Jim's Deli, Brighton, MA

Yesterday morning I went househunting around Brighton with my friends Rocio, Tomeu and Pablito (they are the ones looking). The sun was shining, but with 15F it did not really make that much of a difference. So, after visiting a couple of open houses we were confused, exhausted, cold and hungry. Thanks God then for Jim's Deli!

Jim's is your typical undergrads hangout. Huge portions, relatively cheap prices, fast and greasy, it has all you need to get you blood running again after a hungover (I don't think they have alcoholic drinks though) or, in our case, after having lost all sensibility from our limbs.

I have to confess that when we arrived I was a little bit worried about Pablito. The place is incredibly popular, and there was a long line of loud BC students eager to devour chicken sandwiches, one out of four breakfast specials, omelets, pancakes, burgers and more. It seemed a lot of information overflow for an eight-month old. It turns out that most students order take out, and this leaves the booth area (cleverly partitioned from the cafeteria-style kitchen) as a relatively peaceful space for those eating in. In addition, the servers were all super kid friendly and, maybe, were even happy about the change in demographics. Pablito was very happy and super excited (I'd like to think it was because of Jim's, but who knows....).

So, what did we have? Rocio ordered the "farmer's special" that came in two plates (!), with eggs any style, bacon, ham or sausage, pancakes or waffles, and homefries. Tomeu asked almost every

bruncher at Jim's about their orders (he was tempted by absolutely everything) and finally settled with the Cordon Bleu chicken sandwich plate, an obscene sandwich with five large pieces of fried chicken, cheese, Cordon Bleu sauce, a mound of fries and pickles. Even though it came in a very large plate, it was clearly not enough. Alright, I guess I just wanted to preface my order so that you realized that it was actually the most minimalist out of all the three! I had an egg and cheese sandwich with ham on toasted (thanks to the suggestion of one of the cooks) marble rye. The ham was a very thick, half-inch steak. I could have done without the cheese -I don't think it was super high quality-, but there wasn't too much of it in any case. Ah, and it also came with homefries, which were your typical diner-style on-the-flat grill potatoes (sans paprika).

I really liked this place. It is perfect for a quick fix of grease cravings. But I guess it would have been the perfect brunch 10 years ago, when I partied late and I actually enjoyed waiting in line with my fellow party-goers. These days, I'm more into a carefully thought-out design, healthy options, smart cocktails and waiting lists. I probably need a younger perspective; I'm sure Pablito will write wonders about Jim's in the years to come.