We went out to dinner on Wednesday night (May 21, 2008) with our friends. It was their choice this time so my friend S decided to take us to one of their current favorites in Long Beach. Now I know this is Eat in Orange County, and typically that’s the only place we eat at, but Long Beach isn’t that far away, and I honestly feel that the House of Madame Jo Jo’s deserves to be mentioned.
Madame Jo Jo’s is a small restaurant with a total of about 12 tables of various seating arrangements. We entered and the waitress asked if we were their reservation for the night and indeed we were. There were no other patrons there when we arrived at 7:30 PM. I had heard it’s normally pretty busy. Being the only customers gave us the opportunity to be the focus of the waitress and chef. I really liked the ambiance with just the right amount of lighting and paintings and drawings of scantily clad women of the night on the walls. It’s a romantic atmosphere that works for couples and friends wanting to enjoy a nice night out.
For starters we were served warm herb rolls along with a pesto sauce; nothing special but good nonetheless especially due to them still being warm. Our friends got side salads, while I ordered a cup of the Spicy Cajun Chicken Chowder. The Chowder was delicious, it had a spicy flavor that made me wish I had ordered a bowl, my only knock on the chowder was that it tasted a little salty, but my taste buds really enjoyed the Cajun flavors. After our soup and salad was finished the appetizer that S ordered was delivered; Coconut Shrimp. As explained in the menu it is 4 “Lightly breaded, sauted, served with a pineapple sauce”. The shrimp was sweet, with almost a captain crunch sort of taste to it; not that the sweetness was a bad thing. Mrs. DanGarion ordered the Rosemary Chicken with potatoes, while I choose the Pistachio Crusted Chicken along with sides of mashed cauliflower and roasted asparagus. Our friends go the Pistachio Crusted Chicken and Beef Stroganoff. My chicken was great, the flavors went perfect together. The chicken is prepared along with a sun dried tomato sauce that went very well with mixed up with my mashed cauliflower. My wife’s rosemary chicken was also tasty, although I only had one bite. I would highly recommend both chicken dishes as they were some of the best meals I’ve tried lately. I would defiantly order the pistachio chicken again, but at the same time almost all of their entrees sound good when you are looking at the menu. Along with our meal we had 2 bottles of Turnbull Viognier which went perfect with our meals. And to finish off our delectable dinner the 4 of us shared a slice of Chocolate Perfection, which is their take on dense fudge-like chocolate cake. My friend and I had a couple bites but the ladies finished it off since it was their dessert we were just helping.
The service was excellent, but I didn’t expect anything less considering there were no other guests. Our waitress was very nice and checked on us numerous times while we were enjoying our meal. I completely and wholeheartedly recommend the House of Madame Jo Jo’s for couples and groups as a great destination with great food. Considering the quality of food the price is good as well. Entrees range from $11-29. Our dinner for 4, with 2 salads, 1 cup of soup, 1 appetizer and 1 dessert totaled to roughly $100 not including the wine, which for fine dining isn’t that bad. I have had much more expensive meals that left me disappointed.
[xrr rating=5/5]
House of Madame Jo Jo
2941 E Broadway
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 439-3672
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