Oklahoma City’s brunch and breakfast scene is having a moment right now. New biscuit places are starting to pop up like HunnyBunny Biscuit Co. and Buttermilk. Local favorite Cafe Kacao was recently featured as a top breakfast spot on the Travel Channel’s show Food Paradise (we went recently and can report it 100% lives up to the hype). And oh yeah, there’s also a place called Waffle Champion (no description needed). Another place we kept hearing about was Neighborhood Jam, a popular spot known for their all-day breakfast options.
We quickly discovered that many of these places can have waits that exceed three and even four hours. Clearly brunch is not just a big thing in DC or NYC, Oklahomans take this very seriously. Luckily, we discovered the Nowait app, which allows you to check-in in advance so you can wait out the long lines from home and arrive at the restaurant closer to when your table is ready.
We used this tactic on a Saturday morning to check in as soon we woke up. Knowing we’d have a 3.5 hour wait, we used the time to take the dog for a walk and run a few errands before heading out for brunch.
The extensive list of breakfast cocktails they offered caught our eyes immediately. We were both looking for a bit of caffeine to compliment our booze. I went with a My Grandma’s Mug that had Maker’s Mark, coffee, and toasted caramel. Kacy opted for the The Dude, a twist on a White Russian that was made of cinnamon vanilla infused Tito’s vodka, Prairie Dark, and a coffee ice cube. Both drinks definitely perked us up, but The Dude was the tastier of the two.
As it was now well into lunch time and we hadn’t eaten anything all day, we decided a small basket of biscuits was necessary. Pro tip: the menu offers five biscuits and jam for $8, but you smaller parties can ask for three biscuits for $4.
The biscuits themselves were exactly what we were hoping for, buttery and flakey throughout, and they were even still steaming when we opened them up. The assortment of jams and apple butter were all good, but the jalapeño peach was the stand out.
Now I am a man who loves him some breakfast food, case in point my Instagram handle, and sometimes that means that all I’m craving are the classics. The Back to the Basics was a must. This humble but mighty plate boasts eggs, hash browns, and bacon – the holy breakfast triumvirate.
On the side, the obligatory short stack of pancakes on the side (what, did you think I was done at the biscuits? C’mon now). The basics were all top notch transporting me to my greasy-spoon diner happy place. The pancakes were thick and fluffy and came with a generous amount of butter to lather them up with. Again, it was another classic that they got just right.
Kacy went with The Heap, an appropriately named dish that was a heaping pile of hash browns covered with cheddar cheese, two eggs, avocado, pico, and a side of toast. The pico de gallo and avocado added a nice, fresh flavor on top of the more savory items. They key is mixing everything all together to get the perfect bite.
So in the end is Neighborhood Jam worth the long wait? Well, if you roll up on a weekend without having put your name down in advance, I wouldn’t really recommend waiting anywhere for up to 4 hours. But the fact that you can use the Nowait app and skip the line by waiting it out at home or while you’re still in bed makes it a no brainer and a must try for OKC.
With things like breakfast tacos, monkey bread, and pineapple bourbon pancakes on the menu we couldn’t help but feel like we had barely scratched the surface of what was available at Neighborhood Jam. If our first taste is any indication of things to come, we are beyond excited for return visits here.Be sure to follow along as we check out more of the OKC brunch scene.
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