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ORAL HISTORY

Crechale’s

Paul Crechale opened his eponymous restaurant off Highway 80 outside downtown Jackson in 1956. A native of the Greek island of Skopelos, Paul was a veteran restaurateur. In the 1920s, he owned eateries in both Chicago and Tampa Bay. He lost his restaurants following a disastrous car accident and returned to Greece but, during the lead-up to World War II, returned to America, where he settled for a time in Clarksdale, Mississippi, before making his way to Jackson.

Today, Paul’s grandson Bob Crechale runs the locally beloved restaurant. The menu remains decidedly old-school: prime steaks; hickory-smoked chicken; broiled or fried fish, shrimp, and crab, fresh-caught from the Gulf. The clientele returns night after night to play 1950s and 60s classics on the jukebox, while basking in the dining room’s pleasant neon glow.