The restaurant became particularly known for its steaks, once advertised as “the best between Memphis and New Orleans.”
“I’d drive to Dallas to get angus steak when you couldn’t really find it everywhere,” Parmegiani said in 2012.
Parmegiani’s son, Jay, learned to cook in his father’s kitchen. A 1994 Post story described Jay, then a junior at Vicksburg High School, working alongside his father at Jacques’. Jay later opened Roca Restaurant & Bar in 2009.
Parmegiani became a U.S. citizen Jan. 19, 1994, in New Orleans. The following day, he told the Post he continued to return to France to visit his family but considered Vicksburg home.
“I’ve been here so long that it’s home now,” he said. “I go back to France to see my family, stay a month or so, then I come back. My life is here.”
Jacques’ Cafe In the Park closed in 2012. Parmegiani said at the time that a slow economy and changes in ownership at the Battlefield Inn contributed to the decision.
He continued cooking after the restaurant closed. A 2022 newsletter from Vicksburg Elks Lodge No. 95 thanked Parmegiani and two other cooks for preparing the lodge’s Thursday night meals.
Parmegiani had three children, Ian, Jay and Carmen.
In 1994, reflecting on his decision to remain in Vicksburg, Parmegiani called it “the best move I ever made.”
Dining and Cooking