Jonathan Justus, Part 2: Cooking, coal miners, and green eggs and ham

Part one of our interview with chef Justus ran yesterday.

At 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, the dining room is so quiet at Justus

Drugstore that I can hear the nearby hum of the refrigerator behind the

bar. The hostess makes sure that the napkins are square to the edge of the

table as soft jazz floats over the speakers. The restaurant is at rest, waiting for the hum of diners. But chef Jonathan Justus is a body in motion, bouncing from the bar to the kitchen and out to the patio, where icicles still hang from the awning.

There are truffles to be ordered for a charity dinner, menu ideas to scrawl in a spiral notebook and ice water to be gulped from a QuikTrip cup. His energy infuses the restaurant with life. The bartender begins to juice lemons and limes and prepare simple syrup for the scratch bar. A vacuum buzzes, and pans sizzle in the kitchen.