The Scoop: Cathy’s Kitchen owners announce plans to open two new restaurants in Ferguson

  With the nation’s eyes on Ferguson and St. Louis, Jerome and Cathy Jenkins, owners of Cathy’s Kitchen Restaurant & Diner at 250 S. Florissant Road, have announced plans to open a new restaurant in Ferguson in March 2015 and another later in the year. The announcement came after a night of widespread looting and vandalism on South Florissant Road on Nov. 24 following a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the shooing death of Michael Brown. Jerome’s brother Ken Jenkins confirmed that Cathy’s Kitchen sustained a broken window during the unrest. That same day, the Jenkins announced plans to open J & C BBQ and Blues, a barbecue and music venue, two doors down from Cathy’s Kitchen by March 2015. The Apple Building storefront, where the new restaurant is being constructed, was more severely damaged that night, losing some 26 windows and suffering scorch marks to the back of the building. In the week since the grand jury decision, volunteers from Ferguson and elsewhere came out in force to help clean and repair the storefronts on South Florissant Road. Area artists even painted murals on the plywood boards covering buildings, including the J & C BBQ and Blues space. “In the wake of the events that happened, when I came to the restaurant the next morning, a lot of Ferguson residents and my customers where there, sweeping up glass,” said Cathy Jenkins. “This is before I even got there. The greatest customers and neighbors you could possibly have … Even Aeneas Williams (former St. Louis Rams player) was helping.” Jenkins said the couple still plans to open J & C BBQ and Blues in March, barring any further delays. She credited the more than $14,000 raised a crowdfunding campaign and widespread community support that helped keep the new restaurant on track. “We’re not going to let us discourage us and being down,” she said. “Looking backwards, it doesn’t help. I’m just trying to look forward and be positive.” Jenkins also confirmed plans for a third restaurant in the area, to be opened tentatively in late 2015. For the moment, the concept is still in the works, though Jenkins isn’t short on ideas. “I would like to open up a sushi bar,” she said. “We don’t have one in North County. Just an idea.”