Jack’s Kitchen opened this year in Lakewood. Scott Jones is chef and provides most of the service but I believe his sister makes the desserts. It is in a medium sized location between a well known Thai restaurant and organic nursery. They are open for dinner, Sunday brunch and lunch as well as offering take out, delivery and catering services. The small menu didn’t change between lunch visits. The walls are decorated with art pieces and the tables are set with a placemats and plants or candles. Windows to the street line one wall and a display cabinet held a collection of enameled cast iron cookware. Both visits the owner was our server and was most cooperative in helping us place our orders. They serve fairly simple but honest food that is nicely seasoned and generously portioned. It won’t make you want to lick the plate but it was plenty good enough that I’ll go again. It helps that the owner is on sight and very nice.
We opted to try the Fried Chicken which was crispy fried chicken, creamy mashed potatoes and collard greens. However we substituted 5 cheese Mac & Cheese, which includes smoked gouda, sharp cheddar, pepper jack, gruyere and parmesan in a creamy bechamel tossed with elbow macaroni, for the mashed potatoes and green beans for the collard greens for one of us. The fried chicken was a boneless piece of white meat and surprisingly not dry. The coating was nicely crisp and ungreasy. The only thing I would have added was a sauce to the nice chicken. (I tried it another visit with the cream gravy and it was perfect). The green beans were cooked to a good doneness with a slight browning and the mac and cheese was creamy and tasty. According to my companion the collard greens were very good.
For dessert we split a piece of coconut cream pie. It was topped with crunchy, tasty browned coconut on a fairly flakey crust. It had a thick filling and I’m not sure what was all in it but it was tasty and a nice size to split.
On my second visit I asked about a glass of wine to go with lunch and apparently they don’t have a license to sell yet so he offered a free glass to each of us. A very nice gesture. I now understand that you can bring your own wine if you want.
My companion tried the pot roast bowl which included shredded slow braised pot roast over buttermilk mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, roasted mushrooms and slow roasted carrots. It was a generous portion and the meat was nicely tender. My companion didn’t care for the tomato in the sauce but I found it went well with the meat and potatoes. I particularly liked that the carrots were cooked enough to be soft. The potatoes were nicely rich and brought in the abundant mushrooms that also had good flavor.
I tried Jack’s Favorite Bowl which is brown rice, sweet potato hash, spicy collard greens, green chile roasted pork, pico de gallo and topped with chipotle aioli. Another generous helping and a good mix of flavors. It had a bit of spiciness and the pork was nicely tender. There was a good balance of ingredients and the sweet potatoes were tasty. I would get it again.
