'Tessie's' offers down-home cooking
Brings new 'soul-utions' for troubled Jonesboro
community
Jonesboro's Huntington Avenue is the neighborhood many students
try to avoid, because historically it is a high crime area. When
Tessie Scales went looking for a place to put a restaurant she
decided Huntington was just where she needed to be.
Scales has opened a restaurant dedicated to offering home
cooked meals and home cooked service.
With a strong Christian attitude, Scales knows that the secret
to every heart is a full stomach and an open mind.
"I just want to see the community grow and develop in
a better direction," Scales said.
Scales moved to the area after helping her husband manage
a popular restaurant in Cash called 'Mack's Place'.
Huntington offered a new challenge for the couple.
"The community had some serious problems with the prostitution
and drugs," Scales said. "We want to try and bring
more of the neighborhood feeling back."
Scales has worked hard at bringing back the community spirit
as well.
She offers a daily dose of down-home cooking for just $5.80 that
makes anyone feel like they are at grandma's house.
She has also begun working for the community by helping to
bring attention to the neighborhood's problems and possibilities.
She is hosting a series of free breakfasts and lunches featuring
candidates in this year's election. By making them open to the
public and hosting them in her restaurant Scales hopes to highlight
the issues that will help better the community and reshape the
future of its residents.
"I think that with God's help we will see that things
are changing, and I hope some of that is because of what we are
doing here," Scales said.
Scales will host a free dinner with Jerry Allison on Thursday
at 5 p.m.
Scales' food is also changing things in Jonesboro. She offers
home style food such as meat loaf and fried chicken, and serves
it up along with some homemade banana pudding.
To top it all off you can get a thick slice of strawberry
cake or stove top made banana pudding.
Tessie's offers free delivery to the Jonesboro area and even
offers catering.
With all the food Scales serves up for lunch and breakfast it
is easy to wonder how she keeps up. Those college students looking
for a quick lunch or breakfast might find it well worth the trip
to Huntington for 'Tessie's Country Kitchen."
Grover
Welch is a senior journalism major of Cynthiana, Ky.
