J. Gumbo's Poplar Level open again!

Voodoo Chicken Cheese Fries?


I'd buy that for a dollar.

ccc

My apologies for mistakenly posting in the forum apparently devoted to defending junk food.

And Carla...
Fallacy #1. Quantity equals quality. Since when? That must mean Yum Brands' restaurants serve some of the best food in the country.
"For a once single store (several years ago) that has grown into several (I apologize because I've lost count of how many) J. Gumbos must be doing something right."

Fallacy #2. Existence of any quality or legitimacy, e.g. one cannot tell the difference between the jambalaya and the gumbo. Would you like it if they served a so-called hot brown that tasted like derby pie?
"While their menu might not be 100% authentic cajun cuisine (and really, I would have to question just what exactly that would be)

Fallacy #3. Presentation. Look at the logo, the name, advertising, website, etc. At least McDonald's has a clown as a "mascot" and are not presenting themselves as something other than junk food.
"I hardly think they are presenting themselves in a fraudulent manner."

Fallacy #4. Thinking outside the box, so to speak is a phrase that just means non-typical creativity. If one were to call a restaurant Madrid and then claim to have boccadillos with Spanish jamon, but instead use lunch bread with country-smoked American ham, that would not be "outside the box", but as with J. Gumbo's, actually a disingenuous and jaded example of American corporate fast food culture. The variety and flavor of south-Louisiana food is unprecedented and the only remaining culinary tradition in this country. Those that make money by passing sad facsimilies off as legitimate deserve a strong response.
"I give them points for thinking outside the box. Your accusation is harsh and unwarranted."

Hear ye hear ye...the defender of all things authentic and cajun has spoken! Sounds like Michael has some sort of an ax to grind.

I've tried both, and I can tell the difference between the gumbo amd jambalaya. No J. Gumbos isn't as authentic as the food one could get in NOLA, but they do a pretty good job...they do keep the price cheap and serve large portions (per your post that is 2/3 of authentic food from those parts). If you don't dig J. Gumbos, that is fine...but to call it junk food is borderline blasphemy. J. gumbos is not a butterfinger bar. That is junk food to me.

So Mike, are you just a fan and defender of truly authentic Cajun food, do the motives for your post run deeper and more personal...because that is the impression that I get. To be totally honest, I am not a big J. Gumbo's fan, and rarely eat there. I do agree with Carla, your post seems harsh and antagonistic.

DD

Haven't tried J Gumbo's...yet. Whenever I get the Jone's for Cajun food my car seems to go on auto pilot and make an immediate beeline for Selena's or Joe's OK Bayou.

I would actually agree with the "can't tell the difference between the gumbo and the jambalaya" criticism, and if you did a search on this board you'd see that I posted something similar a few years ago. And if you were to compare the authenticity of J.Gumbo's to that of Taco Bell, I think you could make a pretty strong case. I was actually a bit surprised to see the J. Gumbo's in Chalmette, considering that there are any number of places there to get gumbo and a po-boy. But hey, since one of the locations has closed maybe they weren't doing well as I thought.

That being said, though, I don't really see the proprietors of J. Gumbo's as committing some sort of culinary crime. The food's not bad and the price is right. Ultimately, J. Gumbo's is just another business trying to make it in a tough economy and the marketplace will decide whether the concept has merit.

And by the way, they serve Cajun wings at Hooter's so that idea is already taken.

Nothing against the good people from St. Bernard Parish (Chalmette & Arabi), but it is a hardscrabble blue-collar working class area known for supporting restaurants with low prices, big portions, and bland food (mostly). They are probably the only people in southeastern Louisiana that would eat this...well, maybe a few in the suburbs...Metairie, Kenner, and Slidell.

How many people do you know from New Orleans, Michael? How many times have you visited the area?

[Robin Garr]

My apologies for mistakenly posting in the forum apparently devoted to defending junk food (that is reheated to order).

I think you're missing the point, Michael. I'm going to get impatient pretty soon if you can't do a better job of figuring out what my point IS.

Case in point: When we first opened here in Louisville we proudly made our gumbo with okra. We sold very few bowls despite the feedback being exceptionally positive. When we inquired as to why this was, the overwhelming majority of our customers told us that they did not like okra and did not order the gumbo for this reason. We went back into the kitchen, played with the recipe to remove the okra, but maintain the quality, were able to make acceptable adjustments and tried the gumbo again, this time without the okra. We sold significantly more gumbo than we had previously and the greater majority of our customers were satisfied. Now, in terms of authenticity, this is sacrilege (we could have made file gumbo, but the bottom line changed dramatically and made it unmanageable), but the change ultimately helped us sell more gumbo and satisfy more customers. Good business some times require a trade off.

We strive for authenticity, but we also realize we are selling an "ethnic" cuisine in an area it is not native to and different tastes will demand some tweaking. All of our recipes are rooted in original recipes from Metairie and Grand Couteau Louisiana. Yes, we have made changes (as someone indicated above, we also sell our bowls at an affordable price and that requires an occasional trade-off as well, smoked sausage instead of Andouille), but we strive to be as close to authentic as we can. We are not selling kielbasa and calling it Boudin.

