A two-month road trip across the U.S. inspired Cathy Jenkins to open a restaurant. Three years later, her inkling has become a reality; Cathy’s Kitchen, located in downtown Ferguson at 250 S. Florissant Road, opened earlier this month.
The diner’s core menu is built around dishes the Jenkins family ate during their coast-to-coast trek. On the trip, Jenkins, who has always loved cooking, talked her way into restaurant kitchens where she cooked, chatted with chefs and even walked away with a few of their recipes, explained her husband and the diner’s co-owner Jerome Jenkins. Patrons at Cathy’s Kitchen will find recreations of dishes from California, New Mexico, Texas and Florida, as well as cities like Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans. One wall at the 50-plus-seat diner even charts the cross-country trip. “The entire restaurant is telling the story,” said Jerome Jenkins.
Cathy’s Kitchen is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
This article appears in July 2013.