It's a little late for lunch and a bit too early for supper. But the clientele at this soul food restaurant doesn't care about that.
They're here for the chitterlings.
"We sell between 120 and 140 pounds of chitterlings a day and we could sell more if we could cook and clean more," said Carolyn Nunez, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Jose.
"We could sell 200 to 250 pounds easily," Jose said.
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Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the restaurant sold more than 2,000 pounds of chitterlings, most often pronounced chittlins, which are the small intestines of freshly slaughtered pigs.
"When people come in to visit family in Tupelo, they come here," Carolyn said. "They ship chitterlings from Chicago to California. People say they're the cleanest in town."
Other items on the menu also draw rave reviews. Customers like the chicken and dressing, smothered pork chops, bourbon chicken, pigs' feet and ribs. Vegetables include mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans, pinto beans, cabbage and turnip greens.
"Our busiest days are Fridays and Sundays," Carolyn said. "We usually get here around 8 or 8:30 in the morning to start cooking and by 9 o'clock, the phone is ringing off the hook. Most folks want to know if we're going to have chitterlings that day."
The Nunezes opened In Season at the corner of Lawndale and Ida streets in September 2011. Before that, they operated the Cajun Cafe and Grill in The Mall at Barnes Crossing.
Carolyn said the idea of owning a restaurant was never hers at all — it was God's.
"God told me to go out and buy a boiler, and I said, 'What for? I don't cook,' but I bought one," she said. "When KFC was remodeling, I bought the tables and chairs and I still didn't know why."
And then she got her answer.
Carolyn met Jose when she was working at the Cajun Cafe, where he was the cook, and he asked her out for a date.
"I didn't have any experience in the restaurant business, but Jose did," she said. "The Lord told me he was placing him in my life to be a financial blessing. So we opened this restaurant. And he's been by my side all the way."
In Season is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Some items on the menu are available only on certain days, so call ahead at (662) 842-4710 to check availability.
"This restaurant is founded on being a blessing for other people," Carolyn said. "It's a place where people come together. It's a gathering place. Lots of professionals come here — lawyers, pastors, teachers — and a lot of young people, even down to the age of 3. They'll fall out in the floor if we don't have chitterlings and won't speak to me until we do."
The prices in the restaurant are reasonable by any standard. A container of chitterlings and pigs' feet are $4 each, and a bit more if you order a plate, which comes with a couple of sides. A pan trout sandwich is $3.29 and a catfish sandwich is $3.50. A meat and one side is $4.29 while a meat with two sides is $4.99. A rib plate is $5.99.
"It's not about getting rich, it's about helping make a person feel loved," Carolyn said. "It's more about a ministry than anything. Life is hard enough."
Ninety-five percent of the restaurant's clientele is African-American, Carolyn said, and only 5 percent of the customers are from the neighborhood.
"They come from Fulton, Pontotoc, Aberdeen, Corinth, Booneville, Shannon, Houlka, Amory, New Albany and Alabama," Jose said. "They will drive over an hour to get here. They say they've heard about our food. They say, 'If it's good, I'll be back.' And I say, 'OK, I'll see you next time.'"
Jose got his culinary start cooking Chinese food at restaurants in Memphis, so within the next few months, In Season hopes to offer some Chinese dishes on the menu.
"I also want to do some chitterlings wrapped in wontons and fried," Carolyn said. "Caucasians like fried chitterlings. We boil ours."
The restaurant seats around 35 people, although most of the business is carryout. Still, while people are waiting on their orders, they visit with one another, catch up, laugh.
"I like to make people happy, to see a smile on their face, to lift them up," Carolyn said. "Everybody is born with a gift. You have to find your gift. Once people find their purpose in life, they can do anything."
https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/business/article226654934.html 2019-02-24 06:01:00Z
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