| Sunday, March 19, 2006 |
| It shouldn't be this hard... |
The first thing we noticed about Jackson's downtown metro area, beyond the gleaming Capitol dome, the southern charm, parks, statues, City Hall, Courthouse, and office buildings, was its complete and total dearth of people and any retail services to support them. We're talking the Twilight Zone. There are no shops, no restaurants, NO STARBUCKS!! This is the state effin capital of Mississippi for eff's sake - perhaps the last state in the union where there are no Starbucks within city limits. Not to mention: no drug store, retail shops, convienence stores, liquor stores, or any other fast food outlet in the major downtown area (about 6 blocks by 10 blocks). All the retail shops and services are located out along the major interstate - I-55.
This is too bad for a few reasons. One, Jackson is a nice, quintessentially Southern, town. Boring as hell (aside from the Mardi Gras like atmosphere of this weekend), but nice.
So...after all the festivities of the past few days (I'll get there - trust me - I have to work on the photos), and because the weather is cold, dark, windy and stormy today, we are in the position of being able to choose a nice restaurant this evening, wear "normal" clothes (and panties even) and enjoy a nice night out.
Easier said than done.....
We polled a number of people at the Museum of Art today for good restaurant recommendation within walking distance of our hotel (the Marriott, 2 blocks from the Capitol Building, and to which I have to give very good ratings - lovely service, rooms and staff - 2 thumbs up all around). We were usually met with "Hal and Mal's" of course! - where we've LIVED for the last few days, and which has provided most of our meals and entertainment in abundance, or "the Marriot's restaurant is decent". True dat.
So, I Googled "Jackson, MS Restaurants", and was left with a handful of choices, none of which were close or attractive. Most of the 15 hits were chains or casual eatery's, many of which are closed on Sunday. So, I figured, let's check Zagat's for a recommendation - we could do worse - right?
There are no Mississippi Zagat rated restaurants. Not a single one. It's as if the state does not exist in culinary terms, which is totally sad, because of course they do!
After much internet searching and looking in the Yellow Pages and other internet sites, we plan on trying Que Se'ra, Se'ra this evening (I can't link to them since they don't have web site).
Wish us luck.
UPDATE: When we chose a restaurant, especially one that was supposed to be one of the better /best ones in Jackson, I half expected a printed menu. Well, it was printed all right - the menu WAS the placemat. I kid you not. The food was decent. Service was good, and as always, on a vacation such as this....the company was PERFECT and nothing else really mattered. They closed the doors behind us (it was only 9:00 on Sunday night - cut me a break). |
posted by Broadsheet @ 5:10 PM   |
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Good luck!