Eating with Bo

Earlier this summer, the gentleman that runs the site EatJxn sat down to lunch with Bo Bounds at Mint. From the sound of the article, he went voluntarily. This is a man much braver man than I. Christ, I can hardly stand listening to bullshit on the radio. I can only imagine it’s 10x times worse in person. 

Anyway, EatJxn is a restaurant blog – and that takes center stage here. But there is just enough of Bo’s signature awfulness described here to make this worth taking a look at. After the jump, I break down EatJxn's "rockstar lunch" with Bo Bounds.

Rockstar Lunch with Bo Bounds

I hope this is a dig at Bo and not some lame description of their typical and ordinary lunch at Mint

Last year about this time, I ran in to Cooper Veazey at a shindig down at F. Jones Corner…Coop introduced me to a guy named Bo Bounds. 

I would be so pissed if someone introduced Bo Bounds into my life. That is grounds for termination of our friendship. If you ever feel like you have it bad at work because your boss is an arrogant, out-of-touch asshole, please stop feeling sorry for yourself and think about how much worse Cooper’s situation is.

Bo’s become a good friend and I invited him to lunch, and told him to name the place… He picked Mint in Ridgeland. I’d had lunch there a couple of times but it’s been a while.

Of course Bo wanted to eat at Mint. What Eat Jxn doesn’t mention is that Bo is probably contractually obligated to eat at Mint. In fact, I’m surprised Bo didn’t suggest takeout from Beagle Bagel and a picnic at Circle 7 in front of the Y’all display.

When Bo arrived we grabbed a seat at the table and we started through the menu. I always get a kick out of hanging out with Bo. His talk radio sports show in Jackson keeps thousands of us in the know about SEC football year round and he’s got a good set of taste buds for the finer things in life. 

You know, it doesn’t take a refined palette to pick a $50 bottle of tequila. Steak and lobster isn’t an acquired taste. Everyone likes that shit. You don't need special taste buds for that. 

He’s actually been in the restaurant business himself, working at Shapley's as a manager “back in the day” as he puts it. 

Only 200 words in and Shapley’s has already come up. Within the narrative, the appetizers haven’t even come out, which means Bo probably started hollering about Shapley’s as soon as he stepped through the fucking door.

Bo ordered the She Crab Bisque as his appetizer and it didn’t last long. It looked and smelled great, but I didn’t want to end up with a spoon through the back of my hand so I just took his word for it. 

I’m not sure what EatJxn expected here. Bo is trying to SELL the Y’all Lifestyle, not share it. You get your own goddamned crab bisque. 

Bo ordered the special but substituted a Caesar Salad for the Fried Veal cutlet. I guess he was on a health kick. It looked great, and he washed it down with a glass of red wine.

Listen, Bo can’t have people thinking the Y’all Lifestyle involves cheap bullshit like Caesar salad. No, better to have a fried piece of baby calf on the side. Is that extravagant enough for you? Maybe drizzle some scotch on top, too.

He’s built a great business selling the “Y’all Lifestyle” and his new product line launched recently with great fanfare. While he’s an entrepreneur, and Sports Talk radio guy, he’s also a man of many talents. 

So long as those talents involve acting like a smug asshole who is so sure that he has everything figured out.

I discovered that he’s actually quite a cook himself. His favorite includes grabbing a bottle of great “vino” and some beef tenderloins to throw on his grill and cook with his wife Wendy. I think they call that “chillin’ at the grill.” 

I have no doubt that Bo actually used the word vino and sprinkled in the phrase “chillin’ at the grill.” I hope he showed Eat Jxn the pictures on his phone. 

Bo is a connoisseur of great food. Maybe he learned a few things while working at Shapley’s back in the day.

Two Shapley’s mentions in a review of a separate restaurant. I can only imagine Bo kicked back a slice of the Shapley’s ad buy to this guy.

I asked Bo about his kid’s favorite place to eat, “Burger’s & Blues” was the response. 

Fantastic. Now he’s corrupted his two kids into thinking there are only four restaurants in town. I bet little Woodie III takes leftover steak for lunch to kindergarten and thumbs his nose at everyone that has peanut butter and jelly.