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[We served a] flounder filet, see. We--the ladies like flounder filet, but they tell me--Mary Rose said [at the new Giardina's] they don't -they don't want to fool with flounder filet. I don't know why. The ladies like it without the bones, you know.
--Brossi Giardina

The Giardina family originally hails from Cefalu, Italy--the same Sicilian town that the Lusco family originally called home. Sometime in the late 1920s, Sam Giardina opened a small market in downtown Greenwood that also happened to serve food. His brother Joe wanted a restaurant of his own, so in 1936 he opened a little place on Park Avenue, then outside of the city limits. When the new Giardina's first opened, it was a drive-up business that served sandwiches and other quick take-away items. Soon, business grew, and Giardina's evolved into a full-service sit-down restaurant, offering the finest in Delta dining. It is argued that the menu and style of the restaurant was inspired by the tradition Lusco's started only three years earlier (they, too, serve fish, steaks and in the privacy of curtained booths). Whatever the argument, Giardina's definitely found its way into the hearts and stomachs of Deltans far and wide. Today, the original restaurant on Park Avenue is closed and a reincarnation of their established tradition of food and service has been created in the bottom of the new Alluvian Hotel in downtown Greenwood. While the name remains the same, a little bit of the soul has changed. Johnny Bell, for example, started working for the Giardinas in the old drive-in days, and he stayed on as both a cook and waiter as the restaurant evolved. All total, Mr. Bell spent forty-seven years working with the Giardinas before he retired, and he maintains a relationship with the family to this day. But much of the Gardina's restaurant history has carried over to the new location, where you can still find great steaks, oysters and fresh fish on the menu, as well as hostess and second generation Giardina, Mary Rose Graham, to greet you as you walk in and take you to your booth for new twist on an old Delta experience.

Edited Transcript

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. Download the FULL TRANSCRIPT in PDF form (114K) by clicking this link. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

Subjects: Brossi, Rosina and Joe Giardina
Date: June 30, 2003
Location: Giardina Residence -- Greenwood, MS
Interviewer: Amy Evans

Amy Evans: Okay, this is Wednesday, July thirtieth, two thousand three, and I'm at the home of the Giardina's on Grand Boulevard in Greenwood, Mississippi. And it's about two in the afternoon. And I'll have each of you all introduce yourselves.

Joe Giardina: I'm Joe Giardina, and I'm sixty-seven years old.

Brossi Giardina: I'm Brossi Giardina. And I'm, uh, eighty-three years old.

Rosina Giardina: I'm Rosina Giardina. I'm ninety-two years old.

All right. Thank you very much. And I'll--let me ask you first, because everybody in Greenwood pronounces your family's name as gardenia. How do you--

RG: How do they pronounce it?

Gardenia, like the flower?

RG: That's right. Gardenia. But really, the correct pronunciation--the Italian pronunci--nunciation--is Jar-deena...But we go Gar-deena.

__________

[Rosina Giardina's maiden name is Giardina]

BG: See, she [talking about Rosina] married--she married two brothers. See, my brother Joe that died--that's his [Joe Jr.'s]daddy--because right when I came out of the service, see, he died when I was in the service, my brother. When I came out and we--I married her.

Okay.

BG: See? But she was a Giardina before she married us. [Laughs]

RG: And that one [meaning the brother, Joseph] was in Atlanta, Georgia.

BG: Atlanta, Georgia.

RG: I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.

BG: And her sister [Minnie] married my oldest brother [Sam]. See? Ain't that right?

RG: Two sisters married two brothers, that's right.

So how did your families know each other to do all this marring?

BG: [Laughs.]

RG: What did you say? I didn't hear you.

How did your families know each other to do all this marring around?

RG: Uh, we met at a funeral of my grandmother. [Short pause] Cause his--his grandmother was my father's, uh, my father's, uh, grandfather--

Okay.

RG: --when we came here [meaning Greenwood, Mississippi] for a funeral.

__________

But so your families are from Sicily. Is that right?

BG: Right.

RG: Correct.

And when did they all come over?

RG: My daddy told me that he was six years old when he came over from Italy.

BG: How old was he?

RG: Six--he was six years old when he came--

BG: Well, my--my fath--

RG: --to Atlanta.

BG: My father came from Italy and my mother, she was born over here in his country. My mother did, but my daddy and his mother came over here when he was young. Ain't that right? [to Rosina]

RG: Correct.

So that would have been maybe like the mid-eighteen hundreds or something? Do we think?

