I hate when people give me directions and say, “You can’t miss it.” Inevitably I do miss it and wind up feeling inept. But I promise you, if you are traveling through the fun and funky two-block stretch of Central Avenue between Pecan Avenue and The Plaza, you cannot miss Zada Jane’s Corner Café.

The brightly painted building at the corner of Central and Thomas avenues doesn’t quite fade into the streetscape. In good weather you’ll notice a crowd milling on the patio as if at some sort of street fair, playing shuffleboard, enjoying a meal or soaking up rays while waiting to be seated. This casual comfort characterizes Zada Jane’s.

Open since October, Zada Jane’s is just now being discovered. Capacity crowds at breakfast and lunch, particularly on weekends, have put servers and kitchen staff to the test. A work in progress, the restaurant is readjusting hours and menus based on customer feedback, so expect delays in seating and service, crowded or not. The good news is the food, prepared by Michael Tomlin during the day and Floyd Arnold in the evening, is well worth the wait.

Morning eye-openers
My first meal at Zada Jane’s was a Sunday brunch, but I was delighted to learn that breakfast is served all day. The light, fluffy biscuits, a recipe of co-owner Roger Raymer’s Grandma Zada, are great solo, as a side or stuffed with one of more than a half-dozen fillings such as eggs and cheese, homemade herb gravy, seared local Grateful Growers sausage or delicious homemade apple butter from Imladris Farms of Asheville.

The menu is cleverly done, a fun read (as is the restaurant’s Web site). Early morning offerings include breakfast specials such as hearty Merry Yolker omelets in varieties such as The Belvedere (a vegetarian mix of fresh spinach, goat cheese, garlic, mushrooms, tomato and fresh basil) and the Vegless Avenger stuffed with applewood-smoked bacon, country ham, turkey sausage, chipotle chicken, chorizo and cheddar cheese – wow! My favorites are the Blazing Saddles, a southwestern variation, and the Black Mountain, with blackened chicken, blue cheese, fresh tomato chunks and fresh basil.

The breakfast menu also includes platters of “eggs and,” including Bunny Rancheros and Booker T.’s East Side Hasher, in which two “happy” eggs, as the menu describes them, are scrambled and served on a bed of Zada Jane’s fabulous sweet potato hash browns. Pancakes and French toast round out the offerings, and there’s even an ingenious breakfast salad made up of organic field greens tossed with ZJ’s homemade sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and topped with applewood-smoked bacon or marinated tofu, plus roasted potatoes, tomatoes and one of those happy eggs, over easy this time.

Breakfast sides include the aforementioned sweet potato hash browns, Grateful Growers sausage, a vegetarian likeness of the same called “soysage,” fruit, grits, black beans, chorizo, Herb’s roasted potatoes, turkey bacon, country ham and applewood-smoked bacon.

The lunch bunch and dinner, too
Those who would rather have lunch than brunch or breakfast can select from various soups, wraps, sandwiches and salads. The hummus here is grand; enveloped in a wrap, it’s a delightful morning or midday repast. The Sid Caesar salad is good, but my companions and I preferred the chopped salad with fresh broccoli, carrots, garbanzo beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, feta cheese, romaine lettuce, sprouts and Parmesan croutons. Try it dressed with ZJ’s homemade, pepper-herbed vinaigrette dressing for a real flavor burst.

Dinner service at Zada Jane’s is new and evolving. At dinner I greatly enjoyed the crab cake, said to be the original recipe from the famed Lamplighter restaurant once located on Morehead Street in Charlotte. My other favorite dinner item was a starter – beet tar tar (a play on raw steak tartar) served with little oval-shaped mounds of pureed cauliflower, carrot and spinach, with a risotto crisp on the side. The chicken skewers, grilled and served with an intriguing honey banana- cumin sauce, are another of Zada Jane’s winning recipes.

If you’re looking for “a meal in itself” appetizer, order the nachos, where organic blue-corn chips are piled high and layered with grilled vegetables, green onions, black beans, roasted corn, pepper jack queso, cheddar cheese, chopped lettuce, sour cream, homemade salsa and guacamole. If that doesn’t sound ample, add chicken, shrimp or vegetarian choices.

Lunch salads and homemade dressings are offered at dinner as well. Entrées are ever changing, but heavier fare includes Ashley Farms free-range roasted chicken, wild mushroom ravioli, braised short ribs, shrimp and grits, and a 10-ounce rib eye. The steak, from grass-fed, hormone-free cattle raised on Baucom’s Family Farm in Union County, is seared and finished with a tasty Guinness Stout demi-glaze.

Soon the evening menu will include more sandwiches and burgers, and the restaurant will eventually remain open from breakfast through dinner. The restaurant’s Web site will post hours and menu changes.

In the meantime, the restaurant caters to businesses and social groups hosting breakfast meetings. Management will open the doors early for prearranged gatherings, with Stone Cup coffee a-brewin’ and a variety of Charlotte’s own Tea Rex teas prepared to soothe or invigorate.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Billotto writes "The Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@thecharlotteweekly.com.

This article first appeared in "The Charlotte Weekly" on March 14, 2008. "The Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in North and South Charlotte and Uptown.

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