I would hope you could tell the difference between our Gumbo and our Jambalaya. The Gumbo is a soup made with a dark, rich roux. Our Jambalaya is a dirty rice dish made Creole-style (meaning less spicy and more saucy, more tomato) with bell peppers, onions, celery, chicken and sausage. I think, side-by-side the two are very different.

I stand behind our food and our recipes. I am proud of our food, because I know it's history and because I cook it every day. Yes, our menu features traditional Cajun dishes and modern interpretations as well. Our Drunken Chicken is a modern interpretation of classic Cajun chicken stews that can be found throughout the region.

Our goal is to bring Cajun cuisine to areas it is not native to and to do so at a reasonable price. We strive for authenticity and only make adjustments where we have to as dictated by food cost and regional preferences. I am not purporting that the food you get at our stores is going to perfectly replicate the food you would get in New Olreans restaurants (although I defy you to find two bowls of gumbo exactly the same in the city, so there is something to be said for variety of recipes...), but I do stand behind the quality of it and the care and knowledge that goes into making it.

Thank you to those who continue to support us in our efforts to do so.

I'm going to get impatient pretty soon if you can't do a better job of figuring out what my point IS.

Does this comment to include fatherly foot tapping and "the look".

bbb

I am actually surprised that you felt the "Muffuletta" was the best experience. We were never happy with the sandwich because we couldn't get the round Italian loaf around here and because due to cost, we were forced to go with sliced deli ham (not capicola) and mild provolone (not the sharp variety). Furthermore, the olive salad had to be bought in (I had a great recipe, but labor and ingredient cost killed its viability) and I was never satisfied with the quality. To me, the muffuletta we were selling was just another ham sandwich. This is why we stopped carrying it.

Mike, I still disagree that the Gumbo and Jambalaya are interchangeable and would love to serve you bowl of each (on the house, of course) so that you can properly and directly make your criticisms and illustrate the similarities in the two.

As for Po' Boys, we made a decision long ago to steer clear of fried foods of any kind (Debbie's recent foray into beignets at Frankfort Avenue is the only exclusion and only because she took it upon herself to do it and she does it well). First, the health factor, we are not big on greasy, fried foods no matter how good they are... And second: cost. Fryers demand hoods, grease removal, constant maintenance, constant oil changes (if you care about quality), pose potential employee hazards, and overall increase the overhead costs considerably. It just wasn't worth the hassle to us. (space was also a BIG factor at our original Frankfort Ave location) Ergo, we eliminated frying from our operation. Furthermore, at the time we opened, the Po' Boy shop on Bardstown Rd. was still in operation and, let's be honest, they were getting it right, no need to duplicate. I love a good oyster Po' Boy as much as the next guy, but that was not where we were looking to go.

[Robin Garr]

Robin, I am not sure I understand why these comments are any sort of issue. Vigorous and opinionated, yes, but what good food forum isn't?

Vigorous and opinionated, fine. Rude and nasty, not so much. Learn the culture. I'd rather have you here than not, Michael, but if I see another post from you that pisses me off with gratuitous nastiness, I'll probably just quietly ban you. This is not a threat, just a simple statement of fact. I'd rather not do it, so please don't feel a compulsion to test me.

aaa

[Robin Garr]

Robin, if you would, please provide a list of your present advertisers on the site as well as those you are courting, so then it will be clear as to which restaurants that you don't want to hear anything negative about.

I really don't understand why you have such a hard time comprehending, Michael, that it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

All I ask of everyone here is that they don't talk on the forum in any way that they wouldn't talk face-to-face in a party or in a bar. You seem to think that being behind a computer gives you the freedom to say things from that safe position that would get you punched in a real-world conversation. It doesn't have a DAMN THING to do with who you criticize, it's all about how you conduct yourself. This has nothing to do with advertising, and that snide, snarky comment simply further underscores that you seem to have a missing part in your brain that most people possess.

Aw, hell with it. Buh-bye, Michael.

Not to belabor the point, but Billy did indeed say those things several years back about the franchise, directly before we bought out the partner that was taking the restaurant off course, and we then put all of our time and effort into getting back to our roots and making things right again. At that time we, Billy and myself, were no longer in control of cooking the food or running the stores and neither of us were satisfied with where things were going. Since that time, we have taken back control of all aspects of the restaurants (cooking most specifically and most importantly) and we have been working very hard to run damage control for the time that we were not steering the ship.

I say this in the interest of full disclosure and transparency and because I fully respect the opinions of the people on this forum. And I hope that good customers we might have lost during that transitional time will understand our situation and forgive our mistakes.

Final word: Whether or not we advertise with hotbytes has everything to do with our bottom line and absolutely nothing to do with Robin or anyone else's opinion of us.

Thank you again to our loyal customers and I promise you I am working hard to provide the very best Cajun cuisine at reasonable prices.