BG: Well, my daddy he--he lived to be, uh, seventy-three years old, wasn't it? Seventy-four years old. He retired twenty years before he--he got out, you know. Before for he quit [working]. He retired twenty years before he died. That's what I was--meant to say. He had a place down on Main Street. When he got out of business, he gave it to the two boys. A oldest brother and--and Joe Giardina [senior], her--her--

RG: His daddy. [Nods over towards Joe, Jr.]

BG: His daddy. [Points to Joe, Jr.]

And that was a restaurant?

BG: Right. Well, it wasn't so much.

RG: They sold seafood, you know, but they--not cooked. The--the boys, his daddy [points to Joe, Jr.] and-- and the brother, his daddy's brother [Sam], they--they opened the restaurant. They started that they-selves.

RG: It wasn't a restaurant when they started it.

BG: No it wasn't a restaurant then.

Do you know what kind of year this was?

BG: And see, when his daddy got out, he--he wanted -

RG: [Nineteen] thirty-six.

BG: -- he wanted a place of his own. And he's the one--his dad really built that place. You know where it is out on Park Avenue?

On Park. Yes, sir.

BG: And I--his daddy--his daddy built that place out there. And he wanted his own business, see. And he was a real good cook, wasn't he?

JG: [Nods "yes" in agreement.]

RG: [Nods "yes" in agreement.]

BG: And he-- my oldest brother [Sam] got it [learned to cook] from him. He didn't--he didn't--he didn't know how to cook, my older brother. He got it from his daddy [meaning Joe Jr.'s daddy], and he got where he knew how to cook, and his daddy opened that place on his own place. And that--he's the one that built that place out there. It wasn't nothing out there when they--when they built that--I can say, it was out of the city limits. Right on the corner.

RG: Correct.

BG: So when I came out of the service--See, his [Joe Jr.'s] daddy died while I was in the service. So when I came out of the service, then that's when we got married in January of--of, uh--

RG: [Nineteen] forty-six.

__________

BG: Well, when I came out the service in--in--in December forty-five--January of forty-six, that's when we got married--on her [Rosina's] birthday--and we took the place over. I say we've been there ever since. I mean, I--

[To Brossi] So when your brother moved the restaurant out there to Park [Avenue], how--why did he choose to go outside of the city limits?

BG: Well, um, why'd he choose to go out there? Well, I tell you, that was our property. That was Sam's property. My oldest brother's property. And he--he let him have that to get out of the business.

RG: We opened--we opened the restaurant out there.

BG: He let him have that. See, that was--that was his--my older brother's. He had that property. And he had another piece of property too, but he sold that to the Wonder Bread. But that property he gave it to my brother cause he--he [Sam] wanted to get out on his own.

Okay. So then what happened to the place on Main Street after that?

BG: You mean the Giardina's downtown?

Yes sir.

JG: You mean Carrollton Avenue.

Okay, Carrollton. I apologize.

BG: He stayed there, uh--[To Rosina] when did Sam get out of business? That was my older brother. He was the oldest one in the family...His wife [Sam's]--his wife is her [Rosina's] sister [Minnie]. See, two brothers married two sisters. He--he--he got--he stayed there, like I said, until he couldn't work not more himself, then he retired--he retired.

__________

Well lets--can we back up and talk about when it was--when you first got on Park [Avenue] and it was a walk-up/drive-in business?

JG: [To Brossi] When it was a drive-in.

Yeah.

RG: We had curb service.

Curb service.

BG: Yeah, cause that's when we first st-started out.

JG: Cause Johnny-Johnny use to, um, hop cars. [Laughs]

Johnny Bell? [Johnny Bell is an African-American man who worked for the Giardina's family in the restaurant as a cook and waiter for forty-seven years.]

BG: Yeah. Yep.

RG: Um-hum.

BG: He always said--he say them days was the nickel and dime. [Laughs.]

[Every one laughs]

BG: Yeah. He--he--when we started out with sandwich, see...And then when my brother got out of business, see--anyway, when he got out business I told my wife, I said "I'm going into that kind of business." I said--

JG: And then we quit the curb service.

BG: And I had---I had to add on. I had that place--that place is 'bout twice as big as when we first started out. Cause, see, we started with sandwiches. And when he got out of business, I--I went and got his business. I went and talked to the people, I got all his business, and that's when I went into that kind of business. Wh--what year was that, honey? [To Rosina]

JG: Oh Lord, I don't know! [Laughs]

RG: We opened out there in thirty-six.

