{"id":120417,"date":"2022-06-16T13:54:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T18:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=120417"},"modified":"2022-06-18T18:28:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-18T23:28:58","slug":"where-everybody-knows-your-name-john-currences-city-grocery-celebrates-30-years-on-the-oxford-mississippi-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/where-everybody-knows-your-name-john-currences-city-grocery-celebrates-30-years-on-the-oxford-mississippi-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Everybody Knows Your Name: John Currence’s City Grocery celebrates 30 years on the Oxford, Mississippi Square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thirty years ago, Oxford, Mississippi<\/strong>, wouldn\u2019t have made any list of American<\/strong> dining destinations. According to locals and visitors and critics alike, John Currence<\/strong> merits much of the credit for changing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he opened City Grocery<\/strong> on the Oxford Square<\/strong>, John explains, \u201c[it] was almost entirely unpopulated, besides Square Books. There were little boutique dress shops and a shoe store that were all run by septuagenarians, octogenarians. The post office had just moved off The Square. Sneed\u2019s Hardware moved out, and that became a Hallmark store. It was all shopping. The Downtown Grill had opened, and that was the place [to eat] on The Square.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John had worked his way up in some well recognized kitchens, including Crook\u2019s Corner<\/strong> in Chapel Hill, North Carolina<\/strong>, and Gautreau\u2019s<\/strong> in New Orleans<\/strong>, when his friend and former co-worker Palmer Adams <\/strong>invited him to visit Oxford for a weekend. \u201cOxford was exactly as far away as I could go on a tank of gas and get back in time to work on Monday,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, John was baffled by Palmer\u2019s suggestion that they open a restaurant in Oxford, but he gambled on the idea that some locals would like more than what was then available. Once he moved to town, John met Randy Yates<\/strong>, who would soon run the bar at City Grocery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He describes Randy, who has long owned the much beloved Ajax Diner<\/strong>, as the hardest working person in the industry in Oxford. Their partnership proved fortuitous given City Grocery\u2019s hardscrabble beginnings. Randy remembers opening the bar with almost no air conditioning and not nearly enough chairs. \u201cWe decorated the walls with stuff from our houses,\u201d he reminisces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John developed a menu that he admits was a bit schizophrenic. \u201cIt was a totally weird hodge podge of Asian<\/strong>, stuff that I loved when we traveled around Western Europe<\/strong>, Italian<\/strong> food that I cooked when I lived in Chapel Hill, Southern<\/strong> food that I learned from my grandparents, stuff that I worked on at Crook\u2019s, Creole French<\/strong> that I grew up with in New Orleans, classic French<\/strong>\u2026I mean, it was just totally all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John admits that he never thought he\u2019d be in Oxford more than a few years. Randy says that back then, he couldn\u2019t even imagine being alive thirty years later. But customers responded to the quality ingredients and solid execution at City Grocery, and against all odds, an Oxford mainstay was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s much more to City Grocery\u2019s longevity than the food, though. Server Terry Moon<\/strong>, who has worked for City Grocery nearly two decades, shares the restaurant\u2019s secret ingredient: \u201cPeople say they came here for the food, but the experience is why they\u2019ll come back again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This emphasis on experience has been a cornerstone of John\u2019s philosophy from the start. \u201cThe experience is being welcomed into a club. Acknowledging a guest the second they walk in, holding the door for people as they leave and telling them thank you, stopping in the dining room if there\u2019s a guest and letting them go by, table touches, managers visiting tables, these things matter so deeply,\u201d he says. \u201cMore than the food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, John trusts his staff to execute this vision whether or not he is immediately present. \u201c[John] is so busy now opening all these restaurants,\u201d Terry explains. \u201cPeople like Meghan Anderson and Locke Phillips and myself and Coonie [John Spreafico] and Jennifer [Nelson]\u2013he has sort of handed it to us, being the leaders, and embraced that. It\u2019s our baby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In day-to-day operations, that trust looks like Terry bringing complimentary champagne and helium balloons to a regular celebrating her 86th birthday. Or Jennifer<\/strong> taking a seven year-old budding \u2018foodie\u2019 on a tour of the kitchen during service. Or Coonie<\/strong> corralling the rare group of unruly drinkers at the upstairs bar so they don\u2019t detract from others\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to other award-winning restaurants, these efforts keep City Grocery feeling like a hometown establishment, largely because the staff adhere to a strict policy ingrained by John from the start: \u201cTreat locals like rock stars and rock stars like