Sunday, February 3, 2008

THE MORNING AFTER: ON THE ROAD EDITION
JAK'S DINER
(1100 Barrydowne Rd. ∙ Sudbury, ON)


THE NORTHERNERS: Chris, Missy, Adam, Amelie, Lionel, Brock, Phil, Geno, Peggy & Darren

RATINGS:
FOOD: 2+
PRICE: 2+
SERVICE: 4
AMBIANCE: 2


ALL-DAY BREAKFAST: YES
COFFEE/ESPRESSO BAR: NO
COFFEE INCLUDED: NO
FREE REFILLS: YES
LICENSED: YES
HP SAUCE: YES
PATIO: NO
BOOTHS: YES
OPEN-KITCHEN: NO

What do you do when the streets seem too crowded, the lights get to bright and the city starts to make you a little jaded? Take a rip to Sudbury for the weekend, pay a few visits and get fucked up like a pile of coat hangers, that's what. Needless to say, an early afternoon breakfast at Jak's Diner, just down the street from Lasalle on Barrydowne will be well in order. In my case, after a night of gettin' stinko around a fire at Peggy's and ending with Darren buying round after round (after round after round after round after round) at Peddlers, the following morning came alongside the worst headache in the history of ever. The treatment for said headache was pretty obvious. Bacon & eggs with 50 cc's of Jak's caesary goodness, stat!

STANDARD BREAKFAST:
3 eggs
bacon, ham, sausage or bologna
homefries
toast
$5.70+tx.


THE FOOD: Basic northern fare with none of the frou-frou fruit and salad of the big city. The problem with this was the price in question didn't exactly reflect the no frills approach. The homefries were cash as always; deep fried with a dash of seasoning salt and a hint of awesome. The caesars were as bloody as I remember them (especially with a pickle from Peggy's rueben thrown in for good measure), but the bacon was crispy, thin and reminiscent of that 30 second microwavable rubbish.

THE PRICE: $5.70, €3.86, ¥604.60, ₨222.98, £2.88, ₣25.36, ₫90,092, R$ 9,87, ₩1,381.55, ฿176.28... No matter how (or where) you put it, it could afford to be a little less.

THE SERVICE: The first round of service at Jak's was a step above the second (seeing as the table we moved to after ordering came with a new server), hence the rating given is much more reflective of the first half of our visit. Outside of giving us an entire pitcher of water and being super-quicktime with the grub, Server #2 didn't bring much more to the table (Get it? Didn't bring much more to the table!). Server #1 on the other hand, pulled up a seat with us to take our order, got everyone at the table's first name and proceeded to ask us what "colour'a toast" we wanted. Not to mention, if you'll notice the expressions in the photo below, came out during our photo shoot to let Missy know that "Everyone in the restaurant wants to thank you for crackin' us a smile!"; and if you've ever met Missy, you'll know exactly what she was talking about.


THE AMBIANCE: Nothing fancy. They seem to be going for the classic diner vibe with the stool lined bar and walls dense with posters of 50's stars, but outside of that, not alot of effort seems to have went into the place. Not to hate though, seeing as it's what you'd expect from small city Northern Ontario, without the interior design resources of the South. All together, they must be doing something right seeing as there was a line up out the door and the joint was at full capacity.

The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko,
And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.
The glasses they will tinkle when our eyes begin to twinkle,
And we'll think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night.

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