LEO/LHB: Cajun-style breakfast at J. Gumbo's

[Robin Garr]

I've just finished a delicious breakfast, and I'm so full that I'm pretty sure I won't need lunch today. In fact, I'm not so certain about dinner.

J. Gumbo's Frankfort Avenue branch in Clifton, an amiable eatery so known for its generosity that the standard size for entrees is the "big bowl," recently added a breakfast menu - dubbed "Debbie's Diner @ J. Gumbo's" - and let me tell you, the quality of this morning's chow is exceeded only by its quantity.

Breakfast is served - Clifton only at this point - from 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on weekends.

Debbie's Diner is presided over by Debbie Maritato-Fox, who whipped us up a breakfast substantial enough to satisfy Godzilla. The extensive menu wouldn't be out of place in Louisiana, and it includes a few Cajun and Creole delights ...

Full review on LouisvilleHotBytes:
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/cajun ... %E2%80%99s
And in LEO Weekly:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/cajun-style ... %E2%80%99s

Breakfast at J. Gumbo's
2109 Frankfort Ave.
896-4046
http://www.jgumbos.com

I'd walk a long way to have calas for breakfast again. Those little rice pancakes with cane syrup make my head spin.

Went this morning and got the plain old american breakfast...2 eggs over easy, 2 sausage patties, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 huge pancakes. The price was the best part...$4.99. The eggs were decent, the sausage was overdone on one side (nicely done on the other), the bacon tasty, and the pancakes were good.

Main complaint were the servers were seemed to be trying to figure out where to be and how to get there. I had to ask for silverware, and had to flag the waitress down twice for coffee. They were very busy with about 20 patrons continuously from 9:30 to about 10:15.

Overall I'll score it a 6 out of 10, but will give it another chance and maybe get one of the cajun oriented items.

I'm so feeling some beignets right now...

Thanks, Robin!

Went this morning and got the plain old american breakfast...2 eggs over easy, 2 sausage patties, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 huge pancakes. The price was the best part...$4.99. The eggs were decent, the sausage was overdone on one side (nicely done on the other), the bacon tasty, and the pancakes were good.

Main complaint were the servers were seemed to be trying to figure out where to be and how to get there. I had to ask for silverware, and had to flag the waitress down twice for coffee. They were very busy with about 20 patrons continuously from 9:30 to about 10:15.

Overall I'll score it a 6 out of 10, but will give it another chance and maybe get one of the cajun oriented items.

I'm afraid that breakfast today was a bit of an aberration at J. Gumbo's. We walked in at about 10:45 and you would have thought a bomb went off. Tables hadn't been cleared and the servers were in a tizzy. We found our way to a table and a server showed up very apologetic about the state of things. According to what I heard in the restaurant, their cook walked out during the rush this morning, and they were also possibly down at least one server. The perfect storm in a restaurant.

We didn't have the beignets, though. I had an omelet and Barbara had their eggs Ponchetrain (eggs ben with a crawfish etouffe sauce). The food was okay when it eventually showed up, under the circumstances.

As those in the biz know, these things happen. We'll definitely give them another try.