locals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Coonie describes the sense of community at the upstairs bar. \u201cYou see the same faces. When somebody comes up there, if they\u2019re by themselves, they know they\u2019re gonna find somebody up there that they at least recognize. So it\u2019s not like going and sitting at a bar by yourself. You know that this is base, and you can come here and feel at home. Even if you are by yourself, you\u2019re not by yourself because you know the bartenders, and the bartenders have been here for so long. We make a conscious effort to introduce the new people to our regulars. And they get to know everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the dining room, Terry recently had the distinct pleasure of serving Dolly Parton<\/strong> and her entourage. \u201cI got everyone\u2019s names and where they were sitting, then looked at Dolly and said, \u2018Excuse me, Miss, and your name?\u2019 Dolly rolled her eyes and that was the initial connection. That\u2019s the little things I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Grocery\u2019s dedication to the local community goes far beyond the dining room and the bar. During the first arduous months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant group also went above and beyond to support Oxford\u2019s hospitality workers who suddenly found themselves without work or income. For months, they provided industry workers with gift cards to local grocery stores and delivered boxes of nonperishable goods straight to their doorsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was again in keeping with John\u2019s original vision of his flagship restaurant: \u201cIf we were going to be successful, we had to weave ourselves into the community as deeply as possible and as sincerely as possible. And that meant giving back. That meant taking care of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he may have laid the groundwork and instilled the core values at City Grocery, John Currence emphasizes, \u201cI get credit for the work of other people. Coonie and Terry are the gold standard for ambassadors. Jennifer and Halie [Johnson]\u2026Liz Rainey, Jeffrey [Grimes]\u2026there are so many people I could list off. Randy was the first of them. As much as we\u2019re a restaurant group, we\u2019re a relationship group. It is all about people. Everything is about making people feel special in one way, shape, or form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Grocery will hold its Dirty Thirty House Party<\/strong> Saturday, June 18<\/strong>, featuring Blue Mountain, Rocket 88, Jack Sonni & Leisure Class, <\/strong>and more. $20 advance purchase includes entrance, draft beer, and entertainment. Food and full bar will be available for purchase throughout the event. Doors open at 2 pm.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Both the restaurant and bar have been hailed as one of the finest establishments in Mississippi by publications around the globe. Photo courtesy CityGroceryOnline.com<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
John Currence owner of City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi. Photograph courtesy CityGroceryOnline.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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John \u201cCoonie\u201d Spreafico manages City Grocery\u2019s bar. John Currence emphasizes, \u201cI get credit for the work of other people. Coonie and Terry are the gold standard for ambassadors.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Terry Moon of City Grocery was voted \u201cOxford\u2019s Favorite Server\u201d in 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Housed in a 19th century livery stable on the Square, the hardwood floors and exposed brick walls of John Currence’s City Grocery was the site of a different City Grocery started in the 1920s, owned by Levi \u201cBud\u201d Fudge (second from right), and his son, Earl Fudge (right), a WWI veteran. The Fudge family came to Lafayette County from Edgefield County, South Carolina, and settled in the local area known today as Fudgetown. They later sold their City Grocery to the Mize family and opened Fudge Grocery at 305 South Lamar in 1948. That store closed 30 years later. Photograph and information courtesy John Cofield, Jeff Fudge, and Jacque Fudge. See more historical photos of City Grocery on the Oxford, Mississippi Square here.<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty years ago, Oxford, Mississippi, wouldn\u2019t have made any list of American dining destinations. According to locals and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123459,"featured_media":120427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[65,936,12278,31,21725,21731,21719,6960,21732,21729,21730,21727,21726,21724,1078,21723,21728,21722,21721,5,896,4998,4,6444,2625,2277,21720],"class_list":["post-120417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-business","tag-ajax-diner","tag-blue-mountain","tag-chapel-hill","tag-city-grocery","tag-coonie","tag-crooks-corner","tag-dirty-thirty","tag-dolly-parton","tag-gautreaus","tag-halie-johnson","tag-jack-sonni-leisure-class","tag-jeffrey-grimes","tag-jennifer-nelson","tag-john-coonie-spreafico","tag-john-currence","tag-john-spreafico","tag-liz-rainey","tag-locke-phillips","tag-meghan-anderson","tag-mississippi","tag-new-orleans","tag-north-carolina","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-square","tag-randy-yates","tag-rocket-88","tag-terry-moon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2022-06-15-JohnCurrence-copy.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}