Jazz club teams with celebrity chef JJ Johnson
Award winner to oversee Blue Llama’s culinary relaunch
A new culinary iteration and menu revamp is set to take place at the Blue Llama Jazz Club in downtown Ann Arbor.
Award-winning chef JJ Johnson, owner of several New York City establishments, author and TV show host is bringing his renowned Afro-Caribbean cuisine to the downtown Ann Arbor restaurant and jazz club at 314 S. Main St.
Joining as creative culinary director, Johnson is “overseeing the culinary relaunch and future of the restaurant,” according to bluellamaclub.com.
“His new menu brings the spirit and flavors of American jazz meccas like Harlem and New Orleans, along with flavors from Barbados and Puerto Rico through an Afro-Caribbean menu, a style of cooking that Chef JJ has become known for,” reads an announcement on the club’s website.
This year the jazz club, owned by Don Hicks, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. In an email to the Free Press Hicks said it was time for a change.
“This is really a return to the original mission of the Blue Llama: a beautiful pairing of world-class music and food to make every evening a unique experience,” Hicks said.
In celebrating the club’s fifth anniversary, Hicks said they’ve built a solid base within the community and southeast Michigan. He called its future “brighter than ever.”
“The jazz venue and the programming are truly top class, it’s as good as any jazz club you’d find in New York or Paris,” Hicks said. “With Chef JJ’s culinary vision added to the mix, this may well be the most extraordinary jazz club in the world. Every night — and every bite — is going to be a special experience.”
At the jazz club, Johnson said, diners and jazz music lovers can expect an adventure.
Johnson’s menu, which debuts Wednesday, will reflect his Afro-Caribbean style which stems from Barbados to Puerto Rico to the American South and the Caribbean, paired with inspiration drawn from Harlem and New Orleans jazz clubs.
Starting Wednesday, the jazz club offers a three-course, prix fixe tasting menu ($55), with accompaniments for the table and several first course choice and entrée choices that include half chicken or perch escovitch and a vegetarian option. There’s also an optional upgrade for a charge to a pineapple glazed,
bone-in filet mignon. (All reservations have an additional $15 ticket price per person.)
Johnson also curated a new bar menu for pre-show and late-night noshing.
“You’ll really be on an adventure,” Johnson says. “You will be able to indulge in a style of food you don’t really get in the Michigan area.”
Expect dishes ranging from jerk-seasoned prawns to Yassa, a spicy Senegalese dish featuring leeks, and a perch escovitch dish featuring fried fish marinated in a vinegar and spice sauce. Diners can also expect West African Peanut and Goat Noodles, featuring a savory peanut sauce, udon noodles and braised goat shoulder.
The rice connection
On the Blue Llama menu, Johnson said to expect glimpses of rice on its own, as a side or as an accent. Rice is a signature of Johnson’s cooking and, he said, a “key thread” to who he is.
In New York City, Johnson’s three fast-casual Fieldtrip restaurants offer a menu of “fresh and sustainable” made-to-order rice bowls. A fourth Fieldtrip restaurant, Johnson said, is opening in the Bahamas.
Used in many ways, rice is the subject of Johnson’s second cookbook and an ingredient he calls “one of the great connectors of the world.” (“The Simple Art of Rice: Recipes from Around the World for the Heart of Your Table” debuted last fall.)
“When you’re looking into anybody’s culture, you can use rice as the lens to teach you about the culture,” he said. “There’s a rice dish to represent a people’s culture, and you can’t get that out of any other ingredient.”
While rice will not dominate the menu, Johnson said, there will be hints throughout the new menu, such as a scallop dish with rice grits and other dishes that feature bits of puffed rice or crispy rice.
Johnson also noted that jazz comes from the places that significantly represent rice.
“Brazil, the Caribbean, the American South, these places represent jazz, and rice and a significant part of that,” he said.
Johnson is a chef, author and TV show host of “Just Eats with Chef JJ.” Now in its fifth season, the show airs on Cleo TV.
He’s been a multiple semifinalist and nominee for James Beard awards. In 2019, Johnson’s “Between Harlem and Heaven: AfroAsian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day” earned a James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook.
While New York is his home base, Johnson said he’s “fallen in love with Ann Arbor” and the University of Michigan.
“For me, it’s the place that I’ve fallen in love with and truly have some connectivity through the music, the soul food and the story of what Michigan is,” he said.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com.
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