All roads lead to Café Jo Jo’s

Looking for an original upscale restaurant? Café Jo Jo’s Bar & Grill, located in downtown Morgan City, is a small, Italian-type bistro with a Cajun twist.

The restaurant itself consists of two rooms, each painted a robust, deep crimson, and lights dimly lit. Table settings are formal with white table clothes and a staff elegantly dressed in white and black.

Despite the rich atmosphere, I felt comfortable dining here in either a suit or blue jeans. The setting is cozy and can be quite romantic. The location must have been a bank during an earlier life, as the vault door is open for all to see and ponder what treasures may come from within.

The second room does contain a small, but nice bar area, perfect for an after- work cocktail.

For those of you who are not Morgan City aficionados, it has a well-kept, refreshing downtown area “below” the bridge. It’s been tastefully restored and is reminiscent of an earlier time.

Café Jo Jo’s is right in the heart of this oasis.

For those familiar with Lafayette’s dining scene, we understand this eatery has ties to Imonelli’s on Johnson Street. If you’ve been there, you should better understand the culinary experience to be found at Café Jo Jo’s.

For appetizers, it offers Shrimp Imonelli ($7), a pan sautéed shrimp with a white wine, garlic and herb butter sauce; Eggplant JoAnn ($8), fried eggplant rounds with grilled shrimp and crawfish, covered with roasted peppers and a cheddar cheese cream sauce; La. Jumbo Lump Crabcake in a light cream sauce ($8); Crabmeat and Artichoke Hearts ($8); and homemade Italian Cheese Bread ($4).

We obviously can’t try all of the selections so we did rely upon the server’s recommendations, which were the lump crabmeat, the Eggplant JoAnn and cheese bread. The eggplant apparently is a specialty of the house and warrants your sampling as an appetizer or entrée.

Café Jo Jo’s does offer various salad selections, from classic mixed greens to a Caesar salad (with or without grilled chicken) to Imonelli, crabmeat and grilled shrimp salads. We tried the Caesar and crabmeat salads, both of which were a good precursor to the main course.

For entrees, Café Jo Jo’s selection includes pastas, veal, seafood, beef and the ubiquitous fowl [chicken].

The pastas include Rotini Alfredo with grilled shrimp and tasso ($8), or grilled chicken ($12) or tasso ($12); spaghetti and meatballs ($8); Oyster Spaghetti – oysters sautéed with garlic, olive oil, and green onions, served over spaghetti ($12); or Crawfish Fettuccini ($14).

I am a man with a particular fancy for crawfish fettuccini so I felt compelled to sample the fettuccini. It consists of pasta ribbons blended in a spicy cream sauce with crawfish tails. Overall, it is a very enjoyable dish and I would order it again.

The veal dishes include Veal Marsala, thin veal cutlets sautéed with mushrooms in a Marsala wine sauce; Veal Piccata, thin veal cutlets sautéed in a lemon butter sauce; and Veal Parmigiana, breaded veal cutlets, pan fried and topped with Mozzarella and served over spaghetti in a red sauce. Each selection costs $18. Our sampling of the Veal Marsala displayed a good texture and taste and was accompanied by steamed vegetables.

The seafood offerings are Tilapia Brents ($14), flaky white filet of tilapia dusted with black peppercorns, pan sautéed until crisp and then sprinkled with a lemon butter sauce; Grilled Tuna ($14), yellow fin tuna steak grilled and infused with butter; Louisiana Jumbo lump crabcakes ($15), served with a cream sauce and vegetables; and Eggplant JoAnn ($15).

The crabcakes and Eggplant JoAnn are larger versions of the appetizer selections, and I suspect they are offered as either appetizer or entrée because of their popularity.

Beef and fowl consist of a filet ($23), an 8-ounce, center-cut filet infused with butter and marinated with mushrooms; ribeye ($23), a grilled 12-ounce cut; Chicken Parmesan ($10), breaded breast of chicken, pan fried and topped with Mozzarella, served over spaghetti in a classic red sauce; and Grilled Chicken Breast ($10) finished with herb-infused butter.

Between the beef selections, we tried and enjoyed the ribeye with a baked potato. We did not attempt the chicken dishes, as I have a difficult time traveling to a cozy restaurant with that special person and then ordering chicken.

On one of our visits we thankfully succumbed to the special of the evening: seafood crepes. It includes shrimp and crabmeat in a light cream sauce wrapped in crepes. The selection was excellent, so we recommend you “go for it” when they offer it again.

For dessert, we did happen to share a tremendous chocolate cheesecake on one visit. We endorse that selection and leave you to your own devices.

Service was adequate each time. We did appreciate how the staff recognized our cues to speed up and/or slow down their inquiries as our table’s conversation ebbed and flowed. It is a difficult art for a waitperson to seize upon those nuances, but the service was competent and appropriate with each visit.

All roads lead to Café Jo Jo’s