I've made two trips to C.J.'s in the last few days, and certainly enjoyed it both times; despite the rough neigborhood it's in, it's nice enough and the folks are friendly enough that I could easily see it being a place I recommend off the beaten path from now on, much like Depot Diner or Sol de Mexico.
Thursday David Hammond and I went there for lunch. We started with not-bad-at-all crab cakes, he had a very likable catfish sandwich, and I had also-not-bad-at-all jambalaya.
If you get the sense my enthusiasm is a bit tempered, well, nothing rocked my socks off, but it was all good enough that I would go back... and did. Because I also saw the brunch menu while I was there, and I soon developed the strong suspicion that this good lunch place might be a
great breakfast place.
Coincidentally enough, Myles-- owner, as you may have seen here, of a much-loved Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles T-Shirt-- had expressed the desire for that dish again. I didn't even know where to get it, but luckily, where we were going anyway...
...turned out to be exactly what he was hoping for. Good chicken wings, a light, not too strongly flavored crust. Other son had banana pancakes and no less than three of C.J.'s buttery biscuits...
I'm sure there are people in Kansas who grew up eating grits but generally speaking it was too far north and too Germano-Scandinavian for that dish. So I'm not a grits person. But put enough cream and cheese and hot sauce in anything and it's good. And C.J.'s shrimp and grits are really, really good, the must-have dish there.
There's probably still time today, in fact. Move!