Lunch at Jak’s Kitchen

Published in Ottawa Magazine, May 28, 2012

The view of Bronson Avenue from Jak’s Kitchen was never what you’d call remarkable, but now even the sky is obliterated by a small legion of sunny demolition trucks and a hill of rubble. To be precise, my immediate view is of safety fencing curtaining pedestrian traffic.

I used to walk by Jak’s pretty regularly — during a kids-hockey phase — and the obvious bread baking going on was an aromatic advertisement for its well-known brunch. Lately, the scent of yeast competes with diesel.

But out of the rubble Jak’s has produced genius in the form of a nifty idea called a “Jak in a Box.”  (Ottawa Magazine food editor Shawna Wagman introduced us to it in her City Bites column.) It’s a never-say-die initiative that embraces the misfortune of months of major roadwork. Its philosophy: rather than curse these guys in trucks, let’s feed them! The way to a man’s heart, as they say…

I lunched at Jak’s the day before the boxed-lunches were launching and chit-chat amongst the staff was of filling these with a sandwich, either a salad or some fries and a dessert, and pricing it to sell. Entrepreneurship at its finest. I hope they make buckets.

But I was lunching off the menu. And if you’d rather sit in and eat off a plate I can recommend unequivocally, the burger. Just look at the thing. Can you imagine anything more appealing than that? Well and truly roasted red peppers, fresh basil, a mound of zephyr light fromage blanc and, beneath the lightly packed, well seasoned meat, a paprika aioli with a smoky finish. All of this on a house made bun, slightly grilled, topped with lettuce and a ripe enough tomato. Comes with a dandy salad and a terrific bowl of the day’s soup — on this day a chorizo, potato, and parmesan chowder that was lunch all on its own. The whole deal reeked of an enormously satisfying manly lunch. Put THAT in a box, boys and girls.

Cost: cuppa chowder and burger $14

Open: Tuesday to Sunday for breakfast/brunch/lunch and dinner

Jak’s Kitchen, 479 Bronson Ave., 613-230-2088.