PEORIA — How does a small restaurant in New Jersey end up expanding to Peoria?
Jersey Crab is headed our way, set to open Aug. 1 in the former TGI Fridays building across from The Shoppes at Grand Prairie.
If you've never had Cajun seafood boil, or alligator, or frog legs, you'll get the chance now – bib, gloves and all.
"We are a small business, with a couple Jersey Crab restaurants in (Clementon and Glendora) New Jersey," co-owner Thomas Wang said as he sat inside the former TGIF recently, where tables, chairs, bar glasses and remnants of the former occupant looked like time stood still when the place shut down over a year ago. "Our primary owner, Feng Lin, is from China, and from the moment he arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago he started cooking in the restaurant business.
"He has never been to Peoria, but he's the chef at our (flagship) restaurant and he's coming here to do the cooking.
"I'm the one who knew about Peoria and the surrounding area."
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Wang grew up in Bloomington, and worked for years for his uncle at Ming's Chinese Buffet in East Peoria. When the Jersey Crab partners wanted to expand, he thought of Peoria.
"I know central Illinois, and I know there is a place for Jersey Crab, there's nothing else like it in the area," said Wang, 32. "This is a perfect location, and the building saves us a lot in construction and renovation.
"We're making changes inside, when you come in here in August it won't look anything like what was here before.
"So yes, Jersey Crab will be in New Jersey, and Peoria, Illinois."
So here's how it works: You choose from a variety of seafood off a menu. You also choose things to accompany your meal, like corn or potatoes. Then you choose seasoning – Cajun, or spicy garlic among many. It all goes into a bag and boils.
The bag comes to you at your table, you tear it open and, bib and gloves in hand, and get down to business.
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"It's immensely popular on the East Coast," Wang said. "We'll have fresh seafood to cook for you. We'll have seafood that is kept here live.
"We'll have special items, alligator steaks, frog legs. We're designing the menu now, it's not yet complete."
The menus at the restaurants in New Jersey have oysters, catfish, snow crab, flounder, clams, shrimp, crawfish, all part of an array of offerings available from appetizers for as little as $5 to baskets for around $10 or one-pound boils from $20-33.
You can even get a whopper of a lineup for $90 called a Captain's Combo: four portions of corn, four portions of potatoes, a pound of Snow Crab, a pound of lobster tail, half-pound Dungeness Crab, half-pound shrimp, half-pound clams, half-pound black mussels and a half-pound crawfish.
Jersey Crab plans to have a full liquor license at its Peoria location and will have a bar inside. The restaurant, says Wang, will provide about 15 jobs.
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"It's a chance to have a unique dining experience in Peoria," Wang said. "We think people are going to love it.
"We'll need some luck, too. Luck is the No. 1 thing you have to have in the restaurant business. You can do everything right and not succeed."
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
The Link LonkJune 07, 2021 at 05:01PM
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Jersey Crab restaurant bringing Cajun seafood to Peoria by Shoppes at Grand Prairie - Peoria Journal Star
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