By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 25, 1994
I lost my headache at Jane’s.
Let me explain. The first time I ate at the Bucktown restaurant, I reacted in typical American horror when the waitress seated my friend and me right next to the only other couple in the restaurant. But too embarrassed to ask to be moved farther away, we sat there and made the best of it and ended up having a fabulous time.
While munching on some bread, I complained about having a headache. One of our neighbors overheard me, leaned over and helpfully applied accupressure to my forehead and neck. Presto! Before my Diet Coke arrived, my headache was gone. Now, I’m not making any medical promises if you eat at Jane’s, but I can assure
that you’ll have a good time and eat a great meal.
The three-month-old Jane’s is a welcome newcomer to the ‘hood. Bright and cheery, it seats 46 patrons indoors and 18 in the outdoor cafe. The clientele is a mixture of neighborhood folks trolling for yummy food and other folks who’ve heard good things via word of mouth.
Though I now enjoy conversing with other diners, my favorite spot is at one of the window tables. Not only are they more private, but they’re also elevated so you can look down on the patrons outdoors and peek at what they’re nibbling on.
Serving up healthy, primarily vegetarian meals, Jane’s doesn’t skimp on flavor. Its spicy gazpacho ($1.95/cup, $2.95/bowl) is a great way to start dinner. For the main course I recommend the black beans and rice with grilled veggies ($8.95), which is both filling and delicious. I don’t usually even like black beans, but I liked their version.
The only thing lacking is in Jane’s dessert menu, which offers nothing chocolate. But the owners are working on that.
“We only have two home-size refrigerators right now, so we can’t hold enough food for the business that we do,” said chef Jeff Auld, who also is one of the owners. “But we’re expanding now as we speak. We’re getting larger refrigerators and thus more chocolate. My pastry chef is classically trained from Germany, so he’s excited
about getting to do more desserts, too.”
The pastry guy’s name is Andreas Minsch, not Jane. In fact, no one associated with the restaurant is named Jane. So where did the cafe get its name?
“It’s a combination of things,” Auld said. “We wanted a name that would equate organic foods with a simple style of basic, old-fashioned health maintenance. We thought of plain Jane, which sort of touched on that idea. And then we thought of things like Jane’s Addiction and (the song) `Sweet Jane’ and decided on Jane’s.”
Laughing, he added, “It sounds a lot better than Jeff’s.”
Yeah, but not better than Andreas’.
