Jackson Jambalaya

So terribly sad.

Never been there

😢

Another one of the few good things about Jackson soon to be gone. Wishing them a wonderful final 45 days. Thankfully, the Mayflower still stands.

You hate to see it, but you can't second guess the decision.

No it doesn't and I am so TIRED of people bragging on the faux Mayflower. I give it 2 years, then GONE.

It's an OK place to eat. A piece of fish, a couple shrimp & a salad for the wife & I will cost $100...We call the place "The Blue Oyster"...

$100?? Rather goto captain D’s

Jackson has great restaurants like Wendy’s and McDonald’s

It was the atmosphere. Patsy Cline and Loretta oldies on the juke box, 1960’s Formica covered tables. If only the walls could talk, what a story they would tell.

And the best onion rings ever!

Ok place? You must be an ok idiot.

The food at Crechale’s is terrific, especially the onion rings. The atmosphere is A+, the regulars like myself appreciate the owner knowing your name and having a conversation with you will you dine. Not another place like it in the metro. Sadly it’s coming to an end, will relish the birthday memories there with my family.

What is the second best place for onion rings now?

The food is terrific, and always has been. It looks exactly the same inside and out as it did the first time I went around 45 years ago - signage, curtains, tables, flooring, etc. and great food. The surrounding area has changed in the intervening years, though.

@6:43 Jackson has a lot better restaurants than all of Rankin County, where you practically only have Wendy’s and McDonald’s!

@6:07pm the food at The Mayflower may not be to YOUR liking but it is the atmosphere and the history of that place that always keep people coming back. It is a real life time machine and a staple of downtown. My gosh you negative assholes SUCK.

My parents went there on their first date in the early 60’s.

One of the last places worth going to in Jackson that wasn’t a chain with other locations in better environs. Other than a few bright spots in Belhaven and Fondren the food in Jackson is about as droll as the population.

Absolutely a shame, a loss - but certainly understand the family's decision. Bob was a staple of both the restaurant industry in the area, and of the area itself. For those that always love to bash Jackson on this site - I don't give a damn what you think about this institution or the other fine places to eat in Jackson, of which there are multiple (unlike the surrounding communities that have grown up around the city.) Yes, there certainly are a few good places to eat in Rankin County; Madison, Ridgeland and even Canton have a few as well, along with a couple in Clinton. BUT, despite all the Jackson haters - those that think it is required to be packing whenever one gets off the interstate while passing through the city, that think there is nothing worth going to within the city - I don't really give a damn for your opinion.

This was a really good place to go spend an evening; food was really good, and they enjoyed you being there. Fresh fish well prepared; and yes - maybe the best onion rings in the state. For those that didn't eat fish, as was true of a couple of friends who made the trek there, there were other good options on the menu.

As to the rest of the city, there are literally dozens of really good homegrown places to eat within the boundaries; and when one wants to take a trek outside, there is always Gibbs and Wyndale within the county and the places that the city's operators have expanded into the surrounding counties like Sacred Ground and Martins.

So - quit using this opportunity to take shots at Jackson when it should be recognizing the lifelong contribution of a fine fellow and his work that many many have enjoyed. RIP Bob; we will miss you and we will miss your fine food and fellowship.

This is what defines Jackson’s suckiness- a second-rate restaurant closes and people mourn and weep.

Going to miss Bob. We met in Little League Baseball. I was the pitcher he was the catcher. Both of our mothers sat on the third base side and gave the umpire unmitigated ______! All the positive comments are great, not sure why people would be so negative. Just part of the culture now, I guess. Going to miss that big guy.

So many great memories and wonderful meals there over the years. We pass there every day, we would see Bob and say we need to go to Crechales soon. We will be going back while we can and might take some friends so they can enjoy it too.

Onion rings--when I was a kid I thought the onion rings at the Red Top on State Street were the best ever.

Another icon goes into the sunset. Bob meeting you at the door thanking you for coming. Meeting you when you leave telling you he appreciates your business. Onion rings and flounder. Oldies on the juke box from Bing Crosby to Dean Martin. The whole staff coming out to sing happy birthday and “hail, hail, the gang’s all here” to some patron. The whole experience was nostalgic and the way life used to be. For those of you that didn’t care for it, no one made you go. For the rest of us, it was a rare chance to step back in time when things were simple and good.
We will miss you Bob and your wonderful little place will live in our memories.

RIP, Mr. Crechale. I have so many great memories of dinners at the restaurant. It's sad but understandable that the family is shutting it down.

While not a gourmand, Lou’s Full Serve slings a bad ass onion ring.

