SFA | Projects | Mississippi Delta Histories

Well, we have customers been coming here--we raised a lot of ‘em from children. That grew up, married and bring their families here. I been here that long.
–Mike Ballas

Food has been served on this corner of Carrolton Avenue and Lamar Street for almost a century. The place began as a little diner called the Elite Cafe and evolved into the Crystal Grill under the ownership of Jim Liollio. His brother-in-law, Mike Ballas, who was raised in Greece and came to Mississippi in the 1940s, soon became a partner and eventually took over and shaped the Crystal Grill into what it is today: a two-hundred seat restaurant with the biggest menu around. Mr. Ballas and his son Johnny Ballas pride themselves on serving the best food at the best prices, and it is certain that everyone can eat happy here. One thing they are known for, though, is their “mile high pie”--chocolate or coconut with honest to gosh meringue. Over the past few decades not a lot has changed other than the restaurant’s size (notice the original tile floors in the photograph at left). Some of the waitresses have been there for forty years, and locals have brought their children and their children’s children through the same front doors for Sunday dinner for decades. Sunday dinner is an experience in itself and a great way to get some local color. You can choose a dinner prayer from their custom “Four Faiths” menu and nosh on a yeast roll, the recipe for which came from a home economics teacher at Greenwood High School.

Edited Transcript

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. Download the FULL TRANSCRIPT in PDF form (120K) by clicking this link. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

Subject: Mike Ballas, owner (father of Johnny Ballas)
Date: June 18, 2003
Location: The Crystal Grill
Interviewer: Amy Evans

Amy Evans: Today is Wednesday, June eighteenth, two thousand three, and I'm at the Crystal Grill in Greenwood, Mississippi with Mr. Ballas. Mr. Ballas, would you mind saying your full name and your age?

Mike Ballas: Mike J. Ballas, my name. Uh, I was born in February nineteen--nineteen nineteen. I'm eighty-five.

Were you born in Greenwood?

Oh, no ma'am. I was born in Pensacola, Florida. I was raised in Greece 'cause, uh, my father got sick with influenza then in nineteen nineteen, and I was just a little baby when they--when they--he just sold everything and, uh, packed up and moved the family to Greece because my mother couldn't speak English at that time.

Where in Greece?

So I was raised in Greece. Uh, he sold the store in Pensacola and left. Uh, 'cause he thought he would come back. And so, anyway, I--I stayed in Greece about--until I was eighteen, and then I returned. And I have a brother three years older than me and, uh, he came ahead of me when he was eighteen. And we both settled in Cleveland, Mississippi. So, uh, but a few years later, I moved to Greenville, Mississippi and the war broke out, and I enlisted. Well, I was really drafted from Greenville. My brother enlisted, uh, from after--after--I was in the service about six months when he also enlisted. Eventually, he got killed in Normandy. [Pause] So, um, after the war [coughs], I came, uh, back to Greenville, and then I moved back to Pensacola and then back to Greenville. [Laughs] And, uh, anyway--been around and around. Then Montgomery, Alabama and then I went to Greece and, uh, got married and, uh--

Now, can I stop you?

--brought my wife back.

Can I stop you for a second? To ask you, um, two things. What part of Greece were you brought up in?

Oh, we, uh, were living in Skopolos. Island of Skopolos. And, uh, it's about a hundred miles south of Solonika.

Okay.

It's in the Aegean Sea. It's an island.

And what, uh, kind of store did your father have in Pensacola before you went back to Greece.

Grocery store.

Do you know when he first came to Florida from Greece?

He came to the United States when he was, uh, just a young man--about sixteen, seventeen years old.

Do you know why?

And, uh, then, uh, in nineteen twelve, he was--he was born in nineteen eighty-two. Eighteen eighty-two!

Uh-huh.

And nineteen twelve, when war broke out between Greece and Turkey--Greece was trying to get, get the Turks out and liberate themselves.

Okay.

So he volunteered, well [Pause] He didn't have--I don't know if he had a store at that time. But anyway, he volunteered. He left Pensacola, went to Greece to fight.

[Pause]

And so okay, we can jump now back to you and Mississippi.

Then, when he got out the service in Greece, he went to the island and married and brought his wife back to Pensacola. And so it was. That was nineteen twelve, thirteen or whatever. And nineteen fourteen, my brother was born. Nineteen eighteen, I was born. [Mr. Ballas said nineteen nineteen was his birth year at the beginning of the interview]

And so then after the war you went back to Greece, and you met your wife there?

Uh. Yes, after the war?

Yes, sir.

