Recently, I wrote about a short trip The Cat and I took to Jackson, Tennessee, to visit the Tennessee Safari Park, located about 30 minutes northwest of Jackson. We only planned to spend the night in Jackson before returning home to Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
After we left the Safari Park and returned to Jackson, it was still too early to check into our motel, so we decided to have a late lunch. We had previously made a list of local restaurants and grills that seemed appealing, and believe me, there were a lot to choose from.
We picked a grill close to the motel, found it easily, and enjoyed a pretty good fried wrap (yes, very tasty FRIED wrap), but the business allowed smoking and we don’t smoke, so it wasn’t an option for a return visit that evening. We got about a block away when we passed a restaurant called Redbone’s Grill and Bar. We barely gave it passing attention - it wasn’t on our list - and we continued on to check in at our lodging.
Long story short, when it came time for the evening meal, we decided to try Redbone’s Bar and Grill since it was nearby. That turned out to be one of the best decisions we made on the trip! It was advertised as a “lively bar and grill offering Louisiana-inspired cooking, live music, and a colorful patio,” and Redbone’s absolutely lived up to its billing!
For us, Redbone’s was non-smoking, family-friendly, taste pleasing, reasonably priced, and genuinely entertaining in the live music category. That experience inspired us to extend our stay for another night and another visit to Redbone’s Bar and Grill! Just as important to us, we were able to visit several more area attractions on our trip and one of them gave us an additional, bonus surprise.
Day two began with a leisurely breakfast at our motel, before traveling a little bit out of town to Century Farms Winery. We were able to tour the grounds and enjoy some wine tastes with the owner at his gift shop, where Cat bought a beautiful set of four cordial glasses. NOTE TO CAT: every time you buy four glasses you’re going to break one later and tell me you wish you had bought six, so…NEXT TIME YOU MAY WANT TO BUY SIX! Yes, we only have three cordials now.
Cat and I ate lunch from Redbone’s to-go box and some snacks we always pack from home. Then we went to the Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum, a must-see in Jackson, where locomotive engineer Casey Jones lived for many years before his fatal train wreck near Vaughn, Mississippi. His home and the museum are located in Casey Jones Village, a family destination that contains an old country store, chapel, shops, and mini-golf.
We did revisit Redbone’s Grill and Bar again that evening, and we totally PROVED that old adage that “you can’t go back and find it the same”… IT WAS EVEN BETTER! By the way, if you don’t already know, a redbone is a breed of hunting dog frequently used for coon hunting. We never found out how the restaurant got that name, unless…but surely not…and we definitely did not see raccoon on the menu!
For sure we had not planned to stay over the second night until we visited Redbone’s, but because we did, we got a big bonus surprise the next morning when we visited Rusty’s TV & Movie Car Museum! Located in two buildings, Rusty, who was there to greet us in person that day, the museum features over 26 cars and movie memorabilia.
Some of the movies/shows represented at Rusty’s museum are The A-Team, The Fast and Furious, Barbie, Jurassic Park, Batman, Blues Brothers, Ghost Busters, The General Lee from Dukes of Hazard, and Scooby-Doo. You begin the tour of Rusty’s with a video made for Tennessee Public Broadcasting and you end it about two hours later after numerous photo ops and nostalgic memory trips! Rusty’s definitely gets a surprise thumbs-up from us!
Before leaving Jackson, Cat and I really wanted to try one of the restaurants on our original list for lunch, so we chose The Blacksmith Restaurant which is in downtown Jackson across from their farmer’s market. The decor is rustic-chic with inside or patio dining and features new American entrees, cocktails, and burgers.
We enjoyed our meal there while watching activities across the street at the farmer’s market, and that gave us the idea of how best to end our getaway. Not hard to guess that Cat and I returned home with a big bag of fresh Tennessee tomatoes and other homegrown produce!