We (and the first person plural in this case includes my wife) ended up at jP American Bistro, a relatively new restaurant at Lake and Lyndale that’s been garnering acclaim. This particular intersection is home to several restaurants, but they’re casual eateries—places where it would be hard to feel underdressed, where you don’t even think of calling for reservations, where wine lists don’t list the vintage, where service isn’t always with a smile. A trendy, elegant, "happening" place like jP’s is a novelty to the immediate neighborhood, preceded only by Fuji-Ya around the corner. jP isn’t open for lunch on weekdays, so it’s a business lunch option only for the weekend workaholic.

Elegance in this case doesn’t mean a "no money was spared" look. One wall is painted concrete cinder block broken up by large glass-block panels. An old industrial-scale metal sliding door serves as a decorative element. Other original elements include old rough-hewn timber columns and beams and exposed plumbing—taking license from which jP has felt at liberty to expose electrical conduits and junction boxes. The color scheme is a combination of bright yellow and deep aubergine—think Viking colors, updated.

jP doesn’t do lunch, but it does Sunday brunch, the menu for which consisted (this day) of approximately half-dozen breakfast entrees (couple of omelets, banana-walnut sour cream pancakes, "salmon hash topped with a poached egg," eggs benedict, French toast, and a fresh fruit platter with mango sorbet) and sides of hash browns, pommes frites, and Canadian bacon. A basket of fresh baked goods is also walked around—the palmier (baby elephant ears) I had was very good.

J.P., the chef-owner himself, recognizable from photographs in various writeups, was in the restaurant … but sitting with friends or family in the dining room, not tending to matters in the kitchen. Frankly, matters in the kitchen could have done with some tending. My wife ordered the eggs benedict, and the base for this dish were English muffin halves that were untoasted—they looked unappetizing and tasted accordingly. My objection with my salmon hash wasn’t related to preparation, however, but to composition and advertising. Instead of a "hash" of diced vegetables and salmon, the dish consisted of a portion of hash browns with some diced and sautéed red peppers and onions on top, then layered with a salmon filet (and the construction capped with a poached egg). Everything tasted fine, and the salmon was excellent both in quality and preparation, but it wasn’t what I thought I was getting.

B had the omelet special, which was quite good, especially the filling (details of which I forget but no doubt you can get them with a glance to the right)—the omelet itself could have been airier for my taste.

There seemed to be some "synergies" being exercised among the dishes. B’s dish came with the same hash browns that formed the base of my dish, and the poached egg atop my salmon filet was covered with hollandaise, just like in my wife’s dish.

Service was excellent; our server was knowledgeable about the menu and charming, although the attention we received was probably due in part to the lack of other clientele. There might have been all of three or four other sets of customers while we were there.

We finished our meal with coffees and went back to weekend mode as we left the restaurant … except for B, whose server problem was still unresolved as we parted company. We left him with cell phone glued to ear engaged in a teleconference.

A

J. P Samuelson is the JP in the name and is considered by some to be a star chef, who after having done a stint in New York City has left the big lights for a home on the prairie. Is it just me or is our state littered with chefs who have been luminaries on the New York City culinary scene? I can think of a few restaurants in Minneapolis that can boast of this distinction, as can some in small cities like Red Wing, rural Wisconsin, etc.

What a difference a few months make. When JP first opened for business a reservation in the prime dining time was virtually impossible to get – forget about casually walking in on a Friday evening, hoping for a table. Now that JP is no longer the new enfant terrible on the block  dining there is easier, and you might even get walk-in service like we did for the Sunday brunch.

The location is an old building next to the Jungle Theater, which has been converted into a restaurant/bar space with some dexterity and care, but not too much care. One wall still has an unfinished stucco look. The roof appears to consist of finished—albeit roughly hewed—timber. The colors are interesting pastel shades. The front of the restaurant is given over to a sizeable bar with dining tables. The kitchen is in the back divided from the bar by more dining space.

The food, from previous experience, is very good; however, the brunch was not exceptional. For starters you’re offered a pastry/bread from Carrie’s Breads and Sweets basket from which I chose a strawberry scone – satisfactory if a bit on the dry side. To drink I settled for the freshly squeezed orange juice. We were joined by A’s wife—she probably knows more about food than A & I put together—who was singularly unimpressed with her order of egg benedict (the English muffin had been served untoasted). I had the two-egg omelet special made up of portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions; served with a side of hash browns (It isn’t called an American bistro for nothing). A had the Salmon hash with a poached egg on top. I enjoyed the omelet; the taste of caramelized onions worked remarkably well with the mushrooms (an odd combination, I’ll admit). I had a side order of toast, which turned out to be fried baguette and a bit hard on the teeth. Some of the other choices for brunch include banana-walnut sour cream pancakes, JP’s French toast, fresh fruit platter with mango sorbet. I finished my meal with mocha coffee. The bill for three came to $52.00.

The principle behind The Lunch is to escape from the busyness of most people’s working days and to spend a tranquil hour or so chatting about things that interest us. I hope our regular readers aren’t put off by the newness of The Lunch on Sunday (sounds like a newspaper!) and the brevity of this review in particular. It’s been that kind of week. Normal service to be resumed next week.

B