They’re only open three days a week – Friday, Saturday, Sunday — and it’s a 30-minute drive from Five Points in Huntsville out to the sticks of Harvest. But there’s a reason LJ’z Backyard Bayou has built buzz here.
Larry “LJ” Johnson cooks Creole and Cajun recipes he grew up eating in Franklin, La., west of New Orleans near Lafayette. Front of house, Larry’s wife Wendy Johnson welcomes customers like they’re guests at a potluck.
“We say, nothing too fancy but the flavor,” Larry tells me. “That’s kind of our motto. We’re not giving you anything fancy. But once you taste the flavor, you’ll understand that a lot of love is put in that. You won’t feel cheated.”
Located at 3155 Old Railroad Bed Road, LJ’z Backyard Bayou is housed in a yellow-ish building formerly home to a residence, beauty salon and barbecue restaurant.
The Johnsons added on to their LJ’z space by building a sprawling and shaded deck, which adds to the ambience, as does the space’s location in a rural/residential area.
An Army veteran, Larry retired out of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal after 21 years of service. He and Wendy, who works for the U.S. Department of Defense, were looking for their next move.
Cooking had long been a hobby passion for Larry. He says, “I was the guy that would bring some gumbo and smell up the place.” Growing up, Wendy spent summers working at the salon her mother owned. Larry and Wendy, a Chicago native, first met in 20 years ago in Germany when both were serving overseas.
“I was invited to meet the family,” Wendy says. “And everything was surrounded with love. I love spicy food and I love shellfish and Cajun does both of that and I love my husband and he does it very well.”
The Johnsons built LJ’z up from catering lunches into a brick and mortar. Although LJ’s is only open three days weekly as a restaurant, the venture is busy the rest of the week with catering gigs, Larry says.
LJ’z Backyard Bayou serves the crawfish, po-boys, etouffee, etc. you’d expect. Specialty of the house? Their boudin balls, savory spheres of ground pork, vegetables and spices stuffed with pepper-jack cheese and deep fried. Their “Catfish Bayou” entrée, aka catfish Atchafalaya, is crawfish-etouffee-smothered fried-fish over rice. Uh huh. As a former New Orleans resident, I can say the red beans and rice are right.
The backbone of the LJ’z staff is Larry, Wendy and their daughter Wisdom – plus some of Wisdom’s Alabama A&M University classmates and some of Larry’s and Wendy’s retired military pals.
“We get a lot of military support,” Larry says. “I think one of the biggest things with the military was when you were serving, everyone used to call it the chow hall or the mess hall. Everybody used to meet there, and everybody just talked amongst each other in the room.”
And now at his restaurant, Larry says, “Some of the top military guys when they come in, they dine in with their family, but they end up running into someone they served with. Or they run into someone and find out this person served in the Air Force, and they find that common ground. The next thing you know they’re talking amongst each other in the room.”
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