pick up the item(s) they forgot.

Despite all that, I must say that if you’re dining in and have no particular attachment to any dish on their menu and you’re not in a rush, they do a good job with their food.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal there food-wise, so it’s still a good place to eat if you’re in Clinton.

Lula's Cafe

Working through some backlog items here.  What can I say?  I’m a prolific eater but not a prolific blogger.  We had lunch at Lula’s Cafe a while back when they were just getting started.  Lula’s Cafe is a Southern food restaurant in Clinton.  They serve breakfast and lunch on weekdays (they weren’t open on weekends when we went, but call them to find out for sure).  They’re a soup/salad/sandwich kind of place with a sprinkling of Southern dishes and a daily plate special.

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Tiger Roll and Tsunami Roll at Edo

Just a quick public service announcement reminding everyone that Edo is still the best sushi restaurant in Jackson.

Sofia's sushi

Sofia and her chipmunk cheeks agree.

Denise feeding Penelope Chicken Teriyaki

So would Penelope if she had sushi.  Not quite ready for that yet, so she had Chicken Teriyaki instead.

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.

Babalu

Babalu Tacos & Tapas is a trendy new restaurant on Duling Avenue in the Fondren district of Jackson that serves (surprise!) tacos and tapas, among other things.  Denise tells me there used to be a tapas place in Jackson, but it must not have done very well because it’s long gone.  Having wanted to try tapas for a long time but not having the chance to, Babalu is a sort of answer to that wish.  “Sort of” because if I had to categorize it (and I’m just as hopeless at categorizing food as I am music) I’d call it Mexican/Spanish-Southern/American fusion.  It has a distinct Mexican base with its tacos, empanadas, enchiladas, etc., as well as Spanish with tapas; but the end product is very much informed by American sensibilities in general and Southern sensibilities in particular.  So it’s not authentic tapas but, as is increasingly apparent to me, food doesn’t have to be 100% faithful to original regional/national recipes to be good.

As for the “trendy” bit, Denise and I are decidedly un-trendy.  We don’t wear the latest fashion, drive a late model car, or even bother to go to the movies or watch popular TV shows to stay current.  So as it seems everybody in town has eaten at Babalu twice already, we just got around to our first visit last week.  Now we’re sorry we didn’t go sooner because in this case “trendy” has a healthy helping of substance to go with its style. » Continue Reading…