Jovick Brothers Café (500 N. Broadway), the newest star in the Jovick Brothers tripartite of fast-casual restaurants, officially opens today in downtown St. Louis. The café serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
Here’s what to know before you go.
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The Menu
“We pride ourselves on having super-quick ticket times,” says owner Casey Jovick. “We provide something quick and delicious at a good price.”
For those on the go, Jovick stocks a heated display case with pre-made breakfast sandwiches. Options include eggs, bacon, sausage, and vegan sausage with cheese on toasted English muffin or a plain bagel. The Big Boy breakfast includes two eggs, two sausage patties, and two bacon strips, as well as hashbrowns and an English muffin or Italian toast.
Creamy avocado toast gets topped with blistered tomatoes, two sous vide eggs, and everything seasoning. A cold case includes fruit cups and yogurt parfaits.
Bagels can be topped with two house-blended cream cheeses, caramelized onion and chives, or honey and walnuts. The Lox Bagel (see lead image) starts with an everything bagel, topped with cold smoked salmon over caramelized onion and chive cream cheese with tomato, red onion, and briny capers.
Jovick also teamed up with the Donut Drive-in. “I grew up going to that place for doughnuts,” he says. “It’s solid, it’s a local company, and everyone seems to like them.”
Lunch offerings include salads, sandwiches, and wraps, with such classics as the Caprese (with fresh mozzarella, plum tomatoes, fresh basil, and a balsamic glaze) and the Greek (with lettuce, tomato, red onion, feta, Kalamata olives, and Greek dressing).
Specialties include the JB Club (with roasted turkey, ham, bacon, and cheddar cheese), Pesto chicken, a Reuben, and Voodoo Dip (with Cajun roasted turkey breast, pepperjack cheese, trinity remoulade, and a side of voodoo juice). Among the sides: chips, a creamy slaw, vinegar slaw, a tomato and cucumber salad, and potato salad.
The Atmosphere
“We’re not a fancy place,” says Jovick. “It’s nice and pleasant, and just being around the downtown culture is great… I try to make our places as homey as they can be.
Though spare, the atmosphere inside the cafe belies the great food and warm hospitality found at all the Jovick Brothers establishments.
There’s table seating for 12, plus a dozen stools at countertops that look out onto both Washington Ave. and Broadway.
“I’ve been a city resident my entire life,” Jovick adds, “so there’s a small inkling of pride now that I have a restaurant in downtown St. Louis.”
The Background
Jovick’s skills as a union butcher led him to the barbecue pits at Pappy’s and Sugarfire before he landed the short-lived Macklind Avenue Deli which burned five years ago in a two-alarm fire started by fireworks on the fourth of July. Jovick then joined the team at LeGrand’s Market. He marketed a line of his signature spice rubs and blends in 2019.
In 2022 he opened Jovick Brothers Deli, a lunch spot at Westport Plaza and still operates the successful sandwich shop today. He followed that success in 2023 with Jovick Brothers Burgers in Princeton Heights, a smash hit featuring an inventive menu of burgers and dinner fare.
He took the next logical step in terms of menu and time to open a breakfast and lunch place – Jovick Brothers Café, which he operates along with managing partner Ashley Sexton. Jovick makes the rounds of all three restaurants each day.
Even though the names of his businesses read ‘Brothers,’ Casey flies solo in these ventures, which results in a truly packed daily schedule. He does have a brother who applauds his efforts, but is not involved with the business. “Jovick Brothers just sounds better,” he says.
“The way I figure it, I get stay through breakfast service at the cafe downtown in the morning, then I run out to the deli in Westport. I pick up anything I need from Restaurant Depot on the way out. I work lunch there and then come back to the south side, get everything set up at for Burger’s dinner service and finish my day around six or seven,” he says. “I think I was described one time as being ‘nebulous.’” The name fits for the man who floats everywhere, shifting about as needed.
