New restaurant opens in East Feliciana, brings community together with food, good times
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to properly identify the gender of Tyrenne Gautreaux. We apologize for the error.
JACKSON, La. (BRPROUD) — The owners of Jackson Oaks Eatery, a new restaurant in East Feliciana Parish, want to bring the community together, one table at a time.
Tyrenne Gautreaux and his husband opened their restaurant on Feb. 15 in Jackson.
“When my husband and I decided to open Jackson Oaks Eatery we had a vision of unity on all fronts, just people of all races mingling and having a good time,” he said.
One idea is a “cell-less night” where a table receives a discount on their bill for not using a cell phone during their visit.
“This is to promote and encourage family time, family conversations, and just talking about each one’s day,” Gautreaux said.
The town is almost an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge. He said the little town chose them, not the other way around.
“We have a food truck here in Baton Rouge, and we went to some events in Jackson with it, and a guy named Dustin Cleveland kept asking us to bring our touch to Jackson,” Gautreaux said.
Jackson Oaks Eatery is a scratch kitchen, according to the owner.
“We pride ourselves on homemade items. Some of our most popular items are the hamburgers, the hamburger steak plate and our seafood potatoes,” he said.
New restaurant is bringing healing to some residents
Cleveland owns the building they operate out of.
In years past, it was segregated and considered “whites only,” he said. Rewriting that legacy is an important part of their restaurant.
“The building was built in 1835, so there’s no secret to its former life,” Gautreaux said.
He said several Black residents have walked into the restaurant and have been “overwhelmed with living in Jackson their entire life and never setting foot in the building.”
Owners want to help those who need it most
He said it has been challenging to be a minority-owned business. Despite the hardships, he believes in being a good neighbor to the community.
“Currently we have two fundraiser events on our books. One for a family who has lost everything in a house fire and another who has to have a medical procedure done but don’t have the means to cover the cost,” he said.
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To help out, Gautreaux said they agreed to donate all food and labor costs associated with the plate sales to those families.
“We plan to partner with the local fire department and try to raise money for air conditioners and fans for the elderly and less fortunate in the community to help with the heat in the summer as well as help to keep them warm in the colder months,” he said.
They also started a free meal service that Gautreaux calls “a column of love” to reduce the number of people going hungry.
“If you are hungry and come in without the ability to pay, you can select a meal that has been purchased and placed on the column. You get that meal at no cost to you,” he said. “This has been exceptionally popular in our community with guests adding to this column daily.”
What you need to know to go
Jackson Oaks Eatery is located at 1756 Charter St. and is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. They also open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for Sunday brunch.
“We love the community as a whole and want them to know that if there’s something we can do to help, please let us know,” said Gautreaux.
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