Therese Apel

The Clarion-Ledger

On Tuesday, a man who identified himself as John Ellis told reporters he did not throw a Rabbi out of his restaurant for being Jewish, but for not knowing what he wanted to order.

Rabbi Ted Riter of the Beth Israel Congregation said he went to Wraps in Maywood Mart Tuesday for lunch, and he ordered a salad, to which allegedly the owner replied, "A full size or a Jewish size?"

When asked what he meant by that, Riter said the man said, "It's small. Jews are cheap and small. Everybody knows that."

Riter said he was incredulous, and the man asked him if he was a Jew. When Riter said yes, he was told to leave the restaurant.

"Expletives, F-bombs, and since I'd never been the recipient of that before, I was in shock, so I didn't register it until the second or third time he told me to leave," Riter said. "It was a bit surreal. So I left."

Ellis, who also goes by Yianni Allis, called The Clarion-Ledger on Wednesday and said the whole thing was a miscommunication, saying he would be happy to meet with Riter.

"If we misunderstood each other, I'd gladly embrace him and make friends," Allis said."It was extremely busy, he was extremely indecisive. I don't know if you've ever been in a small place like this, but if he misunderstood me, I'm sorry."

Riter said he would be happy to meet with Allis in the future.

"I would gladly accept his offer. I'd be happy to sit down with him," Riter said.

Allis said Wraps actually has a Jewish salad that includes potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, grilled onions, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The Jewish salad is not listed on the restaurant's menu on Yelp.

"If this man is a holy man and a man of the cloth, maybe he should be saying, 'It's my misunderstanding,'" Allis added. "We didn't beat him up. We didn't damage him in any way. There's cameras over here, they made us look like villains, and we're getting phone calls telling us this and that. We're not cruel people, we're just trying to make a living."

According to Jacksonians, Allis has built a reputation for himself. In some cases, it's for his mouthwatering gyros and Greek food, and his restaurant's fun, authentic vibe.

In other cases, it's because he could possibly be Jackson's own Seinfeldian "Soup Nazi."

A 2010 Eat Jackson blog on Wraps called "Real Life Soup Nazi?? WRAPS!" says the gyro he had there was "literally ... what may have been the best gyro of my adult life."

But he also says he had heard "it could be a little soup naziesque if you don't watch it. If you hack off the owner…well that may change your experience here. I didn't have that experience."

He also added he waited three weeks to post the blog so Allis wouldn't remember who he was.

Former employees of Allis said he has also gone by the names John Allison and Yianni Ellis.

"I was the GM of this restaurant from Jan 2013- July 2014 where the owner assaulted me twice physically put his hands on me. I had to step down, with me stepping down so did the other five employees," said Robert Collins in a comment on The Clarion-Ledger website. "He cares about no one but himself. Sucks the food is good but I wouldn't give him a dime!"

"When the story came across my Facebook feed last night about a restaurant owner in Jackson being offensive to a rabbi and throwing him out, I immediately thought to myself, Johnny must have opened a new restaurant. I worked for John around 2000 when I was a student at Millsaps in his restaurant on I-55 frontage road next to Outback Steakhouse. He was offensive and arrogant to employees and customers alike," said Jason McDonald, of Brookhaven. "I personally witnessed similar outbursts like this resulting in multiple people being thrown out or leaving on their own accord. I 100 percent believe the rabbi's account of the story because I witnessed so many incidents like this during my time of employment in John's restaurant. This is not an isolated misunderstanding that happened once."

After Allis' experience with Riter, he told reporters that what Riter had said wasn't true. He said Riter disrespected his business, but he wasn't clear on how.

"He just didn't know what he wanted, I said do you know what you want or not. When you go into someone's business you have to respect the business," he said. "This is not a public center, this is a private enterprise."

He said that he didn't know that Riter was a Rabbi, and after trying to end the interview several times said, "No, I don't know what you're talking about."

Emily Kamber, of Jackson, said she stopped by Wraps after hearing the news about Riter's expulsion and had an unpleasant experience herself.

"I stopped by to see where this place is located. I stepped out of my car and John... told me they were closed and I should return," she said. "I told him I would never buy anything from him because he threw out our Rabbi. He told me, 'Rabbi is an idiot.' Now he says he doesn't know who the Rabbis is."

The Wraps page on Yelp, before several angry reviews about Riter's experience, featured primarily positive reviews about the atmosphere, food quality, and reasonable pricing. However, there were others who spoke unkindly about the customer service.

One woman from Memphis posted, "I want to rate this place highly, I do. Nothing better than a local hole in the wall with great food right? And the food was good. And it was ready relatively quickly. But my experience was horribly bad, due to the rudeness of the worker behind the counter. She was mean, and angry. She also substantially overcharged us, and acted terribly inconvenienced when she had to issue a refund. I left with a pit in my stomach, the kind that you get after a confrontation with someone, or after you've been bullied. Yes, it was just that bad. If there had been even a hint of a smile, I'd give it 3 or 4. But when I tapped the bell to get her to the front to issue our refund, I saw and heard her yell, 'Jesus!!!' before she came out."

Kristin B, of Jackson, posted, "This place is awesome. Wraps is a local hole in the wall Mediterranean gyro place with about 6 tables inside and 3 outside. You grab your drinks from open coolers located by the door, or the pitcher of iced tea on the main counter. The prices reflect the setup - quite affordable. In fact I was surprised that they even took cards at the register."

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.