Jackson Jambalaya

That Cerami's review is still valid! I ate at the old one twice and gave up, I ate at the new one twice and gave up. The last time I was there they brought the shrimp scampi out with no sauce, plain noodles and shrimp. Bleh. The best cappuccino I've ever had came from the old Cerami's though and sometimes I kinda wish I had gone back for another but the food was so lackluster that I never could bring myself to make the trek.

The sad part for me is reading the locations of these former restaurants and realizing what those addresses look like now.

The old ceramics was a dump worthy of condemnation. There was a sheet in a corner of the dining room pinned to two walls to catch debris falling from the ceiling.

The lasagna was good, because there were no other good Italian restaurants on the north side of town (there was the one in south Jackson, the name escapes me that was awesome)

It's hard to believe there was a time when a paper had the guts to print these reviews. You know they caught some heat when bad reviews came out.

Redneck

The one in South Jackson you are thinking of is Mario's I bet

Seeing these old reviews makes me miss them even more.

Thanks for posting them, KF.

Glad y'all are getting a kick out of these old columns.

Wonderful reading these again. Oh to have such talent reviewing today! I remember all the restaurants except Cisco's. Where the heck on the west Frontage Road between N'side and Briarwood was that? I remember El Chico, but that was later I think. The only Tex-Mex I remember on the west side was a small, family owned place that was where The Green Room is now, but I remember that closed in the 70's and was not technically "on" the Frontage Road.

Let me add my thanks for your efforts always to be increasing the variety of your posts. Going in and reviving classic Jackson culture is especially praiseworthy. And while I'm here, I would like to apologize to Mme. Brillat-Savarin for what now seems like a rude response on my part. I can only say I was in a funk of some sorts. It is more the worse because I share her appreciation of Sherry Lucas and Annie Oeth, which I should have made clear at the time. Mea culpa.

Does anyone remember Mary Alice Bookhart? She was from even further back...back when "society columns" were eagerly perused by those bored with the "hard news." I suppose the passing of this era was good for the little locals like the *Northside Sun*, that thrive on this sort of pleasant stuff. They do it well, but should maybe not try to pump in gravitas and "relevance" with lame editorials.

A Burke: pas de problème, mon ours. Moi, je connais le chien noir aussi, et je
suis coupable d'écrire des mots inciviles moi-même, quand il attaque.

Many thanks, I think. Got to do some translating.(Note: Brillat-Savarin, when of the Y chromosome persuasion, was my eponymous ancestor's contemporary.)