Jackson Not So Jolly about Julep

USA TODAY stuns Clyde and me by listing a Jackson, Mississippi restaurant, Julep, as one of “Ten Great Places to Feast on Fried Chicken.”

Which raises one question: have they ever even been to Julep?

Julep, separated from the I-55 Frontage Road and Northside Drive by one thin strip of narrow parking spaces, resides in the old location of a city institution: the Olde Tyme Deli. As part of the latest remodeling of that space, Julep’s owners have given the place dark, reflective windows and dim, trendy lighting.

The result? Even during operating hours, the place looks abandoned. At least one a month, staring at the empty parking lot and dark storefront, we debate whether or not the place has finally shut down for good.

And it has to shut down, eventually … because even in Jackson, to stay afloat, restaurants must offer good food or good service. Julep has neither.

Our first Julep experience, months after they opened, involved a Sunday brunch. Despite the fact that ours was one of the only two occupied tables in the restaurant, we waited more than an hour for overpriced grits and eggs. Our unapolegetic server couldn’t even keep our coffee cups full.

When Clyde’s parents came to Jackson, they were eager to try Julep. “I hear they have wonderful grits,” Clyde’s mother said. We swallowed our reluctance and decided we would give Julep another try.

When we arrived for an 11:30 lunch, we found the door packed with increasingly hostile customers. “This is ridiculous,” one man said, storming past us. A mom and two kids bailed out shortly after, saying, “No food is worth this.” Like us, they discovered that, once inside, the poor young woman greeting guests would disappear for five and ten minutes at a time. She had no list of waiting customers; she seemed to be seating people at random.

Later that same month, a local couple told us a Julep waiter had been so rude to them, they’d never go back. But when friends came from Atlanta and wanted to try something different, we decided to give Julep one last chance. Surely, we thought, we’d already seen Julep at its very worst?

We were the only diners in the place — every other table was deserted. Even so, our waiter came across as flustered and out of breath. He took our drink and appetizer orders, then disappeared for fifteen minutes before returning to ask what we wanted for dinner.

“I’ll have the pork chops,” our friend, Jeri, said.

“We’re out of those,” the waiter said.

Jeri faltered. “Okay … then I’ll have the fillet.”

“No fillets.” (No apologies or recommendations, either.)

That eliminated two of the six options on the menu. “Let’s take another approach,” I said. “What do you have?”

“Fish,” the waiter said. “Only the fish.”

We took a quick poll — no one wanted fish. “It looks like we’ll have to go somewhere else,” I said. “We’re just not in the mood for seafood.”

Our waiter ripped a sheet off his pad, tossed it on the table, and walked off without a word. Wait — that’s not entirely true: while he didn’t speak to us, he hollered loudly to the kitchen staff: “Cancel those appetizers! Those poeple walked out on me!”

I’m not sure how USA TODAY finds the restaurants it recommends, but for me, seeing Julep recommended calls the whole “Top Ten Great Places To…” franchise into question.

PS: Looking for the real scoop on Jackson’s best fried chicken? Head for Two Sisters, downtown. Friendly folks, good food … everything a fried chicken lunch in the South ought to be.