Jacks N Joe

Jacks N Joe is the new breakfast hype in the L.A. area. It recently opened in December of 2010.  This place has a comforting modern décor with an impressive home cooked meal feeling. One of the owners, Mark Bednorz graduated from the USC architecture school many years ago and decided to open his own restaurant. Without prior restaurant experience Mark and Vianney Bednorz decided to open their dream and inspirational breakfast restaurant. Mark built and designed the interior, so it is done very well. The advantage to this restaurant is that the menu is strictly breakfast, so naturally they have perfected the art of a home cooked meal dining experience in Los Angeles.

The menu is creative and their gourmet pancakes are divine. They have a large variety of gourmet pancakes that have a marvelous taste and look. In fact, I often see people taking photos of their food before devouring their large portions. The portions of the menu are large and the prices are low and finally reasonable for college students. The best part of the restaurant is that change things up often with a new pancake of the month every month and a new weekly special every week. I love this because they are always changing the concept of breakfast with new innovative breakfast specials.
One of the benefits to this restaurant is the friendly service and company. The owners of the restaurant insist on becoming friends with there guests! Mark and Vianney Bednorz are the owners and their passion and lust for life is uplifting and encouraging. Jacks N Joe is a mom and pop diner, and it’s just what this area needs! As many may think Jacks N Joe stand for the name of people, but they are wrong. Jacks stands for flapjacks and Joe means coffee! So naturally at Jacks N Joe they have great pancakes and coffee!

            They have a creative menu as well as pancakes! They have a great variety of pancakes. They have marvelous house made buttermilk and buckwheat pancakes! Now, the specialty pancakes are extraordinary. The specialty pancakes come with specialty house made butters! For example, the “Roo’s” (chocolate chip pancakes) have brown sugar butter with whip cream and chocolate chips! They taste like cookie dough! The “Chloe’s Blues” (blueberry pancakes) have sweet lemon butter and fresh blueberries!  The “Tree Hugger” pancakes are buckwheat with sweet orange butter, house made granola, and fresh fruit. They even have “WTF” pancakes in crazy shapes with sweat cream cheese and fresh fruit! Their “Totally L.A” pancakes are so cute! They are thin pancakes with sweet lemon butter and fresh fruit! Speaking of cute, the “Baby Jacks” are adorable mini pancakes.

"WTF" pancakes!

The “Ruby Belle’s” are made with sautéed granny smith apples in a brown sugar butter reduction. They are heavenly! “Ruby Belle’s” may be one of my favorites. Jacks N Joe has amazing banana pancakes with fresh bananas and walnuts. For those of you who like peanut butter, you’re in for a treat. Jacks N Joe has a “Pudgie Elvis” pancake with bananas and a peanut butter glaze on top. Because Jacks N Joe is near USC, they have “ Fight On!” pancakes for those of you who like the sweet and salty aspect to a pancake. The “ Fight On!” pancakes are buttermilk with chopped bacon in the mix! So tasty!

"Hula Girl" Coconut pancakes!

                        They may not have waffles, but they do have the best French toast! Their “Dakine French Toast” is made with Hawaiian sweet bread, sweet vanilla butter and powdered sugar, so delicious.

This place is great for USC students looking to enjoy a great meal in a great environment. It is difficult to find a restaurant that is near the USC campus with decent food, and the owners of Jacks N Joe have made it possible to have amazing food, as shocking as it is to hear.
   They have an amazing breakfast sandwich with ciabatta bread your choice of meat and how you like your egg prepared. For a dollar extra you can “Jack it up”! I highly recommend you “jack up” your breakfast sandwich! It’s so mouthwatering, jacking it up consists of sautéed onions, spin, and tomatoes.

Don’t worry if you’re not a huge pancake and sweets eater. Jacks N Joe has amazing omelets! They have a “Create your own” section to the omelets where you can choose from a variability of ingredients. The prices for the “create your own” omelets vary in the number of items you select for your omelet, which is of course reasonable. Their specialty omelets are delightful.

They have five delectable specialty omelets. One of my favorites is the “Adams N Fig” omelet with Jacks N Joes house potatoes, bacon, sausage, and jack cheese. Jacks N Joe has amazing house potatoes called “JNJ Potatoes”. The “JNJ potatoes” consist of diced red potatoes, sautéed peppers and onions. The potatoes in the omelet are so good!

Their “ Maui Wowie” omelet is my next favorite because it has Portuguese sausage, spam (yes spam!) and green onions. I had never eaten spam before this omelet and it was enjoyable. They have a “My Big Fat Greek” omelet with tomatoes, spin, green onions and feta cheese. I haven’t eaten this omelet because I don’t like feta cheese, but it is a top seller. Jacks N Joe has a great omelet called  “Eat your veggies” which contains tomatoes, peppers, spin, onions and mushrooms. Their next specialty omelet is the “ Boulder, not Denver” omelet with peppers, ham, onions, and cheddar cheese. Their specialty omelets come with “JNJ potatoes” and your choice of toast.

The prices are the best part! For the large portions the food and price is imaginary. For three large specialty pancakes the prices range from $6.50- $6.75. For the specialty omelet with the sides of potatoes and toast is $8.50. The “Create Your Own” omelets vary from $5.75- $6.75 depending on the amount of ingredients. For the quality, prices, environment, and employees Jacks N Joe is phenomenal! I will never go to the Pantry for mediocre breakfast again!

Address: 2498 S Figueroa St Los Angeles, CA 90007 

Affordable: $

Type of Food: Breakfast 

Grade: A

Written by: Katherine Kaskanyan