"After a stop in Pass Manchac looking for outside dining but finding a jammed inside-only restaurant with no masks, we headed up US 51 into Ponchatoula to look for an alternative. J Rucker 's was listed as open, but when we arrived no one was there and it was marked closed. When we called, we were told yes, we are open but no one appeared in front. Finally just as we were about to drive off, someone came running across the parking lot. We are open, and you can sit outside. After that little bit our time confusion (to the restaurant 's credit, we were looking for a place around 4:30 in the afternoon and some listings showed a 5 pm opening, while others implied open from lunch to dinner. No big deal), we got seated and offered menus. Fried ribs jumped out immediately as (1) unhealthy in many ways (2) unique and (3) of course, something we have to try once. We put in an order for that, along with fried shrimp and stewed chicken. Unfortunately a few minutes later the kitchen informed our server that fried ribs would not be offered that evening. I changed to stewed chicken. For starters, the fried broccoli and boudain balls were hot, fresh, not greasy, and served with a house dipping sauce that had a bit of kick. The stewed chicken arrived in the dense gravy on rice, tasty but beware also on the salty side (this bothered some other diners in my party more than me). The fried shrimp actually might have been the best thing on the table: hot, crispy, with almost like a tempura texture served on a bed of thin-sliced french fries. We were stuffed and facing a ride back to the south shore, so no dessert... but tell us what you have, anyway. One of the options was Bananas Foster ice cream. Uh oh, looks like we ARE having dessert. Highly recommended, with a strong banana flavor and actually frozen bits of ripe banana in there. (Some may not like that texture, but didn 't bother me one bit). Chicken and waffles are one of the options for entree, as is an ice cream and waffle dessert that looked good as it went out to another table."