Me and an abbreviated Breakfast Crew made it over to Jade Lounge today for their new weekend brunch. We were abbreviated because I waited until about 4 p.m. Friday to announce the outing. And I started this paragraph with the wrong pronoun because I don’t care.
It reminded us quite a bit of the Sapphire Hotel, with the one difference being, as Kerry put it, “we’ve gone from the brothel to the opium den.” The theme here is Asian, with an emphasis on jade green, and like the Sapphire, it seems better suited for evening light. Not that it’s unattractive or unclean, but the vibe they’re after is much more “late night romance” than “weekend brunch.” Sunlight seemed to throw it off a little. They share owners as Il Piatto next door, and I think that place gets high marks for romantic date meals.
It feels like maybe brunch is an afterthought at the moment, but I guess if you own a kitchen around here, there’s a temptation to do brunch. Seems like everybody else is, and they mostly do well. And being just a few blocks from Screen Door with its epic lines must really whet the appetite. Considering we were the only people in the place at 11 a.m., I told the waitress they should go give out fliers to the folks in line over there. Eh, maybe not.
They just started serving December 5, and clearly the word is not out yet. She told me they always have seating, and of course that’s a good news / bad news thing — as in, Maybe it’s because nobody knows what they are up to, and maybe it’s because everybody knows what they’re up to.
The menu is available through a goofy “click and drag to open” feature on their website — and, fair warning, there’s music on the site that (A) can’t be turned off and (B) gets annoying quickly.
They have six griddle options, two of them vegan; Debi had the house cured bacon waffle with thyme and Maple syrup ($8.50), and we gave it credit for remaining crisp. The bacon was just a couple slices laying in the waffle, not bits like we would have preferred. And it was chewy. Maria (my Tea Consultant who was bummed by the Stash tea on the table) got the basic buttermilk pancakes ($7) with house-made lavender syrup, which I must say was a revelation of sorts. It was almost like a childhood dream of mine: a whole bottle of the stuff that comes out of the honeysuckle bloom. It was awesome. And the pancake was light and fluffy, probably the best thing we had.
Of the three scrambles, what caught my eye was the Foret (“foray”), which had sauteed, freshly-picked chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta, garlic, and fresh milk mozzarella ($9). The taste was pretty good, but the mushrooms required some effort to cut or chew. As for being “freshly picked,” I don’t know where one would find fresh chanterelles in February, but I think maybe they were picked when fresh, then stored somewhere for a long while. That part needed some work.
Kerry had the Benedict ($9) , which also had a couple of interesting twists: the eggs poached in white wine with pickled onions, and the sauce infused with rosemary. He liked it so much he didn’t let any of us taste it.
The place has great promise, because they have a vibe all set, and they are obviously trying to do some interesting stuff with their food. When they get it all together — if they can stay open until people find them — it’ll be a good, cozy, short-line option in SE. And as we all know, there aren’t a lot of those around.
Jade Lounge, 2342 SE Ankeny. Saturday and Sunday 9 to 2:30. 503-236-4998.. Prices around $9 for entrees. Espresso, Stash Tea. Lots of stuff organic and house-made, some even grown organically out back. Check jadeloungepdx.com for a 20% off brunch coupon.