The back door entrance at Beatty Street Grocery
Beatty Street is a little street in downtown Jackson that runs parallel to Highway 80, and connects South West Street with South Gallatin Street. It is the street that runs straight into the front door of Babe’s, in case you are familiar. It is also home to Beatty Street Grocery.
While I was talking to my dad about cool places to eat in Jackson, he mentioned Beatty Street Grocery. I had never heard of this place, but it sounded very intriguing. He said they had awesome burgers, among other things, and a pretty unique atmosphere. I was all for it. We set the date for Wednesday at lunch. After we had a day and time, I asked my mom if she wanted to join us. “No way, that place is gross” was her response. So my dad loves this place and my mom dislikes it. This should be interesting…
When we pulled up, we had a little trouble finding a parking spot. It is normal to enter through the back door, but the parking lot was so crowded (that means something, right?) that we had to park closer to the font door, which is where we went in. As we were walking up, dad was giving me the run-down on this joint. He is somewhat of a regular there. Several of the employees know him by name.
Once you order and take a seat, they tell you what to do next!
We walked through the grocery part on our way to the counter where they take your order. They sold random stuff like toilet paper by the roll, sardines, dishwashing liquid, and Nehi soda. I started to understand why my mom isn’t Beatty Street’s biggest fan… This place is OLD. Like 70 years old. And they have not done any updating, or a whole lot of de-cluttering, since 1940. Still, I was not turned off just yet.
As we stood in line at the counter to place our order, I was taking in the menu. To my surprise, it was fairly extensive. The things that had been on the menu since early establishment (like burgers or deli sandwiches) were in permanent, old-school, backlit marquee signs. Any items that were new to the menu (wraps or sweet potato fries for example) were written on poster board and taped up. My dad ordered the Beatty Burger and Tony’s seasoned fries, and I got their highly recommended turkey sandwich on wheat. Mary, whose family owns this place, wrote our order down on a scrap of butcher paper and gave it to a cook. While our order was being prepared, we picked out drinks and went to the grocery counter to pay, as instructed by the sign taped to the napkin dispenser where we sat down. Our meals and drinks together totaled about nine and a half bucks… Talk about a good deal! (Note to self: This place is budget friendly.) During our five or so minute wait, we noticed that the crowd ranged from the cleanest of the white-collar to the bluest of the blue-collar. My dad even recognized the preacher of a nearby church. So no matter who you are, you will fit in at Beatty Street Grocery!
A pretty good turkey sandwich!
When our order was ready, Mary yelled my dad’s name. He went up to the counter to get our tray of wrapped up food. What we unwrapped smelled awesome. The burger was a pretty good size, as was the turkey sandwich. The burger came on a fairly standard bun, loaded down with everything (cheese, onion, tomato, lettuce, pickle, mayo, ketchup, and mustard.) The turkey sandwich was served on sliced loaf bread, and had all the fixins on it, too. The turkey was good, deli-sliced turkey and all the veggies seemed fresh. The meat of the burger looked a little sketchy to me, but I took a bite of it and was very pleasantly surprised. It was not one of my favorite burgers ever, but it was good. To me, the best part of the meal was the fries. They were cafeteria-style Ore-Ida looking fries, loaded down with Tony’s seasoning. They were top notch.
The Beatty Burger and some delicious fries
I must say that the atmosphere of this place beats the food. Like previously stated, this is not the cleanest place you’ve ever been, but it has personality. Lots of it. For example, they had a few shelves packed with cardboard boxes. When I asked what those were for, I was told they are for to-go orders. How resourceful! “Be careful with this door! Open and close with great care! It may fall off!” was my favorite of the many hand-written signs posted. “CASH ONLY” is an important one to take note of—they do not take any type of card.
Overall, I do recommend Beatty Street Grocery because it really is an experience. There are not many places like this one. Do not expect to be blown away by anything, just expect to be enlightened, and you’ll have a great time!
101 Beatty Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 355-0514
Price $
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[...] that the Beatty Burger has created. The Beatty Burger comes from an old place in Jackson called Beatty Street Grocery. You may remember reading about our first visit to this place several months back. Since that [...]
[...] that the Beatty Burger has created. The Beatty Burger comes from an old place in Jackson called Beatty Street Grocery. You may remember reading about our first visit to this place several months back. Since that [...]
[...] A Lunch Visit to Beatty Street Grocery: Eat Jackson [...]