Jam
503.234.4790
2239 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, 97124

There’s always a wait

Make sure you don’t come hungry because there is gonna be a wait. We arrived around 10:30 and saw a dozen or so people lingering on the sidewalk with another 8 or 10 inside. I scribbled down my name and made a note of the 12+ entries above ours before we headed back across the street to checkout the bakery & farm market adjacent to Jam’s corner in a residential district, mom had just gotten back from Anchorage the evening before so she was joining us for our weekly outing. We lingered at the market & bakery for about 20 minutes collecting some vegetables and fruit to load into the Ford before checking in to see how the list had or hadn’t shrunk. We spent another 20 minutes around the coffee pot on the sidewalk before moving inside for the final 15 minute count down. After being seated at a booth in the smaller “original” part of the restaurant we quickly placed our order, I chose the Hammer (a ham, swiss & grilled onion scramble with hashed browns and a biscuit upgrade) Carly picked 1 slice of massive french toast with bacon and fruit while mom chose the standard Eggs & Ham over hashed browns. I got a tall latte to start while they both went with hot teas, time passed quickly as we chatted but it was probably 13 minutes or so before our meals arrived. Everyone snagged a bit of my biscuit as soon as the waiter sat my plate down and I must say it was one of the better biscuits I’d had it was dense, not massive, not dry, just right. My scramble was pretty good and the hashed browns while not crispy were seasoned pretty well and the Aardvark sauce they set on the table was the perfect compliment to them. There were caramelized onions & swiss cheese mixed in with the cubed ham that really gave the scramble a little something extra and popped the flavors even more. Considering the size of the menus it seems like a couple weeks of daily visits would be needed to even try a fraction of their offerings to make a proper judgement but the long wait was a bit of a turnoff so try to get there as soon as the doors open to avoid one.

GALLERY