After the war, I worked around and made a little money and went to Greece and get married. And, uh, to the same island. Both us have been back in the years since. That was nineteen forty-nine. And, uh, [Mr. Ballas takes a drink of ice water] so, uh, anyway, I went--when I came back went to Clarksdale, Mississippi, where my brother-in-law--had a brother-in-law running a little place over there, City Cafe, and uh, over here at the Crystal was a other brother--older brother--running the Crystal Grill with another guy. So, uh--I worked--uh, I was running that place in Clarksdale, the City Cafe, for about three yeas. And then this brother Jim wanted to go to Greece to see his folks and asked me to come and help while he was gone, so I came over here and helped. When he came back--before he--after--soon after he left, his partner left. So I bought his partner out. From now on in partnership in Clarksdale and in partnership over here. [Laughs] So, well then, uh, Jim came back and said, "Well, I don't know what to do now." I said, "You're partners here and partners with John." I said, "What do you want to do?" he said, "I don't know. What do you want to do?" And I said, "I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm gonna go to Clarksdale and see what's going on over there, and then if I don't like it, I'm coming back over here." He said, "That's fine." So I didn't like it over there and came back over here. And at that time, it was just that section on the other side. [Mr. Ballas points over into the front and original room of the Crystal, where there are a few tables, a few booths and the hostess/cashier counter.] And after I started running it, business picked up a whole lot, and we had to expand, so I took this over. [Br. Ballas is speaking of the second hallway-like room of tables that we're sitting in for the interview] And later on, business kept exp--picking up so we had to have a place to put 'em, so I expanded on the other side. And then, many years later, well that, stained glass dining--Jim left and went to Memphis. I took over the whole thing by myself. And, uh, then I bought the property. I bought all this. And I expanded--expanded a whole lot. We expanded the kitchen. We spent about three hundred thousand [dollars]. And we really made it a restaurant then. Up until then it was a mess.

Before you became a partner, how long had the restaurant been here?

The restaurant been here--well, it was--the building was built about nineteen fourteen. And they had a little restaurant ever since. Back then, of course, it was small. Uh, I--I enlarged all this. I've got two hundred and fifty six [seats] now.

My goodness. And it's always been called the Crystal Grill?

Uh, the beg--at the beginning it was the Elite Cafe.

The Elite Cafe.

And actually, it was down on that tile floor as you come in--in the vestibule. It was written down: Elite Cafe. But from so many people coming in, they wore the tile out. It just wore a hole in it. So I had to do something. Now, I just had to put the floor over there. But the rest of the floor is the same. All this floor is the same one.

This mosaic one?

And we have carpet in the other rooms but this--this is the same tile--the original tile--was--when the building was built.

And what is--on the outside of the building it says the "Greenwood Hotel" up top?

It used to be Lamar Hotel.

Lamar Hotel?

Yeah. From--on the other side of this wall a bar--there was a hotel called the Lamar Hotel. And it was operating until I decided to expand over there and take over the, uh, lobby. And--[big laugh!]

What was here right next-door the first time you expanded?

Here? Well, this was the lobby.

Oh, okay.

I took it over and they built another lobby next door.

I see.

And I took that over, and they had to close the hotel.

[Laughs] You ran 'em out, huh?

[Laughs]

So have you been serving the same kind of food all these years?

Oh, I been changing--I've been improving e--ever since I've been here. We, uh, serve really good food here. Really. We got people coming here from all around the states. Uh, even from Tennessee.

Yeah. You have quite a reputation.

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So how did you learn about food?

Oh, books and actual practice. Practice. Uh, I--I practiced until I got something right.

Was your family a group of cooks? Did your father cook?

My family--mmm, well, my--my father was a grocer in a grocery store. And, uh, he didn't know anything about cooking. My mother did. My--my wife is a pretty good cook.

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So how has your menu changed over the years do you think?

We've been changing the menus here often--for a while.

How have the menus changed?

Well, we just, uh--every time I try out, for instance, and I eat something that I like? I introduce it here. If I didn't know how to do it, I get an idea from the way it tastes. I get a book, and I find it and I put it in there.

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Were you doing all the cooking--back then?

I used to do all the cooking, but now I've got people back there. My son has taken over now.

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Huh. What do you think is the reason for your longevity here--in this restaurant business?

Good eating! [Laughs] That's true. Uh, and of course love--I love people. You know, I love to serve. I--I don't have to work. I mean after eighty-five years, I made enough money where I don't have to work. But, uh, I like to work. I--I like to serve people.

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Yes, sir. So I know this has to be a really interesting place, where some interesting things have gone on here. All these locals keep coming back. And business transactions going on in here I was hearing stories about. And--

Well, we have customers been coming here--we raised a lot of 'em from children. That grew up, married and bring their families here. I been here that long. [Laughs]

Do you have some favorite customers who keep coming in?

Oh, yes ma'am. A whole lot of 'em. Yeah. A lot of 'em I named, you know, from little babies and then just grow on up. Now, they--they got families, they got children. [Laughs]

Well, I wonder if you could tell me now what it was like here in Greenwood in 1952, running this restaurant.

