James John Cafe
503.285.4930
8527 N. Lombard
Portland, 97203

St. Johns Bridge ends at the James John Cafe

A beautiful drive over the St. Johns bridge ends on Lombard ave right in front of the James John Cafe where we parked street side on a sleepy Sunday morning. We wandered into the the cafe which has two small tables out front and a couple of couches directly inside the entrance to the large converted bank building. A woman behind the counter gestured to us to sit where ever we liked and when ready order from the chalkboard against the west wall. We scanned it over for a few moments and began to make our selections, I started with a large Latte and asked the woman taking our order what she would suggest I try, she paused for a moment and followed up with “well, we are known for our biscuits and gravy” which was very much what I was hoping she would say since my experience last week with the rather plain oatmeal left me charged up for some flavor, she then gestured with her fingers “1,2 or 3” biscuits and I thought well geez 3 is better than 2 but I also wanted to try their bacon soup so I decided 2 biscuits topped with a poached egg would be a good compromise. Meanwhile Carly got a kick ass sausage patty and really delicious French toast. Our meals took a little while to arrive since it appeared only 3 people were managing the entire restaurant from placing orders to cooking in the back but it was forgivable since there was also a ton of traffic flowing into the structure. When my biscuits arrived I was actually a little bummed at how tiny they appeared on the plate and the addition of a poached egg did little to make it feel like much of a meal but with the cup of soup it really was plenty of food. My first bite of the tiny square biscuit really was surprising since the gravy they were topped with was such an awesome flavor. I was even half tempted to request another pair but knowing the potential prep time involved I decided to enjoy my soup and savor every last morsel of the biscuit and gravy breakfast.

GALLERY