No one is more surprised than I am that I made it to a new local restaurant while it was still new.
Thursday I met up with a friend for coffee at JAM, the new incarnation of Eggspectation. At nine am business was brisk. My friend had arrived before me and waved from a booth on the right side of the restaurant. I don’t remember that side of the room as being open for service before. My husband suggested it may have been the bar area.
There’s definitely a new look and it is white, bright, and airy. I like it.
The artwork near our table seemed to give a nod to the word “jam” in a musical sense. (Not sure how musicians will feel about that sawed-off guitar.) The high-backed booths give you a sense of personal space and privacy. I liked that.
If you were a patron of Eggspectation you will know that the high ceilings and predominantly hard surfaces made the space very loud. It could be a challenge to hear one’s dining companions. It doesn’t look like they have done much to address that overall. But offering the option of booth seating certainly made a difference to us. It’s far enough away from the louder part of the restaurant to feel like a bit of an oasis, noise-wise.
The service was wonderful: friendly, helpful, smooth. You should be forewarned that the menu is aimed at people with large appetites. It is possible to get a single pastry with your coffee. But if you just wanted an order of scrambled eggs, for example, you couldn’t do that. You’d need to invest 14-16 dollars in an impressive array of breakfast items that included the eggs.
I settled on having an order of toast because I was feeling rather uncertain foodwise that morning. The oddest thing happened. When it arrived it was warm but not even remotely toasted. I’m not at all sure they own an actual toaster. Maybe they put it in the oven? I was still puzzling over this when another order of toast arrived. “They didn’t give you the right number of slices,” she said.
Friends, it was not toast. It was certainly edible, and I ate some of it to be polite. I didn’t complain. But it was a mystery.
May I add that in all of this there was no mention of jam. I did not receive jam nor was it offered. Perhaps the first rule about JAM is…well, you know.
My lovely companion had a warmed corn muffin and it certainly looked good although I didn’t ask her about it. We both ordered iced coffee. It turns out you can’t actually get what we think of iced coffee at JAM. You can have iced cappuccino. It was fine. No complaints. But it isn’t iced coffee.
It may sound as though I’m panning this place. I’m not. I liked it very much and would definitely go back. I’m relating my personal experiences. Every place has quirks. For that matter, every customer has quirks. I may be the only person who ever walks through the door and wishes they could have nothing but an order of scrambled eggs. So I don’t expect them to make a menu with that in mind.
The best part about my visit to JAM was that I wanted to have some time to catch up with a good friend and everything about our experience made that possible. I look forward to going back when I am hungrier.
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