SOUL FOOD SUNDAY DINNER, CJ'S EATERY, JULY 13

hi all, i'm a big fan of cj's eatery, but havent yet tried their new sunday dinner. so i'm proposing a small LTH gathering on sunday, july 13. i don't want to overtask the kitchen, so i was thinking maybe 4 - 6 folks might want to join me, mhl, and giovanna to order off this new menu. please post here if you're interested. thanks, justjoan




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Hi,

I would love to join you for this dinner. What time?

Jyoti

I would love to join you for this dinner. What time?

Jyoti



great. i havent discussed the time with matt or nancy yet. but i'd lean more towards 5ish for an early dinner. but if you have a preference, i'm open. i'll let charles (cj) know we are coming closer to the date if we end up with a large group. jj

I would also be happy to join. Earlier is a bit better for me if it would work, say 3 or 4 if possible. I will be coming from some soccer games up at Montrose harbor which wrap up around 1 or so. I can hang out for a bit, but if it is too late in the day I may just head home.

Let me know what you decide.

dicksond wrote:I would also be happy to join. Earlier is a bit better for me if it would work, say 3 or 4 if possible. I will be coming from some soccer games up at Montrose harbor which wrap up around 1 or so. I can hang out for a bit, but if it is too late in the day I may just head home.

Let me know what you decide.

it'll be great to see you. why dont we make it a late lunch instead of dinner, it doesnt matter to me. why dont we eat at 2 ? as long as that time works for jyoti and matt and nancy, we can be the first for dinner service. joan

I will be there.

justjoan wrote:

dicksond wrote:I would also be happy to join. Earlier is a bit better for me if it would work, say 3 or 4 if possible. I will be coming from some soccer games up at Montrose harbor which wrap up around 1 or so. I can hang out for a bit, but if it is too late in the day I may just head home.

Let me know what you decide.

it'll be great to see you. why dont we make it a late lunch instead of dinner, it doesnt matter to me. why dont we eat at 2 ? as long as that time works for jyoti and matt and nancy, we can be the first for dinner service. joan

A late lunch sounds wonderful.

Jyoti

Do you already have your quota? If not, I'd love to come! Put me on your guest list. $8.99 is my kind of deal. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out my digital camera by then and take pictures.

welcome pie lady. no camera required. jj

Sounds great - 2pm at CJ's. Thanks for the flexibility.

Is this still on for Sunday at 2:00 pm?

Jyoti

yes, absolutely! there are 8 of us meeting at 2. cj is expecting us if you arrive first. i emailed him that a bunch of LTH'ers are coming for a late lunch. see you there, joan

Ok not to rush anyone, but it's been quite a few days and we haven't been told of how the CJ's lunch went!!

I am a big CJ's fan and want to hear all about it!
Thanks.

Chloe54 wrote:I am a big CJ's fan and want to hear all about it!
Thanks.

I'd like to hear about lunch as well.

i've been hesitant to post about our lunch at CJ's, because there were some serious issues with the kitchen. those of you who like CJ's will, hopefully, keep going. but i don't want to discourage others from going, as CJ's is a favorite of mine. the bottom line, at least for me, is that i had a great time with the 8 LTH'ers who showed up and almost all of the food was delicious. the problem was that the place has a small kitchen, and late morning, a group of about 40 PEOPLE ALL TOGETHER, who didnt have the courtesy or common sense to call first, showed up. my understanding is that part of that group was a bunch of locals who frequent CJ's after sunday church. the rest were visiting church going friends of theirs from california.

unknowingly, I picked the worst possible time for us to try the sunday dinner menu (which is offered 2-8pm). because the kitchen needed to shut down brunch and start prepping for the completely different dinner menu, our 2 pm arrival found the kitchen unprepared. when i arrived, i found dicksond and pie lady in 1 of the 2 back to back booths that charles had saved for our party of 8. (luckily i emailed him the day before). i was floored to see the place was packed. i'm used to seeing it half empty. it's ironic, but not uncommon, for some popular brunch places to suffer the rest of the week and get slammed for only a few crazy hours on sunday. chicagoans really like going out for sunday brunch. charles sent out word to our party that he would not be able to feed us until 3:30! luckily, being LTH'ers, we provided our own appetizer, after dicksond ran out to his car and brought in the khan BBQ boti and beef kebabs that he had planned to take home. we ate a little of that. our terrific young waiter kept the sweetened iced tea coming, and the time passed pleasantly. the church group sat around forever, arguing about their bill. when they finally left, we moved to 1 long table, just in time for our dinner.

as to the food-the dinner included an entree and 2 sides. between us we shared all 7 sides. my favorite was the fantastic garlic mashed potatoes (skin on), though i liked them all- mixed greens, fried corn with sweet peppers, interestingly spiced-and-not-too-sweet candied sweet potatoes, corn bread stuffing, mac and cheese and really excellent black beans and rice. the fried chicken was moist and way above average, IMO. several people ordered that and each got a large thigh, i believe, and a drumstick. i had a BBQ pork steak, which was very good-thin and chewy, but not tough. the only bad dish, and it was terrible, was dicksond's steak with grilled onions. it was completely the wrong cut of beef for steak. it was mushy and basically inedible. i hope the others will chime in, as i can't remember the rest of the dishes. a slice of pound cake (which cookiemonster, on principle, refused to eat, as it wasn't a true pound cake) was included in the very reasonable $8.99 price. charles apologized profusely for the long delay, as did the server, and topped the cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream at no extra charge.

as usual at an LTH gathering, i had a fine time. i feel bad that CJ's had to get slammed (for their sake and for ours). let me assure others that i believe this to be a rare event. most of the week, a visit to CJ's will not have such problems. justjoan CJ'S EATERY, 3839 w. grand (at avers)