Well, things weren't that good back then, really. Uh, on--there were some roughians downtown then. Some bad people, you know. Had old ways and, uh, uh, some bad memories about them. But they're dead now. Uh, they were real bad about black people, you know. How they would--used to be back then. And, uh, even amongst themselves they used to fight. When I first came here, a lot of drunks used to come in here. Well, the same thing happened in Clarksdale, until I ran 'em all out. And I even got a black eye from one of 'em because I wouldn't sell him beer. I just stopped it, and finally I run all the drunks out, and then I had a lot of customers. And over here I did the same thing. I'll tell you a funny story. We used to have a counter and, uh, a guy came in, sit down, wanted a beer. I had instructed my waitresses, no beer to drunks. I said, "I'm going to run all them drunks out of here." Okay. So he asked for a beer. The waitress said, you know, "I'm sorry." She called me and said, "He wants beer." So I asked him, I said, "Can I help you, sir?" He said, "Yeah, I want a beer." I said, "I'm sorry sir. I can't sell you a beer." "Why can't you sell me a beer?" I said, "Because you're drunk!" He said, "Well then you can go to hell!" "I said, "You can go to hell too!" He said, "I'll meet you there." Everybody just died laughing. [Laughs]

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Mm-hmm. Well, what is this about this, um--used to be called the Crystal Club.

Oh, well later, when, uh, that, uh, decision--Supreme Court decision came about and all the black people were in an uproar. And they were calling us here every day, "Hey, we're gonna s--close you down. We--" 'Cause until then, we didn't let nobody in--no--no blacks. It was just white. 'Cause if we had, we'd of had a fight with the whites. You know how they felt. Do you know--no, you're not that old. It was awful! So, uh, I told my partner, I said, "Look, we ain't going to stay in business if we don't do something." And other people, you know, they were making clubs. There were a lot of clubs around. So we decided, I said, "We'll make it a club and hold it for about five years." I said, "My idea is that in about five years, all this thing gonna cool off, and it'll be all over. And then we can open up. But right now, if we keep it and keep them blacks out, we--we ain't going to be able to stay open." So that's what we did. We made it a club, and we were selling shares--dollar shares. Just an excuse, really, to keep it all white. Until they calm down. Both sides--it was mad. Both sides. Then later on, we just opened it up. Um, but we took more than five years. Took about ten.

And how have things changed since then?

Oh, it's--like they used to say in the old world war, "All quiet on the western front." [Laughs] We ain't got no problem. We serve blacks, whites, all mixed up, you know. They don't--they don't care. It's all over.

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So what is it do you think about, um, the ethnic community here that's been here so long? So many Italians and Greeks and Lebanese.

I--I think, uh, we're not having any problems. I think that they all--they all, uh, are accepted by the population. And, uh, I don't think they feel bad about it. Even amongst the blacks and the whites and the--it's, uh, it's normal.

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So I'd like to know, though, this first dining room, when it first opened, you said it had a bar in there. What did the rest of the restaurant look like then?

When I first came here--when I first bought the place, there were two counters over against that wall over there. [Mr. Ballas points to the far outside wall of the main dining room] Well, originally--the very, very beginning when they built it, they had a window across the wall over there.

In the outside wall?

Yeah. You know, where the girls are. [A couple of female employees were standing near the hostess/cashier counter along that wall] On that wall about halfway, there was a window, and they were selling things to go.

Oh, okay.

And, uh, back in the corner where the office is now, that was a kitchen like. They had--they were cooking hamburgers and things like that. You know, short orders. Everything was different. And we didn't have much of a kitchen. It was mostly sandwiches. Standard. And they had, uh, lunches. But they were serving the counter. When I first came and started working, at noon the only customers we had were sitting on the counter. All those tables would be empty. Now, that's how much business they had. Just--just--very little. Like I say, a hundred and twenty dollars. Oh, from four to twelve at night, you talking about many hours. Uh, that's--that's not much money. That's not much business. And, uh, in about four--I'd say in about three months I had not doubled--tripled the business! But I spent some money, and I got new equipment: new booths, new plates, new--beautiful plates. China, you know. Shenango China and all that stuff and, uh, it didn't look the same when he came back. So, uh, that's what it takes. You got to--you got to look ahead a little bit. But those people, like my brother-in-law, he--he was just here you know. You--he didn't know how to operate. Uh, they had a few water pitchers, for instance. To sh--to show you how bad it was--a few water pitchers and they were covered up with dust. Which means they were not even using them. They didn't have rolls, they didn't have--they--booths were made out of wood, and they had a little color on them. And I'd be watching some customers come in and go over there and sit down, thinking it was a booth, and it would go booop! And I'd just shut my eyes. [Laughs] I say, "Oh." [Laughs] They're saying, "Yes." [laughs] I say, "I got an extra one." So [unintelligible phrase] and that's when I just throw everything out. Uh, called Westbrook Company in Jackson. They were man--they were making them, and they came over here and we fixed the place up.

So you're a real businessman to have come in and seen what was here and taken it all over like that.

Well, I made all these changes, uh, because it was--it was just a little old joint. That's all it was.

And you've enjoyed the restaurant business all these years?

Yeah. I been improving ever since. I can't improve no more though. Done about all we can do. Unless we move to a new building. But, uh, this is what I had to work with.

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So what do you think the future of Crystal Grill might be?

Well, uh, s--so, uh, the way I see it, after Johnny retires, we gonna just be out of business. Course, I'm--I don't know. I--I'm gonna leave. I feel good right now.

Well, keep eatin' that pie! [Mr. Ballas pats me on the arm] [Both laugh]

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