Home Cookin’ From Your Neighbor’s Home

Meatloaf dinner

Meatloaf dinner with garlic bread, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and collard greens.

Here’s a place I wanted to try because I saw it on an episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives” on the Food Network.  Amazingly, I had never heard of it before I saw that episode on TV.

So away I went in search of YJ’s Snackbar.  It was definitely in an area I could have easily missed and drove right past had I not been paying attention.  This is definitely a place you know the local neighbors go to eat when they don’t feel like cooking for themselves at home.

I had perused the menu ahead of time before I even went to this place—and thank goodness I did!  I noticed that you can’t really choose much from the menu because they only serve what they choose to serve that particular day of the week you happen to be there.  So I decided to choose the Soul Food Tuesday dinner for my outing.

YJ's Snackbar

This is a tiny place—but there’s seating on the inside as well as the outside sidewalk area.  I ordered and paid for my plate (the plates are $10) and sat myself at a table and waited.  There was one lone guy working there when I went.  He takes your order then makes your plate for you and brings it to your table.

It’s nothing fancy by way of food presentation, but the taste of my soul food plate was pretty good for a dinner you’d rather not make yourself at home.  They also serve different daily lunch plates, too, should you find yourself too lazy to cook midday.

As I observed my surroundings, I thought of the neighboring tenants coming here to eat each day.  It reminded me of going to your neighbor’s apartment to have a quick meal on a plate from their kitchen.  And as I soon discovered—the owner lives onsite!  Go figure!  Now it’s all making sense.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, you could probably make meals from your home for $10 a plate if you want to make some pocket change on the side.

Take-Away Life Lesson:  Always peruse a menu ahead of time so you have an idea of what fixins you’re gonna get to choose from (or not choose from).

7 thoughts on “Home Cookin’ From Your Neighbor’s Home

  1. I find it funny and rather ironic that American diner dishes are sold in quite expensive restaurants here in Indonesia. Perhaps just like Dim Sum, which I found super cheap when I was in China! Lol!

  2. Well, it looks pretty yummy to me: collard greens, macaroni n cheese, I’ve never had meatloaf before…I’ve always wanted to go to Harlem or Queens to some (clean!!) dive looking place to eat Soul Food, where the walls are covered with pics of Jazz and Soul greats….( :

Comments are closed.