JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.dataTables/1.9.4/jquery.dataTables.min.js"></script>
<script src="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.2.0/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.2.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">
<table class="table table-bordered table-hover table-striped menu_item_table general-table" id="5_table">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th class="text-center">Menu Item</i>
            </th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr id="241_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">belegte 1/2 Brötchen:</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="242_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">Frischwurst-Aufschnitt</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="243_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">Salami</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="244_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">Schweinebraten</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="245_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">roher Schinken</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="246_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">Mozzarella/Tomate</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="247_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id" data-menu_item_type_name="Frühstück">Eischeiben, fr. Schnittlauch</td>
        </tr>
        <tr id="248_item">
            <td class="text-center" data-menu_item_type_name_id="5_menu_item_type_name_id"...

CSS

.table tbody tr.highlight td {
    background-color: lightblue;
}

JavaScript

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#5_table').dataTable({
		"bFilter": true,
		"bPaginate": false
	});
});

$(document).ready(function() {
    var table = $("#5_table").DataTable();
    var row = table.row('#257_item');
    row.addClass('highlight');
    
//    $("#257_item").addClass('highlight'); // This works fine but the above doesn't??

});