{"id":20181431,"date":"2025-04-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/?p=20181431"},"modified":"2025-04-15T23:46:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T06:46:21","slug":"jackies-place-dishes-up-a-second-helping-in-dtsj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/jackies-place-dishes-up-a-second-helping-in-dtsj\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackie\u2019s Place Dishes Up a Second Helping in DTSJ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jackie Jackson is on a roll, and she\u2019s hungry for more. And from the looks of it, so is San Jose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From cooking for her church and catering sororities to opening up her second restaurant location, the South Bay restaurateur has come leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her soul food restaurant, Jackie\u2019s Place, started off as a catering company 20 years ago but morphed into a restaurant during the pandemic. And now this Black-owned business is expanding to a new location in San Jose\u2019s SoFA District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSan Jose is my home, and because of the diversity we get good reception from all walks of life, not just from African-Americans but from Chinese, Filipino, Mexican and whatever you can think of,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cIt\u2019s been heartwarming to see because I\u2019ve always had a multicultural set of people around me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from a big family, Jackson says, her mother taught her how to take care of a family. Among the skills she learned was how to clean and embroider, but the thing Jackie enjoyed doing the most was cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mother was a chef and she taught us everything, but I latched onto cooking the most. I\u2019ve always had a large family, so I felt that cooking was very important for me. And then I also started cooking for my church,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cBefore I knew it I was catapulted into a business because everyone kept asking who made the food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roots in Catering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jackson grew accustomed to cooking for her family and church; then one day she was asked to help cater for the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha\u2014a ceremony the Emmanuel Baptist Church hosts once a year to celebrate Black students in the Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was my first catering job and there were 300 people that I helped all by myself. After that job I started getting offered other jobs from people,\u201d Jackson recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s when I decided to open a catering spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was 20 years ago,\u201d she says. \u201cA restaurant wasn\u2019t something I ever saw coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A restaurant didn\u2019t seem to be in the cards for Jackson, who thought it seemed like a lot of work. But she knew that San Jose needed a business like Jackie\u2019s Place to bring life back to the city\u2014especially coming out of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2018 my daughter convinced me to open up a small cafe area with up to 25 seats. We found the location, and at our grand opening we had 600 people that showed up to support us,\u201d she explains. \u201cI had previous customers from my catering company and so many people from the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/a>
TOUCH OF SOUL <\/strong>Southern fried fish with coleslaw and green beans will also be on the menu at the new downtown San Jose location. PHOTO: Jean-Marc Mazzoni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward five years later, Jackie\u2019s Place has seen much success at its North First Street location. The second store, in downtown San Jose, will be near other Black-owned businesses, such as Nirvana Soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe originally were looking for a small place to divert all our DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats orders. We then realized that there were two other Black-owned businesses in the area and now there\u2019s going to be us there,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cThis is something that the city hasn\u2019t seen before, and It became apparent that it\u2019s necessary. It may be setting the precedent of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Downtown Flavors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As far as menu items, everything from oxtails and Southern fried fish to such sides as mac & cheese and honey butter cornbread will remain. However, with a new location there is talk about potential menu additions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat area will dictate to us what we\u2019re going to have to change. We\u2019re going to have to watch the neighborhood and see if there\u2019s a lot of young people and students walking through there so we may cater toward that,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cWe are thinking of adding a breakfast\/brunch menu or stuff on the go for the people that are walking by. But the primary soul food menu stuff will stay, of course. I have some items that I am currently testing right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see where we are and where we are going,\u201d she adds. \u201cMy family has many ideas of what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackie\u2019s place will be opening the new Sofa District location at 321 S. First St. San Jose with a block party on April 27 from 2 to 7pm. The business posted on Facebook, \u201cWe\u2019ve got the whole block on lock\u2014so come take a \u2018Soul Stroll\u2019 down South First and support all the Black-owned businesses of the SoFA District.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be live music, local vendors, an outdoor fish fry, games, giveaways and more. Admission is free. The original location at 840 N. First St. in San Jose will be closed that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, visit jackiesplacesj.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jackie Jackson started a catering company 20 years ago that morphed into a restaurant. Now she\u2019s opening a second location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14789,"featured_media":20181433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1691],"tags":[15923,5557],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n