Breakfast In Columbus

2563 N High St, 43202

Phone: 263-0242

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Web Site: http://www.jackandbennys.com

I guess the most notable thing about Jack and Benny’s is how much people rave about it, and the big crowds, even though there’s really nothing special going on here.

Jack and Benny’s does a whopping business;  on weekends there are often people lined up outside the door. I’m not sure why.  Jack and Benny’s isn’t bad; it’s all right.  But the number of people who give this place raving, 5-star reviews is puzzling to me. (So was the same phenomenon with regard to Nancy’s before it closed.)  “Best Breakfast” four or five years in a row???  Come on!  It’s OK, but it’s absolutely NOT the best breakfast. Then again, those “Best Breakfast” awards are from the same audience that votes for Bob Evans as best breakfast.   It’s about average for a diner, in some ways maybe slightly better than average, in some ways maybe slightly below average. Maybe it’s fashionable – people praise it because other people praise it?  Is it the only not-terrible diner that’s well-known among OSU fans?   Well, there’s Tommy’s, which is better and is also popular with OSU fans, but that’s further away from campus. (I think a lot of the people who say how wonderful this place is just don’t have much experience with eating breakfast out.  A lot of them write that Jack and Benny’s is small – it’s really not small at all compared to other diners in town.)

At first it looks like the breakfast menu is huge, but then you may notice that every tiny variation gets its own menu name and listing.   So it’s really mostly traditional local breakfast food with a lot of Latin-American variation added.

Coffee is decent diner coffee.

Today I had Huevos Rancheros.  It was OK, with fresh vegetable ingredients.  There was plenty of it.

My total was $9.  Average value.

4233 Shoppers Ln
Columbus, OH 43228
(614) 276-0333
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I love Mexican breakfast – with tortillas, rice, meat, and vegetables, it’s balanced and filling.  John and I enjoyed our trip to the restaurant at the Mexican grocery store, La Plaza Tapatia, at Westland.  Large, cheery, sparkling-clean, well-lit, this is a nice place, and the waiter’s English is better than my Spanish, so there was no problem with communication.

This place is quite popular with the local hispanic community, but somehow we got there after the breakfast rush and before lunch, so we happened to be the only diners in the place at the time – I think that’s probably pretty rare.

We were given our choice of having food from the buffet (served by cooks, you stand on the other side of the line and point out what you want), or ordering from the menu.  I took a look at the buffet and went with that, but on the way out I looked at the menu and that looks very tempting, as well.  I want to go back and order from the menu sometime.

There were an awful lot of dishes on the buffet; I had scrambled eggs with chorizo, a beef pot roast kind of dish, and some chunky mixed vegetables cooked with chicken.  John had a tender, slow-simmered pork dish.  (I’m sorry I don’t know the names of these dishes, but these simple descriptions tell you what’s in them anyway.)  There were plenty of hot tortillas served on our table, too.

We had coffee.  I expected instant coffee, which would be typical and acceptable for many latino restaurants, but I was surprised – it wasn’t instant.  It was pretty good coffee, and it was spiced.  I don’t know exactly what the spice was, sort of a nutmeg flavor, very similar to some spice we have tasted in Somali tea at breakfast in the African restaurants.

I do want to go back, and I would like to take other people to this restaurant.  I think I could even take my girlfriend, who tends to prefer upscale, hip joints.

Nice place — I like it!