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Any time any of our club members see a restaurant with the word "country" included in the name of the place, it gets our attention, and Jessie's Country Café is no exception to that rule. A couple of weeks ago, charter club member David was over in the vicinity of Jessie's on business, and being always on the lookout for a new breakfast restaurant, he spotted Jessie's, due in part to their "chicken" mascot that advertises the restaurant to the traffic whizzing by on busy Sierra College Boulevard. We'd been wanting to give Jessie's a try, so on Friday, December 10, 2010, when it was Matt's choice, Jessie's Country Café was the spot we chose to hold the bi-monthly meeting of the Sacramento Breakfast Club.
Photo: You can't erect a sign along Sierra College Blvd., so Jessie's Country Café uses a "chicken" mascot to point the way toward their wonderful restaurant. Jessie's Country Café is located in Granite Bay, which is an upscale suburb of Roseville, California. Actually, Granite Bay is the most affluent enclave in the greater Sacramento area, although its 30 miles north east of downtown Sacramento, in Placer County, and world's away. Jessie's is tucked away in a small strip mall, behind a very prominent and modern Taco Bell outlet. Don't look for a sign advertising the restaurant, as signs aren't allowed in Granite Bay; Jessie's solution to the equation is to have a "chicken" mascot, holding an ever-moving sign pointing in the direction of the restaurant. It was like homecoming day when we walked in the door, as we were welcomed to Jessie's by servers Sheryl and Melissa, who we had encountered many times before at one of our favorite restaurants. Melissa introduced us to Laurraine, one of the owners of the restaurant, who greeted us with a friendly smile, and really made us feel at home. If you like friendly people, Jessie's Country Café is your kind of restaurant.
Photo: Jessie's is located in a small, upscale strip mall, and the restaurant is very attractive from the outside.
Photo: The view of the main dining room as you walk inside. Today's members of the Sacramento Breakfast Club are sitting at the table in the center of the photo. We got to chatting with Laurraine, and she told us that she co-owns the restaurant with a gentleman by the name of Gary. She told us that she and Gary have known each other a long time, and had talked about going into the restaurant business for quite some time. She pointed out that all of the food outlets in the vicinity are of the fast food variety - I have a problem calling a fast food store a "restaurant" - so they almost have a monopoly on sit-down breakfast and lunch. She mentioned that before opening Jessie's - the restaurant is named after one of Gary's daughters - she and Gary visited many area restaurants and noted what each restaurant seemed to be lacking in service, food, menu, comfort and other amenities, and they have attempted to incorporate the strong points of other restaurants into their operation. She told me that their mission is to present quality food at reasonable prices with fast, friendly and efficient service. We were about to find out, in the opinion of the Sacramento Breakfast Club, if Jessie's Country Café could proclaim "Mission Complete." Jessie's Country Café is located an upscale, ultra-modern, ultra clean building. Inside, the large dining room is bright, comfortable, spacious and ultra-clean. The theme of decor is "country-ish" and sports realistic artificial plants and the walls are decorated with old-fashioned tools and appliances. There's even a HDTV on the wall that's tuned to CNN. The dining room is divided into two sections, the kitchen in the center, and a smaller dining room and breakfast counter to the left, and the large, open dining is to the right.
Photo: Melissa kept our coffee mugs full, as she poses for my camera in her natural environment.
Photo: Sheryl and Laurraine in the kitchen, preparing our meals. That's my breakfast of chicken fried steak on the counter, nearly ready to serve. The breakfast crowd is mostly locals, as Jessie's is miles away from Interstate 80, so you won't see many truckers or fifth wheelers parked in front of the restaurant. On this foggy Friday morning, the restaurant was filled with friendly locals, enjoying Jessie's fine cuisine. Jessie's menu features something for every taste, and features a huge array of breakfast and lunch favorites, much of which could be described as "American comfort food." The theme of the restaurant's menu is "home-style breakfast and lunch." Bargain priced $3.99 breakfast specials are available weekday mornings from 0600 to 0900, and they offer a lot of food for a small price. If you can't find something you like for breakfast on Jessie's menu, it probably doesn't exist. Note that Jessie's Country Café is open for breakfast and lunch only, which brings a smile to a true connoisseur of breakfast cuisine, as you know the restaurant places heavy emphasis on a quality breakfast. As we waited for our breakfasts to arrive, both co-owner Laurraine and Melissa kept our coffee cups full. When our breakfast arrived in a timely manner, we were served by Laurraine, Melissa and Sheryl. I was so eager to start on my breakfast that I forgot to ask one of them to take a group photo of today's breakfast club members... or maybe was it that I was dog-tired, as I'd just come off a 16-hour shift from work? An interesting aside is that Laurraine asked if anybody was interested in ketchup or Tabasco sauce, and both David and I asked for Tabasco sauce. As Laurraine placed the bottle of sauce on the table, she asked David if he was interested in hearing a bit of trivia about Tabasco sauce. He was, so she went on to point out on the bottom of each bottle of Tabasco sauce there is a number, in the case of this particular bottle, the number was 13. All bottles have a range of numbers between 1 and 44, with 1 being the hottest and 44 being the mildest, making this bottle of Tabasco sauce on the hot side. Gee, we didn't know that... thanks Laurraine! By the way, when I got home, I checked the bottom of a bottle of chipotle Tabasco sauce that we have in the refrigerator and the number on the bottom of the bottle read 15. Way too cool!
Photo: Laurraine refills Dan's coffee mug as he comments on the GIGANTIC country breakfast that he's just been served.
Photo: I snapped;;ed Laurraine's photo as she brought my breakfast of chicken fried steak and eggs to the table. Melissa and Laurraine never let our coffee mugs go below about half full, as they seemed to have a sixth sense of when to show up for a refill. Not only was there a lot of coffee, but it was good coffee. Not fancy coffee, but just plain, good coffee. The staff at Jessie's Country Café is proud of the food they serve, and they should be, as the food is delicious, and there's a lot of in. I ordered my favorite entrée of chicken fried steak, which was brought to the table by co-owner Laurraine, and it was everything that a great chicken fried steak should be. The steak itself was large, tender - you could cut it with just a fork - and cooked a crispy golden brown on the outside, and not at all greasy, and covered with lots of delicious country gravy. My two eggs over easy were just that - cooked over easy - and not hard or broken. I always say the mark of a good breakfast restaurant is serving perfectly cooked eggs over easy, and Jessie's certainly fills that criteria. My home style potatoes were cut into small cubes and almost seemed to be deep fried, as they were crispy, golden brown on the outside and chewy on the inside, and just plain good. The biscuits and gravy arrived in a bowl, which is something that I'd never seen before, but when you think about it, serving biscuits and gravy makes perfect sense, as the bowl contains the gravy, so it has nowhere else to go but on the biscuit, and ultimately into your mouth. There was a lot of gravy, nice and creamy, with chunks of sausage in it.
Photo: My perfectly cooked breakfast, ready to enjoy. Note the large amount of gravy, and the biscuits and gravy in the bowl. Believe me, the breakfast tasted as good as it looked, and kept me full all day. In fact, I only ate a garden salad for dinner. All of us agreed that Jessie's Country Café has completely fulfilled their mission, as the food is delicious, the staff are super friendly, the place is attractive and comfortable, the service is superior, and the prices are reasonable. I could continue to heap on adjective superlatives but I think you get the idea that Jessie's Country Café is a great place to enjoy a great breakfast. Jessie's is highly recommended by members of the Sacramento Breakfast Club. Jessie's
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