Brother Juniper’s

I’ve been hearing about Brother Juniper’s for years. I’ve even seen that famous Rachael Ray episode twice. So why has it taken me so long to go there?? Timing I suppose. Recently my wife and I ran a 5k for the Junior League of Memphis. It was just right down the road and it was early. I had secretly planned on going there the minute we signed up for the 5k. After we finished she asked where we were going to eat. Without pause I told her about this great little place that has the best breakfast in Memphis. She was down.

We got there around 9:30am, and this was a Saturday morning. It was packed, of course, and we saw several people outside waiting and drinking coffee. We went inside and the hostess entered out info on her iPad and asked if I would like a text message when out table was ready. (This actually impressed me….a lot.) She said it would be about 45 minutes. This was no problem. We walked over to the Tiger Gift Shop on Highland and looked for some shirts.

About 20 minutes later we ventured back over and we noticed that literally everyone waiting had coffee. I asked an older gentleman and he said to just go to the coffee bar inside and they would give you a cup. We went strait in and got our coffee. He just told us to tell our waitress that we got coffee while we waited. This is actually a genius idea. The other cool thing is that no two coffee cups are alike. It’s like they raided a thousand different garage sales and bought a mug at each one. My cup said CNN, and my wife’s was from some random John Deere dealership in Iowa. (This, too, impressed me….a lot.)

Not long after we got our coffee we got our text saying our order was ready. I put down the jar of Brother Juniper hot sauce I was holding and we were seated. A quick glance at the menu and we both decided what we wanted. I ordered the black bean breakfast burrito with toast and home fries. My wife ordered the French toast with eggs and ham. I had a fairly serious internal struggle when deciding between the home fries and the grits. In the end potatoes won. Next time I shall have grits.

It wasn’t long at all before the food came out. My wife’s French toast looked and tasted spectacular. It was the best I’d ever tried. Her ham and eggs were also good. (She actually ordered 2 extra eggs afterwards. 5k hunger is serious stuff.)

My burrito was big and beautiful. It came with some salsa that I wish I had more of. I also gave it a few shots of the Brother Juniper’s habanero hot sauce I was eyeballing. It was phenomenal. The black beans made it really great. My toast was served with their own jelly which is awesome. Did I forget something……………

POTATOES!!!! These things are addictive. They had a nice crispiness to them. I’m not sure how they cook them, but it tasted like they came from a cast iron skillet. (I could be wrong.) After some ketchup they were perfect.

Our trip to Brother Juniper’s was very nice. It was well worth the measly 45 minute wait we had. The food, the atmosphere, and even the mismatched coffee mugs made this one of my favorite places in Memphis. I’ll be back soon!