CJ’s Bar & Grill brings a taste of NY to Monroe

MONROE — More than 800 miles separate Monroe and Carolyn Daniels’ hometown, Albion, N.Y. Despite this distance, the 18-year Monroe resident has found a way to bring a taste of the East Coast to the prairie.

“Where I grew up in New York, it was prominently Greek and Italian. My whole family was raised there... East Coast food is a lot different from here,” Daniels said. “(The cuisine there is mainly) comfort food, Italian, a little Greek was thrown in there — pretty much everyday, East Coast American cuisine — Philly Cheese Steaks, Stromboli, pizzas.”

Daniels opened CJ’s Bar & Grill Sept. 1 in the former Monroe American Legion space, located at 105 E. Marion St. The Legion decided to lease the bar after operating at that location since 1919.

“I used to work here a few years back for about 9.5 years. I worked for the Legion (as a bartender),” she said. “When it came up, I have always wanted my own place. This came up and they decided to lease it out, it kind of fell on my lap and I took it.”

Since she was seven years old, Daniels loved to experiment with food and drink. She spent much of her childhood hanging out with her grandmother, learning the recipes that have been passed down in her family for generations.

“My passion for food was from my grandmother. She taught me how to cook. She lived next door to my house growing up. I spent an enormous amount of time with her,” she said. “I was at her house everyday. She taught me how to cook everything I know. I love to cook. I love to share that with people.”

After raising two children in the PCM Community School District with her husband, James, Daniels found a way to share her love for food with the Jasper County city she grew to love.

“I always wanted my own bar and restaurant. When (the bar) came up (for lease), I got both,” she said. “The kids were grown. I was bored. I always wanted my own place. It came up, so I jumped on it. I talked to my husband and he was all supportive and for it. I literally emptied our savings account.”

Since opening for business, the eating establishment has attracted residents from all over the area. With variety of items on the menu, including hand-press burgers, wings with made-from-scratch sauce and pasta with homemade sauce, Daniels and her family take pride in serving its patrons authentic, hand-crafted East Coast cuisine.

“We usually start our day any where from 6:30 to 7 a.m.,” the bar owner’s son, Austin said. “We usually go get our groceries. We get our vegetables and stuff cut up for the day, like our potatoes. We go through a ton of that. We usually have 50 pounds of potatoes we have to peel and chop. We also have to prep our onions, peppers and mushrooms. We have to press our burgers out. Whatever the special is, get that thrown together.”

Carolyn said the specials are usually inspired from recipes she learned from her grandmother.

“I do specials everyday for lunch, except for Tuesdays. If I know they are a big thing everybody likes, we do a second round for dinner,” she said. “I have rarely doubled it yet. We have gone through an arsenal. There are also a lot of things I have make up in my head as we go along. That sounds good together, let’s try that out.”

With the restaurant typically operating from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., the family said this extra effort is worth the sleepless nights.

“You taste the work that was put into it. We try to get locally as much as we can. We have local beers, different liquors and all of our meats are from (Monroe Foods and Fareway),” Austin said. “(We cook our food) more by eye and by taste than by measuring it out. We kind of go by stuff we would like or what we think people would like.”

As a bartender for more than 25 years, Carolyn said it is extremely important for her establishment to support the local community.

“We live in a small community and everybody looks out for everybody. If you need something, there is somebody who is going to help you,” she said. “I carry a lot of local alcohol and beer from local breweries, like Confluence in Des Moines and NoCoast in Oskaloosa. I also have my native wine license so I can get wine from local wineries... I try to keep it all Iowa bound, as much as I possibly can.”

If traditional Midwest food is something you are looking for, the bartender guaranteed that she will have something that will to suit your tastes.

“Some of the recipes, I actually picked up from people from Iowa. I just tweak it and make it my own,” she said. “You have to adjust a little bit, but sometimes you have to make them adjust to you. I know if you try it, you will like it.”

The restaurant also offers a variety of entertainment options for people seeking something to do other than eat and drink.

“We have bags tournaments every Thursday. We do dance lessons every Wednesday. We do karaoke once a month and live bands once or twice a month — pitch tournaments once a month,” Daniels said. “(We also have) Zumba on Mondays, pot luck Mondays and sometimes, we do have a movie night on Tuesdays.”

Due to her years of experience working at the veterans’ organization’s bar, she said it was important to her to preserve the history of the establishment, while adding her New York flair.

“I never came in here wanting to change the whole thing... It is important to me to work with them and keep this building close to where it was, and make it thrive it again,” she said. “I just moved some fixtures over and added my own things to them. It really meant a lot to me to keep (it the same). The guys who built this worked hard for a lot of years to keep this.”

She said the group is still active and meets at the bar the second Friday of each month.

“I lease the bar from them. I own the business. Other than that, they have nothing to do with the bar,” Daniels said. “I let them in the kitchen and I shut my kitchen down. They do a chicken dinner in order to raise money for the Legion.”

The Daniels family said no matter what, if you are hungry, thirsty or want to learn how to two-step, CJ’s Bar & Grill will offer you an evening full of fun and good times.

“We give the people something to do, a reason to get out and about, socialize with each other, and have a good time,” Austin said. “Food is what draws people in. The dance classes, the bags and other things like that, that is what keeps people here.”

For more information on the restaurant, call 641-259-2222 or find CJ's Bar & Grill on Facebook.

For more information about the Monroe American Legion, call 641-259-2993 or find Monroe American Legion-Post 363 on Facebook.

Contact Anthony Victor Reyes at areyes@myprairiecitynews.com