John Perkins never served lunch at the flagship Juniper, but he’s doing so now in the two-month-old relocation a few blocks away. “We wanted to roll out lunch in October but never stipulated a date,” he says. “Well, we made it.”
Lunch service began Monday, October 29; brunch kicks off this weekend.
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“Lunch is one of the reasons why we moved,” the chef-owner explains. “Geographically, the old spot was one block off the beaten path, that weird archaic, invisible line no one wants to cross. In seeking out a new location, we knew we had to open up different areas for revenue and lunch is one of them. We’re close enough to Cortex now, we’re on a more energetic street, and quite frankly, it’s a marketing opportunity for us,” he says, eager to dispel what he calls Juniper’s “fried restaurant” image.
“It was things like fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, and fried chicken and waffles that put us on the map,” he says of the stigma. “Lunch is the perfect opportunity to introduce lighter options like grain bowls and avocado toast,” to help the restaurant get away from the perception that Southern-themed restaurants tend to be so synonymous with heavy foods. “In addition,” he says, “the new wood-burning grill is a much cleaner, lighter way of cooking, and perceived differently than fryers and frying pans.”
The new items match the daytime vibe, where customers can experience the location’s brighter, lighter atmosphere.
Lunch hours are 11 a.m.–3 p.m. during the week, followed by happy hour from 3–5 p.m.
Perkins also has a different viewpoint regarding that daypart. “In the modern marketplace, fewer and fewer people are working 9-to-5 jobs, especially in the Cortex area, where a lot of millennials set their own hours. So to us, doing a limited-menu happy hour from 3 to 5 makes sense. If that doesn’t work for people during the week, we also do it again on Saturday.”
Brunch hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, where a special menu supplements the stock lunch menu. In addition to house-made pastries (pop tarts, cinnamon rolls with buttermilk icing), not-to-miss savories include brisket hash, the aforementioned avocado toast, and Juniper’s famous shrimp and grits. At $25, it’s by far the highest-priced item on the menu. “Like the dinner menu, people can spend money if they want, but it’s not the norm,” Perkins says. The genesis for several of the brunch items was the pop-up events for Little Bird, Perkins’ proposed restaurant that’s now in pause mode.
The best deal at lunch is the weekly Blue Plate Special ($13 with two sides and $15 with three). This week, it’s a huge slab of brisket; the six side dishes range from healthy (smaller salads and bowls) to not (mac and cheese, house-made fries).
Before the end of the year, Juniper will experiment with a small menu of boxed lunches, either to-go or delivered by staffers. “I want to be able to control of the food we deliver,” he says, referring to third-party delivery services. Juniper may not be able to drop off a single sandwich, but Perkins will be able to guarantee the quality of what is delivered.
On the beverage front, more innovations. Perkins explains that Juniper’s $7 highball program was designed with lunch in mind. “The price point is low and there’s only one spirit, so there’s not as much alcohol involved,” he says. “So it’s a light cocktail, equivalent to having a beer, which people do at lunch all the time.” The era of the Mad Men, three-martini lunch is long gone, but Perkins senses there’s an opportunity for a more sober version. Cheers to that.
