CHIReview
Included In
If you’ve ever been to a potluck or spent a holiday at someone’s home in the Midwest, you know we love making comfort food (the blown fuses from all the crockpots being plugged in are all the evidence you need). And while delicious, satisfying things can be created with slow-cookers and cream of mushroom soup, sometimes you want a change. Big Jones, a Southern restaurant in Andersonville, is a good place to make one.
The menu here features several of the usual suspects - like shrimp and grits with tasso gravy, gumbo made with a dark Cajun roux, and a boucherie board of house-cured meats - all of which are consistently delicious. But what makes a meal at Big Jones particularly interesting is the frequent use of old preparations and ingredients from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most breads are made with heritage grains, and the rye, for instance, is sweetened with molasses. There’s also well-made fried chicken cooked in leaf lard, and “chicken and dumplings circa 1920” - an old family recipe of the chef’s that uses a stewing hen (a.k.a. an old chicken) to give the soup a stronger taste.
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Those things are staple menu items, and we like them a lot, but you shouldn’t overlook any seasonal specials that might be available. We’ve had a chestnut flour spaghetti (which is chewy in a really enjoyable way) with preserved kumquats, and a delicious curry peanut bisque that’s both creamy and spicy. These dishes are where Big Jones takes risks and experiments with new (but... old) recipes, and the results are always worth a try.
As good as most things are, you might encounter a few issues while eating here. For one thing, the service is hit or miss - some servers are knowledgeable and excited about the food, but some seem like they couldn’t care less about your experience. The open kitchen can make the restaurant uncomfortably hot, and while the old-fashioned food is probably not like anything else you’ve eaten recently, you might miss the taste of plain old processed sugar. Just know that that isn’t what this restaurant is about, and you shouldn’t come here if that’s what you want.
There’s something comforting about eating food with ingredients that don’t sound like they came out of a lab. The recipes Big Jones uses are exactly what we want when we’re tired of green bean casseroles made with condensed soup, but still want to eat something rich and delicious. Plus, this place has been around since 2008, making it practically a heritage grain in restaurant years. It’s a neighborhood classic that’s continuing to do its own thing, and we hope it sticks around.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Bread
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Eugene Walters Vanishing Bread With Potlikker
Flamin’ Hot Cheese Straws
Curry Peanut Bisque
Gumbo Ya-Ya
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Shrimp And Grits
photo credit: Sandy Noto
Chicken and dumplings Circa 1920
Chestnut Spaghetti
photo credit: Sandy Noto
The Fried Chicken Dinner
photo credit: Sandy Noto