__________

BG: He had a good business his self, my brother downtown. And I said I wanted--I want that kind of business. That's what I want. I want--I went after it, and I got it! I called them people up, and I got it. And--and that's when I had to enlarge my place up. My place wasn't big enough. And when I enlarged it--twice as big. You ought to see it inside. It's real nice.

So is that when you decided to change the menu and offer steaks and fish and things like that?

JG: Right, right.

BG: Yeah. I had to enlarge it.

Well, it's--being Italian, did y'all offer many Italian dishes?

JG: No Italian food.

BG: Naw.

Now Italian food at all!

BG: Steaks and seafood.

JG: That's what a lot of people ask me.

RG: It's an Italian name how come no Italian food! [Laughs]

BG: Steaks and seafood. That's what it was. And the best you could buy.

__________

And when you started having the sit-down dinner service and you established that menu, did it change much over the fifty years or so?

[In unison]

RG: Naw.

JG: No.

BG: No--no--no--Not really, not really. It's just like I said, it's always steaks. The best steaks you could buy. The best seafood they want. Pompano, flounder--Now, she [Rosina] likes Flounder. We, Mary Rose--all of us like Flounder. But they got some new stuff that we didn't have. They got that Grouper. We never did have that. And uh, flounder with the bone in it. Flounder filet, see. We--the ladies like Flounder filet, but they tell me--Mary Rose said they don't -they don't want to fool with Flounder filet. I don't know why. The ladies like it without the bones, you know.

__________

BG: He [Joe, Jr.] opened up all the shelled oysters. If he left us we couldn't do with out him. See, he never did get married...He's stayed with us all these years. He opened up all the shelled oysters and made all the salads, and they're crazy about his salads. [Laughs]

JG: I made the salads that way. [Laughs]

BG: They're crazy about his salad, I'm telling you! [Laughs]

[Laughs.] What's the secret to your salad? [To Joe]

JG: Oh, no! [Laughs shyly] Not much to it.

You learned to cook from your father [Joeseph] and from Mr. Giardina [meaning Brossi]?

JG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't I? [To Brossi] I learned from you, I guess, didn't I?

BG: I guess so.

__________

BG: Yeah. Me and Johnny [Bell]. Like I say, I couldn't do without him, he couldn't do without me. We worked together, the two of us. And he calls himself today--he's one of the family.

Yeah! He told me as much.

BG: Yeah. He, uh, he--he stayed right with us. The only time he'd ever take off would be Christmas and Thanksgiving. There'd be deer hunters didn't want nobody but him. He had to go and cook for 'em. And, uh, and so anyway, the last--the last--what, three to four years? He wouldn't go nowhere because he knew I couldn't do it by myself. I was getting too old, you know. And that's the only time he quit. So when it came to the time he had enough of it, and he said his legs was bothering him, and--and--he--he quit for three---three weeks. I had it by myself. I told--I said [laughing] "Honey, I can't do it anymore. It's gonna kill me if I stay here." And I had to shut it down.

So, Johnny Bell left and three weeks later y'all shut down.

BG: Right.

JG: Right.

Wow.

BG: And she cried--

JG: I think it was August the second when we closed down.

BG: She--she [Rosina] cried like a baby.

JG: Wasn't it the August the second? [To Rosina]

BG: You know--

JG: I think it was.

BG: --you know what else? She misses seeing the people.

The people. You know, that is the one thing about restaurants: that people do it because they love being around people.

BG: Oh, yeah. She loved it. She craved it.

RG: I miss it.

[To Rosina] And you--you were in the front all the time just greeting people and--

RG: Oh, yeah.

-- managing.

RG: I was there all the time.

BG: Oh yeah. I tell you, when she was younger now, she did her work. She--she didn't want to quit. She, like she said, she--she wouldn't--she--I couldn't have done without her. And--and when she--she done, she said, "I did my work." So when, you know, she got so she couldn't work anymore, she'd just stand up in front and greet the people.

Uh-hum.

BG: She like right today, if we go out to eat, you know, we get through eating and ready to go, she like "I'm enjoying--I'm relaxed, and I want to see the people."

__________

And so what is going to happen to that old building on Park? Y'all gonna keep it?

BG: I don't know, like I was saying, we were asking people--

JG: It's got a "For Rent" sign on it.

RG: What did--what'd you say, darling? What'd you say ?

What's gonna happen to the old building?

RG: I don't know yet. I don't think I want to sell it. [Laughs]

BG: She don't want to-she don't want to get rid of it.

JG: She'll rent it.

RG: I'll rent it, but I don't want to sell it.

JG: She'll rent it, but she never will sell it.

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