J Gumbos

I really wanted to like this place more than I did, and I am hoping that from the good reviews that I just caught them on an off night and perhaps ordered the wrong thing.  I did like that the had the menu broken up by level of spice - mild, medium, spicy.  I went with my favorite Cajun dish, Crawfish Etouffee.  I also found it to be gloppy with very few crawfish AND lukewarm.  They did have some great sweet tea...if I made my way back here I would probably try one of the sandwiches or a chicken dish.

A mere 783 miles from the home of all things cajun sits J. Gumbo's. The small restaurant has a selection of dishes served with rice and po' boy sandwiches all served cafeteria style. Place your order at the end of the line and work your way down during assembly with the option of adding a few items such as green onion, cheese, etc to your order.

The menu is separated into levels of spice, so I decided to go with one of the Voodoo Chicken from the "hot" part of the menu. Several scoops of white rice were piled into a styrofoam container with the voodoo chicken served on top. The chicken was spicy and had more flavor than just a bunch of tony chachere's being poured on top. There was more than enough rice so part of it ended up being wasted. I opted to get some peach cobbler when I was checking out, but really this was butter cobbler. The butter flavor of the crust completely killed the peach flavor from the fruit. I was a little disappointed with it but the main dish was solid.

The employees are helpful, patient and friendly while the owner/manager keeps a watchful eye over his flock. His friendly blusterous outbursts kept the line moving quickly in a nice way. There are just a few booth style tables in the restaurant and are right next to the serving line so there is going to be lots of foot traffic if you decide to eat in. I walked over here, but there is ample street parking in front of and around the restaurant.

J. Gumbo's has made my list of places to visit again when I'm in the Haute.

Jordan's review is right on, although their gumbo does have a darker roux than most places outside of Louisiana.  It's flavorful and a good consistency.  Their red beans and rice are good too.

They recently muted the televisions and put blues music on the speakers.  That was a huge improvement to the atmosphere!

My only minor complaint is that every once in a while I happen to get somewhat lukewarm food.  It's rare and I'm sure it's not easy to keep everything piping hot so I'll continue to be a regular.