LOCATION: 7.2
Jutamas is tucked away in a small, low-key shopping strip near the intersection of Highway 51 and East Jackson Street in Ridgeland. It’s easy to get to, easy to get in and out of, but you can’t see the restaurant from the road, so be aware of that if you’ve never been there and you’re trying to find it.
ATMOSPHERE: 7.4
While the shopping strip where Jutamas is located is low-key, the interior is a bit more splashy, with red walls and a few fairly tasteful Thai-style decorations, or at least Thai-style decorations that don’t push the boundaries of the tacky and bizarre, as is the case with some Thai restaurants. There is a full bar in the back, which is very clubby-feeling, all dark wood and mirrors. Maybe a tad out of place, but visually not bad at all when taken on its own merits. Lunch is never crowded, but dinner often sees a good crowd.
The tables are set with white tablecloths (albeit with clear plastic table covers on top), black cloth napkins, and good-quality utensils. Drinks are served in large, hefty glasses, which we really appreciate. Every table has a small vase in the center containing a couple of fresh flowers. The overall effect is that of a place that pays attention to “look and feel,” that understands how things like glasses, utensils, and tablecloths contribute to it, and wants to provide to its diners a superior experience in that regard.
FOOD: 8.1
The menu is relatively large when compared to your typical restaurant, but actually a tad smaller than most Thai, Vietnamese, and certainly most Chinese restaurants. There is a large enough selection of non-Thai dishes to keep kids and those who aren’t in the mood for Thai food happy, but the emphasis is on Thai soups, curries, and noodle dishes, and they are all superior.
Three curries especially stand out from the rest: The red curry, the green curry, and the panang curry. Of these, we think the panang curry is the clear winner, although you can’t go wrong with either of the other two. All of the curries can be ordered with your choice of protein, which includes tofu, chicken, beef, or shrimp, and they can be spiced from mild to “native Thai hot.” They come in a pretty ceramic bowl, with basmati rice on the side in a smaller covered bowl. The portion size is deceptive: When it arrives, you’ll probably wonder where the rest of your entree is, but as you add the rice to the curry and eat your way to the bottom of the bowl, you may wonder how you’re going to finish it.
A note on the spice level: We always order our curry at Jutamas “native Thai hot,” but here’s what we’ve found: For our first couple of years dining here, we knew it was never going to be especially hot. Then, in the fall of 2022, we noticed that they had significantly upped their spice game, such that “native Thai hot” was pretty sporty. Then in early 2023 we noticed that sometimes it was truly hot, and sometimes it had regressed back to its old “medium” level of spiciness. This could be because different cooks have different understandings of how much spice constitutes “native Thai hot,” or it could be because they’re using different pepper mixtures, or it could be a combination of the two or something altogether different. Whatever the explanation, we wish Jutamas — and for that matter, all Thai restaurants — would set their “hot” ceiling at the very top of what humans are capable of consuming, and then let us dial it down to our personal taste. As it is, we find ourselves frequently wanting a level of heat that Jutamas seems unable to deliver on a consistent basis. For true heat fanatics, we don’t always want our “spicy” food at insanely hot levels. But sometimes we do, and when we do, what we’re looking for is that very strange but very compelling experience of the first bite of something being remarkably, almost painfully hot, then as the heat subsides, craving another “hit” of it, even though we know it’s going to produce a little pain and a little sweat on our brow. Jutamas could satisfy people like us, while not making their food too hot for “normies,” by recalibrating their heat scale to something that’s consistent, but where the top of the scale is legitimately crazy.
Anyway, where were we? Oh yes: The curries. One of the shortcomings of mediocre Thai restaurants is that their curries are too thin and watery. You’ll have no such complaints at Jutamas. Their curries — as most Thai curries are, based on a coconut-milk broth — are ridiculously rich and creamy, and exhibit a depth of flavor that we’ve found at very few Thai places. If we have a complaint about the curries here, it’s almost embarrassingly nitpicky: The slices of bell pepper are consistently enormous — so big that they’re difficult both to fit onto the spoon as well as into your mouth. Some relief here, in the form of shorter and/or thinner slices, would be very welcome.
Let’s move on to the noodles. We haven’t tried them all, but we’ve eaten plenty of their two most popular ones, the drunken noodles and the Pad Thai. We know plenty of people who are drunken noodle fanatics, but we prefer the Pad Thai. The texture of the noodles is just a tad softer than some other Thai restaurants offer up, and while we generally prefer the chewier, borderline-underdone texture of those places, it’s hard to find fault with the way the noodles blend with the other ingredients to create a deeply satisfying mouth-feel. The sauce is rich and just a bit sweeter than we would like, but overall it’s a well put-together dish, and one of the strongest examples you’ll find in the ‘Sip.
The portion is very generous, with little piles of pepper flakes and chopped peanuts in the corners, and the plating shows an attention to detail and aesthetics that we appreciate. It’s also served piping hot — not something every Thai place gets right.
There’s a ribeye steak on the menu that’s well-executed and very consistent from visit to visit, and shows off the kitchen’s skill at plate decoration. Check out the carrot butterfly:
Most entrees come with a small bowl of soup that changes from day to day. They typically involve a clear broth with a delicious “umami” undertone, and some combination of rice, cabbage, and other vegetables. Unlike, say, a lot of miso soups at Japanese restaurants, which, while usually pretty good, are also often an afterthought, Jutamas soups are sometimes surprising, always satisfying, and seem to be the product of much thought. It’s a very nice touch that you don’t expect, and succeeds in signaling to diners that this is a restaurant where standards for everything are just a bit higher.
Overall, we always look forward to tucking into a dish at Jutamas, and so far, while we’ve preferred some dishes over others, nothing we’ve ordered has ever been anything less than “very good.” It’s clear the kitchen is operating at a level near the top of Jackson-area restaurants in this price class. With a typical entree, drink, and tax running about $20 for curries and noodle dishes, it’s not exactly something most people will want to do every day, but as a once-a-week treat, we’ve found we always get plenty of bang for our buck.
SERVICE: 7.6
The waitstaff at Jutamas are consistently polite and helpful, and they’re usually very good at knowing how often to drop by and check on you. They’re also not too chatty, and we’ve noticed are very careful not to interrupt any conversations that may be happening between diners when they approach the table. Occasionally there’s a slight language barrier, but nothing that keeps diners from getting everything they need in a prompt and courteous manner.
OVERALL: 7.6
There’s a large slice of the Thai restaurant industry that thrives on being a little grungy, a little beat-up, a little loud, a little rough around the edges, and we love them and wouldn’t trade them for the world. But what Jutamas does is take the food you’ll find in places like that, and elevate it, refine it, pay a lot of attention not just to the way it tastes but to the way it looks on the plate, and serve it in an atmosphere that’s similarly elevated and refined, more peaceful than rambunctious, and the effect is thoroughly pleasant and well worth the slightly higher-than-average prices. Do yourself a favor and make several trips to Jutamas, explore the menu, and tell your friends.