Photo Gallery: A Taste of Jackson & West Tennessee
The annual event "A Taste of Jackson & West Tennessee" took place at the West Tennessee Farmers' Market last night. This evening allows local restaurants and food vendors to showcase their wares to benefit the March of Dimes. Taste of Jackson is a great opportunity to try to flavors of some of Jackson's most popular restaurants as well as those of some places you may have never visited.
Kevin Adelsberger and his wife Renae moved to Jackson for college (proud Union alumni) and have stayed every since. Jackson has since taken hold of Kevin’s heart, and he looks forward to continuing to grow with the city. Kevin opened Adelsberger Marketing in 2014 and saw working with Our Jackson Home as a way that he could serve the city he loves. Kevin and Renae are members of First Baptist Church and volunteer with the youth group there and with Madison County CASA.
I probably wouldn’t have decided that 2019 was the year I was going to eat all the greens in Jackson if I’d grown up in the South, but I’m an adult convert, someone who moved here twenty years ago, tried greens for the first time, and decided they were brilliant. Good greens bring flavors together in ways few other foods do; they’re salty, sweet, bitter, savory, and often smoky and meaty, and they embody the sorcery of cooking: homely plants that taste like grass clip- pings, with a mouthfeel like eating stiff construction paper, are transformed into something unctuous and satisfying and harmonious.
With family and friends in town for the holidays, it’s a perfect time to introduce them to West Tennessee’s best food, and this fall’s #OurJacksonTable recap is a great place to start. Check out what we tried the last few months, then join us as we hit 150 restaurants visited by the end of spring.
This summer has been jam-packed of great meals, a lot of which were enjoyed at restaurants celebrating new locations. Get the scoop on where we’ve been, old and new, and what’s tickling our tastebuds right now.
This September will mark four years of my career at Chandelier Restaurant here in Jackson, and I’ve enjoyed every minute, from my first years as a server to my recent promotion to fine dining assistant manager. Chef Jennifer Dickerson opened this fine dining spot in 2015, and I know the entire community would agree that it has raised the bar for our city’s cuisine.
After taking a year-long hiatus from #OurJacksonTable weekly visits, we’re back and at it, and we’re proud to say that Jackson’s food scene has grown majorly since 2017! Check out where we hit up this spring, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see where we’re headed next.
Already hungry for lunch? Us, too. Instead of trying to drive across town in your short break or run home for disappointing leftovers, try out the recently launched Waitr app! Waitr currently delivers food from over two dozen area restaurants, over half of which are unique to Jackson, and the list is growing. Not only that, but their app also offers an easy-to-operate group ordering option that allows for a special and convenient way for multiple people to grab a bite in a hurry.
When I was young, my family would take vacations to different cities to watch baseball games. While I loved baseball, the thing I looked forward to the most was seeing the skyline of whatever city we were visiting. In my single digit years, it was always St. Louis. Driving past the multitude of Drury Inns in the suburbs and waiting for the skyline to materialize in the distance never got old. Seeing the Arch stretch across the sky is something I can still see in my mind today. As I got older, the cities became larger: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York.
“third wave coffee.” noun. 1. The most recent cultural phenomenon in the history of the coffee industry and consumption. Comes after the first wave of coffee, which included “growing coffee consumption exponentially,” and the second wave of coffee, which began to “define and enjoy specialty coffee.” 2. Purchasing coffee due to its “origin and artisan methods of production.” 3. A movement aspiring to produce the highest quality of coffee possible at every level while pleasing and intriguing the coffee consumer. “UrbanHouse.” noun.
I’m sitting by myself, the steady thrum of others’ voices around me, and I’m looking at a white sign with neat black lettering: “WHERE HOT COFFEE AND WARM CONVERSATION FLOW.”I’ve got the hot coffee part—it’s steaming pleasantly in a glossy brown mug—and I can hear the groups talking around me. There are some college students in the corner of the room. (I can tell they’re in school because of their tired eyes trained on the laptops perched in front of them, even as they continue to hold conversation with each other.)
I woke up to a phone call around nine in the morning; my friend’s neighbor’s grandmother’s employee had just quit his job, and they needed someone to come in immediately. Naturally, I was next in line. I drove across town to a strip mall I had never seen before and wandered into an unmarked restaurant where I was greeted by two golden lions, the king of Thailand (who was placing a call on an old brick phone), and a particularly satisfied Buddha.
By most standards, I’m a baby vegetarian, as I’ve only been a vegetarian for three-and-a-half years. But in those years, I’ve seen my body do incredible things. Let me back up a little bit. After having my first child, I struggled with losing the sixty pounds (yikes) I’d gained during pregnancy. I talked to a friend of mine who I’d always considered “the healthy one,” and she gave me some of her favorite recipes. I noticed all of them were meatless. So I decided to cut out meat, but just for a little while because, hello, bacon!
With Mother's Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Memorial Day all on the horizon, we've got plenty of ways to celebrate in this perfect spring weather. From farms to food trucks, hot air balloons to how-to's, we've got your May weekends covered.
Welcome to West Tennessee, City Farmhouse Pop-Up Fair shoppers! We're so glad to have you. If you're taking a few days to peruse the fair but also want to check out all the fun we have here in Medina and Jackson while you're in town, check out some of our best local picks from Our Jackson Home Editor-in-Chief, Katie Howerton, and White Oak Farms owner, Stephanie Alexander, featuring our favorite restaurants, boutiques, and more.
