Jelly was a welcome addition to Capitol Hill when it opened in a former dry cleaners in early January, and judging from the lines out its door on any given weekend, it remains so.
Offering contemporary twists on diner classics, Jelly is part of the rising tide of hip breakfast and lunch joints in Denver such as Snooze and Syrup.
The restaurant by and large gets the food right, even if the service is sometimes laid back to the point of somnolence. Some of the staff appear to need a jolt of java as much as their customers do.
The room, which sits at the corner of East 13th Avenue and Pearl Street, is bright and airy. There are large windows, a vaulted ceiling and a hardwood floor. Cereal-box displays line the walls — Kix, Cap’n Crunch, Sugar Crisp and the like. This makes for a fun visual stroll down memory lane, even if it’s an American Dental Association nightmare.
Jelly’s clientele, like the neighborhood itself, skews young. Not for nothing is the bulletin board festooned with notices for roller-derby events, concerts and such hip-kid confabs as Llamapalooza, which I seriously doubt is sponsored by the local Peruvian consul.
An encouraging sign: On a recent morning, ace restaurateur Mary Nguyen, the shining star of Parallel 17 and Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, was tucked into a booth on a recent morning, sipping coffee and chatting with a friend. That says good things about the place.
Breakfast and lunch seem to enjoy equal popularity here, in large part because of the creativity behind the dishes. Hats off to the genius who thought to infuse crumbled bacon into the pancakes. The cornflake-battered French toast is a dandy idea, too, and a textural delight to boot.
Everyone seems to be doing sliders these days, and Jelly is no exception. Four varieties are available: You can mix and match two for $7.29, plus a third for $1.50 more.
The Savory slider delivers a small goat-cheese frittata with bacon and spinach-walnut pesto on a toasted bun. It’s tasty, combining the depth of bacon with the tartness of the goat cheese. The Country slider features a bacon-and-onion frittata with aged cheddar. Vegetarians can be sated with the Garden slider: slivered zucchini, caramelized onion and roasted red pepper with whipped herb cream cheese.
Folks with an extra notch on their belt might try the meatloaf hash — combined with roasted peppers, red potatoes and spinach — topped with two eggs. ($8.79) This is perfect fare before setting off for the mountains, though cubicle workers might find themselves in a 10 a.m. food coma.
Sweet potato hash ($8.79) combines Mexican-style chorizo, onions and roasted poblanos. Rather unaccountably, the sweet potatoes are supplemented with red potatoes, which makes for a surfeit of starch. The red potatoes are an unneeded redundancy, and also detract from the dish’s visual appeal.
There are scrambles and Benedicts, including the worthy Haco, which is smothered in a stew of chorizo, poblanos, tomatoes and smoked paprika. Yours for $9.79, with poached eggs and hollandaise.
Jellies and jams are made on the premises and vary weekly. They arrive unannounced with your breakfast — with luck you’ll land the strawberry-rhubarb — and you’ll want one of the house biscuits.
Lunches are a mix of sandwiches, salads and burgers.
One winner is the deviled egg salad sandwich ($7.49), spiked with Dijon mustard, smoked paprika and — just because they can — bacon.
Anemic diners can get an iron boost with the beet salad ($9.49) a lovely melange of roasted beets, feta, tomato and pepperoncini served with a Parmesan vinaigrette.
About the service. It can be spotty. Some staffers are crackerjack, others not so much.
While anyone can have a bad day, a recent visit illustrated a general problem, with a disengaged server who couldn’t be bothered to ask if a coffee refill was in order, despite a tattoo on her arm that featured a steaming cup of joe and the words “Morte Prima Decaffeinato.“
My Italian is limited to having watched Michael Corleone chat with Virgil Sollozzo in “The Godfather” about 150 times, but the ink seemed to translate thusly: Death Before Decaf. Clever.
But cleverness doesn’t trump listlessness. I didn’t expect her to be spouting “Hon” and “Kiss my grits” — hey, it was 7 in the morning for her, too — but please, if you’re serving up bacon and eggs, act like you’ve downed at least one cup of coffee.
And who knows? Maybe those lines will move faster.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
Jelly
Breakfast-lunch
600 E. 13th Ave., 303-831-6301 eatmorejelly.com
* star out of four (Good)
Atmosphere: Bright, spacious room with a hip-kid vibe
Service: Friendly, but can be hit-or-miss
Beverages: Everything from coffee to cocktails
Plates: Contemporary takes on traditional breakfast and lunch dishes. This isn’t your father’s diner. Most main dishes are in the $7-$10 range.
Hours: Daily 7 a.m.-3 p.m.; lunch service starts at 11 a.m.
Details: Street parking in a busy neighborhood
Three visits
Our star system:
****: Exceptional
***: Great
**: Very Good
*: Good