Well said Sir. However, Jackassery is what you will find on this blog through and through.

What defines Jackson's suckiness is January 1, 2026 at 12:34 AM.

Glad he gave his time and talent to us. Great food and times. Let’s see where else we can congregate and make memories

12:34 am is a miserable loser who probably bitches in all restaurants, eats half their food, then sends it back for some lame reason and leaves no tip. You will find no mirrors in their home.

Few restaurants make it past the first 6 months and it was the first restaurant we were taken to in Jackson so it deserves it's place in our memories and history. But, it was never intended to be " fine dining" and the first family death and attempted second Crechale's failure in northwest Jackson began the decline. IMHO, all of you who like to bash Jackson added to the decline, especially with Mississippians who long ago stopped going to south Jackson at all and those who didn't keep up their properties nearby. You can add the competition from the newer mall and closing of your first one. That traffic was lost.

I've never eaten there. The building looks like its about to fall down, and its in a VERY scary area of Jackson.

You must be terribly miserable. A well liked and respected man died and you are so bitter that you need to trash his business. We went to Crechale’s to smile, visit with family and friends, have a laugh and revisit the past. So sorry that many long time employees are losing their jobs.
Your attitude needs to change in 2026.

9:13. Cry in your beer. The Mayflower is a trumped up James beard BS restaurant, run by new age hippies, with so so lunches and no veal cutlets, or the majority of the Mayflower menu. "Mayflower". What a joke. Once the "new" wears of, it is a gonner.

I’d bet anything 12:34 has never even been to Crechale’s. He sees boomers praising it and that’s all he needs to know.

I agree, 8:08, Lou’s makes some terrific onion rings - had some there last night with my shrimp spaghetti.

New Little Tokyo opening soon.

Don’t let the looks fool ya. The building is dated but not falling in. Step inside and admire nostalgia for the last time.

KF could post a story about a nun rescuing a sack of puppies from a river and the troll pricks here lead such wretched lives they would find something to criticize. Must be a miserable way to go through life.

I am hoping Phillip will step up.
+

I hate to see this but I do understand and I imagine it was a difficult decision. My heart breaks for all the long time employees there. And blessings to the Crechale family. You have been a part of our families for so many years. Thank you so very much for being good folks and for giving us a great place to eat and see friends. God bless.

I have honestly never recovered from the loss of Ding How.

I went a few times (I'm from the
Coast) back in the 60s, early 70s. It was pretty good. Didn't go back until around 2000, and it was one of the worst restaurant experiences of my life. "Prime" beef was an outright lie. One of the worst steaks I've ever tried to eat. One fellow diner ordered the "flounder" (it wasn't flounder, and it was spoiled), so she sent it back and ate a salad. The waitress said we couldn't pay at the table, so Bob (I guess) took the money at the front, and wouldn't let me tip the waitress directly. It was insanely overpriced, and terrible food. The only decent thing about the experience was the jukebox. It was then that I understood that some people in Jackson will eat any kind of cr@p so long as it's served in a "historic" restaurant. On my way out the door I got a peek into the kitchen and saw the bulk meat. It was stamped in purple lettering "USDA choice".

Lucky you!!

Are there no more Greek-run restaurants in Jackson?

An architect in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion, who, a decade back, delivered a miracle of a building, in one of the Jackson Metro's 'Flight Destination Exurbs', was approached to helm design of an entire development. He's not onboard, though. Apparently, a certain near-mandatory jab, has fogged-up his brain, in that microclotty way being described, from Budapest to Brisbane.

In an orientational call with one of the stakeholders, the Architect began pushing New Urbanism - a concept with which metro area planners have been wearily-familiar, for decades. Maybe it was the early-onset-whatever. Like maybe his foggy brain has reverted to the assumption that Mississippians can't read and don't have Internet.

"When he was first here, years-back, while I was driving him around, he spotted three Lambos, in about ten minutes, and got all excited. My brain edits those things out, apparently, along with all the other skuzzbuggies on the road. But those pricey sleazemobiles should have impressed him with the fact that Mississippians DO bring things in from the outside world - like books about 'New Urbanism' - which may have originated in Starkville's Cotton District, so we don't need anybody schooling us in the concept."