Confession: I used to love instant grits. Perhaps that’s not a huge deal to those of you who don’t care much for grits, but to those of you who grew up in the deep South, you have every right to “tisk-tisk” me. On the other side of a few culinary experiences, I now understand the miles of distance between instant grits and the real thing—you know, slow-cooked, creamy, and enough butter to remind you that ignorance is bliss. And what goes better with a big bowl of grits than some juicy shrimp?
WOW. We did it. We ate at 100 local restaurants. It seems like just yesterday we were launching this fun campaign to #eatlocal on that first day of spring in 2016. Here we are, two years later, glad for all we've learned about our city along the way and our bellies hungry to return to some new favorite spots. Enjoy this final #OurJacksonTable review by Katie Howerton of the last few restaurants we visited this winter.
This fall we cozied up at some favorite local spots for warm meals, including a handful of food trucks and a couple of new businesses, too! If you're unsure where to go for dinner tonight, check out Katie Howerton's reviews below, then join us for our last season of #OurJacksonTable this winter as we hit 100 local restaurant visits.
Jackson, Tennessee, is a constantly changing and expanding city—with the many colleges and schools in the area, it also has an influx of a younger age group that calls Jackson home. With this younger crowd comes different and varying interests, along with new forms of entertainment.Enter Alex Sanchez, competitive online gamer. Sanchez graduated from Union University in 2017 with a degree in business and an unstoppable vision to bring people together in Jackson under the banner of e-gaming.
Eating is an incredibly sacramental act. In fact a feast, regularly celebrated, is one of the universally recognized rites of the Christian Church. It can be a reminder of our lack of complete self-sufficiency. We need things outside ourselves in order to survive even on the most basic of levels. The sacred is also something that is meant to be experienced with other people. Meals are often communal, and I would argue that the best meals are always shared experiences. No matter how good the food is it is always better shared with other people
This summer was full of lots of food trucks, a few meals out, and a whole bunch of trips to the farmers' market, and we had a blast. Check out Katie Howerton's review of our summer 2017 #OurJacksonTable dozen, and join us in trying even more local restaurants this fall!
We've all been there: It's a Friday night, and you're craving a burger like nobody's business. Fast food won't suffice, and while local staples like Burger Barn always hit the spot, you're looking for something a little more unique. It begs the question: What is Jackson's best burger? Well, in honor of the upcoming National Cheeseburger Day, we're taking you on a tour of three of Jackson's most creative and tasty burgers—but only you can decide which reigns supreme!
It's been another great season of flavors classic and adventurous, hot and cold, casual and elite. Check out Katie Howerton's review of our spring 2017 #OurJacksonTable dozen, and join us in trying even more local restaurants, food trucks, and snack shacks this summer!
Confession: I don't love barbecue. I know. Shameful. I grew up in the South and everything, but barbecue isn't something I crave—but sometimes I wonder if that's because my tastes have for so long settled for whatever is slopped on a bun at a sporting event, church picnic, or drive-thru. Whether a barbecue fan or not, it can't be denied that West Tennessee is home to some of the nation's best, and interpretations of the vague title continue to surprise and impress locals and visitors alike.
Let’s suspend our thought for the next ten to fifteen minutes and imagine what could be. Let’s not think about dollars and cents or logistical structure. While those things are necessary, they’re not for us right now. What we need are open minds and unencumbered ideas about what our downtown might possibly be if we could just think a little bit beyond what we’ve always thought. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen beyond. I’ve seen what downtown Jackson could be if we could just all get on board.
It’s funny how a reunion can make people nostalgic for their younger days. It’s a time to reflect and think back about how we grew up and memories we made. I feel blessed to have spent my childhood in Jackson, Tennessee. It’s the foundation to who I am as a person, and I can’t imagine growing up in any other place. With that in mind, I thought I’d share some memories I have with you. I’m thinking if you lived in Jackson in the 80s or 90s, you might relate to many of these.
We really did it! We ate at fifty local restaurants in a year! And guess what? We're doing it again! Yep, we're challenging you to join us in hitting 100 local meals by spring of 2018. Where have we been so far, you ask? Winter has brought so many opportunities to cozy up for some of Jackson's best comfort food. Check out Katie Howerton's play-by-play below.
There’s a lot of jerk chicken in Joseph Kabre’s future. It’s the most popular dish at Jamaican and African Cuisine, the restaurant he manages. On a typical day, he has enough ready to serve a couple dozen people. But Saturday, March 4, he’s hoping for potentially four times that many customers to show up hungry for the spicy dish. It will take him two days to prepare enough. The chicken has to be smoked, seasoned correctly, and then finished out in the oven.
This fall's #OurJacksonTable tour has taken us from warm lunches parked outside food trucks to cozy meals in the warmth of some of Jackson's favorite spots. Check out Katie Howerton's play-by-play to add to your local dining bucket list to try for business lunches, weekend dates, and quick pick-up meals.
Eggs. Flour. Milk. Sugar. Your basic ingredients for a cupcake. But so much more than that goes into the cupcakes at HaliHannigan’s Café & Cakery. Five years ago a cozy little space in the Columns bedecked in pink and black opened its doors—and its heart—to the Jackson community. Neill and Christi Bartlett, the husband and wife team that co-own HaliHannigan’s (whose name is derived from various parts of the names of their three daughters), were ready for a change.
“Your destination is on your right,” said my iPhone, notifying me that I had reached 1683 South Highland Avenue. I turned my head and saw nothing. Where was the food truck? I pulled into Popeye’s, put the car in “Park,” and stepped outside into the slightly muggy end-of-September-in-West-Tennessee weather. Scanning the landscape, my eyes fell onto a neon green trailer in the middle of a parking lot. I began my approach and saw “KC Finn’s” printed on its exterior, accented by several four leaf clovers.