Jones Brunch

This past weekend when my boyfriend's parents were in town, we had to come up with a weekend brunch spot to accommodate a mini family reunion for ten plus one infant. The long-wait, popular brunch spots were out, as well as the tiny spots. Also, ethnic spots were out. We wanted a regular old brunch that would please just about everyone.

Jones came to mind. It's Stephen Starr, so you know it's pretty basic and pleases most, and the sunken center dining area at Jones would fit eleven. Jones isn't keen on making reservations unless you have a party of twelve or more, and then it goes to the event planner, and you're stuck with a prix fixe menu. Not cool. We just decided to get there when the doors opened at 10 a.m., and that worked out well.

I've already blogged Jones, so this will be a brief show and tell of just my brunch plate and my boyfriend's (not subjecting the entire family to picture time!).This stack of three monstrously large pancakes is just obscene in size. You can't complain about being skimped. If you ate half you'd be beyond stuffed. While just fine, the boy wanted more bananas and less walnuts. He also wanted pecans instead of walnuts. I was going to order the portobello sandwich, but had an inkling that we were grilling up some mushroom caps for dinner, so went with the egg and cheese biscuit sans ham. Fitting with the mid-America comfort food theme of Jones, the biscuit reminded me of a light, fluffy, greasy, fast food biscuit from Bojangles (I haven't eaten a fast food biscuit in many years, so this Southeastern fried chicken and biscuit chain is the only thing I have to compare the biscuit to. Man, did I eat the hell out of some BoBerry biscuits -- a biscuit studded with blueberry-like pellets [yeah, it's not real food] and topped with a cinnamon roll-type icing -- on weekend nights during high school! So wrong, and sooo good. OMG, there's one PA location in Reading! Field trip! Did this just become a post on Bojangles?).

I subbed a salad for the fries. Or was it tater tots? Everyone else got tater tots with their more traditional breakfast items. I swear our server said fries came with the sandwiches...and maybe they did. I would have gotten the tater tots if I had known. The salad was mixed greens and a few cherry tomato halves and raw red onion dressed in a vinaigrette. Basic.

Jones
700 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-223-5663