Review: Juniper moved just a few blocks from its original location, but its second coming is a minor miracle

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Mini cast-iron pans at Juniper are the perfect symbol for the “modern Southern” eatery: The old-fashioned is reappraised but not forgotten. The little pans are cute, but the big story at owner John Perkins’ supper spot is its new location. Juniper moved just a few short blocks south of its original site, but its second coming is a minor miracle. 

Huge windows, streaming light, bigger dining spaces, a long bar, and wallpaper from your grandma’s kitchen on one wall make for a welcoming, classy experience without a trace of pretension.

Oysters come in three preparations: raw, grilled, and baked. The raw are served with a snappy house mignonette sauce starring tomatoes, shallots, and pepper. The grilled variety is served beneath a spoonful of celadon foamed herbs and buttermilk. Both are winners. A bread basket features five house-made delights, including a garlic popover, a Southern biscuit, and the standout Sally Lunn bread, a buttery slice of brioche with a slightly sour tang.

Pimiento cheese, the scene-stealing spread that anoints the pre-meal pickles at many a Southern feast, is served with grilled flatbread and pickles.

Chicken-fried French horn mushrooms relocated from the South and never looked back. Dollops of crunchy mild kimchi and black garlic aioli meld with the fleshy ’shrooms and power the dish to uncharted realms.

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Chicken Fried Mushrooms: Ozark Forest French horn mushrooms with black garlic aioli and kimchi

Heartier fare includes super-filling cornmeal hoe cakes—surely no hangover can survive them. They’re plated with fried eggs and a robust house-made andouille sausage. Shrimp ’n’ grits offer head-on shrimp crowning grits that are more spicy than creamy. Blackened shishito peppers nestled in the mixture are a bonus. 

Fried chicken is Juniper’s calling card. It’s juicy, decadent, and might induce the euphoria that only fried chicken can bestow upon the pleasure-seeker. The addition of an oak-burning hearth permits the creation of such dishes as flame-roasted half-chicken and charred vegetables with broken-rice risotto. At lunch, the options are lighter still, including grain bowls and a stellar riff on avocado toast. And the happy hour menu features such pleasant surprises as an andouille corn dog.

Sides are decidedly more modern than Southern. Braised collards are besotted with a sweet-and-sour “potlikker” that’s reduced to a syrup. Crowder peas, a cousin to black-eyed peas, are exquisitely spiced and cooked into a veritable cassoulet of rich, satisfying flavor.

As for dessert? Despite having a pastry chef on staff, the kitchen offered just two desserts, and one was a cookie. Harrumph! A decadent meal earns a decadent dessert, no?

Juniper is treading its own path. Look for the photogenic eatery to quickly become an anchor for the east-of-Euclid throng in the Central West End.

The Bottom Line Tantalizing updates on Southern fare are served in a classy-yet-relaxed setting.