Page 157 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2017

you what to expect when you visit Jacks. Today I had shrimp and grits under the tapas menu. The shrimp
were battered and fried, but they were surprisingly juicy. When is the last time you had a fried shrimp that wasn’t overcooked? A+. The grits were good, they didn’t jump out at you, but that’s not what grits are supposed to do. What makes this dish come together with a big bang is the sauce. It’s spicy, a bit sweet, creamy, and achieves a wonderful balance between what otherwise might have been waring factors. The Garrisons put some serious thought into this dish, no line cook came up with this recipe. Again, A+.
Next, we ordered something from the tapas menu that D.J. suggested. Awesome Crawsome certainly was an interesting name for a sushi dish, but once it arrived and we cautiously nibbled around the edges, it wasn’t long before we dived in and demolished the plate completely, not even a drop of the spicy mayo was left. Picture cunningly devised sushi rolls, made with fried crawfish, cream cheese, asparagus, garnished with really fresh tuna, tobiko, sweet soy, that spicy mayo, and sesame seeds. Let me flip to social media mode: OMG!
Lastly, we tucked into a flight of tacos, one fish and the other Korean BBQ. It seems an absurd pairing, but a bite of each and the magic began. The fish taco was made with perfectly cooked mahi-mahi, but it was paired
with shredded cabbage, lime coulis and fresh mango salsa. The Korean marinated pork taco was delightfully spicy, and combined the pork with fermented peppers, cabbage, pickled veggies and cilantro. I’d drive to Pascagoula for a plate of these tacos any day, almost any
ABOVE: Korean BBQ taco BELOW: Awesome Crawsome sushi dish
hour of the day, and in any weather.
There is a deceptive air of an old and dimly lit juke
joint about Jacks, but it is all deception. The food here is sophisticated, and meticulously thought out, and absolutely delicious. Play the game if you want to, wear your oldest baseball cap and jeans. Shoot, even sit at the bar and order a Bud, but when you have eaten at Jacks, you know you have had a top notch culinary adventure and you will be back.
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