"So, here we were, in the present, and I'm having to explain that, no, 'New Urbanism' is not something new to us, and that we sure-as-heck don't need any more of it. EVERYBODY HERE, HATES EVERYBODY ELSE, and so the last things we need, are ways to "bring everybody together". Nobody's lonely. New development only happens, here, because everybody is in constant flight FROM everybody else. We need shopping venues which will allow us to AVOID each other. 432 (Park Avenue, Manhattan) is full of Third World expats who've cannibalized 'The Folks Back Home' and so, big surprise, everybody at 432 famously hates everybody else living there - because the place is full of economic cannibals. It's like that, around Jackson."

Half the comments in this thread, painfully underscore what the Stakeholder told the Architect.

2:42pm…. No offense intended, but what the heck are you talking about?

...how the exceptional hatefulness of the locals (as exhibited in this thread), shapes the Jackson Metro.

We have called Crechale’s our “happy place” for as long as I can remember. I’ve been going there my entire life, I’m 52. My kids have grown up going there. It was cozy and familiar and everywhere you looked people were genuinely happy with smiles on their faces. It was a busy and fast paced place but time seemed to slow down just a bit when you were there. Crechale’s will always be my favorite date night place to go. I never had a bad steak there, and I can honestly say it was my favorite steak around town. Bob poured us many a glass of cheap wine! And the onion rings, yep, best around. And for those of you asking about where to get onion rings that good, Zip’s in Magee is a very close option. Prayers to the Crechale Family, Bob will be so missed, and so will your fabulous restaurant. LIFETIME OF MANY HAPPY MEMORIES!

To everything there is a season! This family thrived in and out of season! The landmark, the ability to survive the recession’s, the turnover of employee’s, the theft from employee’s, customers as well! All the BS of people pleasing to ungrateful people no matter what is put in front of them! So thumb your idiot nose at what will soon be lost! His place was never with the weak sitting in the crowd! It was in the arena! Thank you CRECHALE’S for 70 years of the memories, the celebrations of life, the Greek olives after hours to the privileged few with good wine. I lift my glasses and tell those who do not get this, go to freakin fast food vomit!

I would bet you never walked in the door.

❤️❤️❤️🙌🏻

♥️

For the life of me, I can't understand why some people can't step back for a minute and remember Bob and the sadness his family is going through during this holiday season.

There will be plenty of time to praise/criticize the restaurant.

But for now, please respect Bob's family.

1:33 PM ...(I'm from the coast) ... just described
Biloxi's overpriced fraudulent "historic" tourist trap, known as Mary Mahoney’s.

The one thing I plan on coming back to Hinds county to do: one last meal at Crechales. Oh the memories of when life was not so bad in Mississippi. Or at least I wasn’t aware of it. Gotta drive thru blight and the hood to get there. And put on my city armor with eyes open and gun loaded. It is not that we hate each other. The trust is gone. My walls are rebuilt for my protection. When segregation hit in the 60’s, i had no idea guys fought with knives. Our white boys fought with fists. Then I learning girls fight like men. It was then that I started categorizing people and began avoiding the bad guys. There are a host of people now that I will literally walk to the other side of the sidewalk to avoid. I can honestly say I never ran away from color of skin. I ran away from the beliefs and actions of those people to preserve myself. My walls are 10 feet tall every time I step in the state so that I am diligent in keeping out the idiots. Nothing but bigotted white men and racial accusations flying. And ur bigoted leaders will make sure u drink their kool aid. Look at Clinton. A prime example. I had planned to retire and die there but realized I had nothing in common with their goals. I really should have never been born here. That is why it is up to me to right the wrongs I made trusting this state. And I hope to do that with real people. It is just a big adjustment to go from 65 years of pro Mississippi and then realize the dog crate is full of poo. The leaders never realized that u don’t poop where u sleep. Dogs can be trained to learn that!

7:24 am The restaurant business is tough and time consuming. Not many children want to continue the family business and working 12+ hours a day to make sure everything is running well doesn't attract a lot of help. I don't guess you read history or visit many cities either. I remember hearing Richmond, Raliegh and Atlanta were all dying ...regularly I'd hear about NYC and LA dying over these 80 years. You sound like a curmudgeon who refused to educate yourself on a subject before you opine or whose reading comprehension is poor. For simplicity, I say again, you cannot move the old and new capitol or the other historical buildings or build a first rate large auditorium...Prep and Brandon can't cut it as more the a rest stop appearance between the casino bookings. You cannot move the colleges/universities or the Fairgrounds. Eastover and
CCJ folks aren't leaving either. Grow up and stop trashing your own "neighborhood". That is truly the definition of STUPID!

Maybe "January 1, 2026 at 2:42 PM" and "January 2, 2026 at 7:24 AM" can get-together and decipher each other's nonsense.

Thanks for the memories and experiences- Crechales family and staff!