"What a good combination: honey-glazed ham atop a field of creamy grits."
Michael Stern
"Amazing! The best fried chicken I have ever had. Can't say any more than that."
Mukur Hazari
"When you order a basket of warm cornbread, you also get some pats of butter drizzled with honey. The cornbread arrives hot, so the butter and honey melt right into it."
Michael Stern
"Jestine's is a friendly urban cafe that serves a daily blue-plate special AND a green-plate special.Our favorite day is Sunday, when shrimp and grits is the star of the show. "
Michael Stern
"To start the meal, every table gets a dish of cucumber pickles. On the right is the silverware, wrapped in a washcloth that serves as a napkin."
Michael Stern
"Barbecue-sauced pork tenderloin is an immense hunk of sweet meat. It comes with porter-stewed collard greens; and I chose fried okra (excellent) as another companion vegetable."
Michael Stern
"A close view of the porter-stewed collard greens. Note how liberally laced with meat they are."
Michael Stern
"I never can resist ordering banana pudding when I see it on the dessert menu. While Jestine's is perfectly fine, I much prefer the restaurant's chocolate cakes."
Michael Stern
"Jestine's offers two kinds of fried chicken -- regular, as shown here, and a pecan fried chicken breast. The latter looked mighty good, but our table went with the classic variety and we were not at all disappointed. Mac 'n' cheese and collard greens are in the background."
Michael Stern
"There was much debate at the table over which was better -- the Coca Cola cake, pictured here, or the Midnight magic cake. I found the Coke cake to be more super-chocolaty and goopy, almost (but not quite) too rich to finish."
Michael Stern
"Dark and devilish, midnight magic cake is intense but somewhat more sophisticated than the alternative chocolate dessert, Coca-Cola cake."
Michael Stern
"Always in good taste, coconut pie at Jestine's is a pleasant little wedge of cool, smooth comfort. I wouldn't rank it among the best, but neither did I leave a crumb of it on the plate."
Michael Stern
"Two sizes of meat loaf are available: 4 and 8 ounces. This is the bigger; and after corn fritter and fried green tomato appetizers, it proved too large for the normal eater who ordered it. By the way, those are excellent mashed potatoes at the upper left of the plate."
Michael Stern
"To get taste buds at attention, Jestine's offers each table a bowl of crunch pickles to start the meal."
Michael Stern
"Every Wednesday's blue-plate special: Shrimp creole. It is a festive bowl of firm shrimp and vegetables atop a bed of white rice."
Michael Stern
"Smothered cabbage is not listed on the regular menu, but was a special the night we dined at Jestine's. It is supremely tender and hardly spiced at all."
Michael Stern
