Since June, The Local Jam has provided two kinds of jams in Athens.
Irina Cochran, owner of the restaurant, makes and sells jams; and customers can bring their vinyl records or choose from the restaurant’s collection to play.
“We’re a casual hangout,” Cochran said. “We figure out what you like to eat and what you like to drink. I get to know people. I get to know their name.”
Many of its customers visit more than once — some even come and eat more than once a day.
“I’m here twice a day,” said David Gordon, a regular customer. “They’ve got my name on the back of this chair. The chemistry in this place is good. It doesn’t make any pretense.”
The kinds of jams are not your typical, one flavor jams, and they change daily, combining non-traditional ingredients and herbs.
“It’s an adventure every day,” said waitress Christina Warlick. “We’re part of the whole foods movement, a part of the don’t-waste-anything movement. We don’t want to serve the same things.”
Alfredo’s Bread and Local Jam plate allows customers to sample a little of the different, fresh breads and jams made on-site. Alfredo Moreno bakes bread for the restaurant and the farmer’s market.
Rye bread, French bread, multigrain Terrapin bread, and a biscuit were the featured breads and black cherry strawberry; raspberry jalapeno; orange, peach, thyme; lemon, watermelon, rosemary; fig preserves; and banana pepper pimento were its various jams.
Raspberry jalapeno and banana pepper pimento were two jams I kept trying over and over again. Their spiciness set these jams apart from ordinary jams: Combined with a little butter on bread, the raspberry jalapeno jam is flavorful and hot, but not overpowering. Little flakes of crushed pepper dot the jam.
“Firefighters come and get the raspberry jalapeno on their grilled cheese,” Warlick said.
Orange, peach and thyme jam reminds me of high summer in the South and is a welcome innovation on orange marmalade. And the black cherries in the black cherry strawberry jam create a subtly sweet jam.
Unlike the watermelon lemonade at Clocked, the combination of watermelon, lemon and rosemary taste soapy and smell like a lemon-scented cleaner. The lemon overpowers the watermelon and rosemary; it is very difficult to taste these other ingredients.
One thing that’s not hard to focus on is the restaurant’s focus on community, with its ties to its customers and Your Pie, Jittery Joe’s, the farmer’s market, Five Points Bottle Shop and Terrapin.
“We have a thing on our menu,” Cochran said. “We’re really good friends with Five Points Bottle Shop. It’s all about friendship, fun and good food. It’s not just a good meal, it’s a good time.”
Jittery Joe’s created the 5 Bean Jam in honor of Five Points and The Local Jam.
“This is the only place that has it,” said waitress Rachel Bumgarner. “They made it especially for us.”
At the top of Jam’s menu, it says, “E.A.T. Breakfast” or “E.A.T. Lunch.” E.A.T. stands for Enjoy Athens Together.
“We try to bring all the local stuff together,” Cochran said. “Whenever we can get local ingredients, we do. It depends on the time of year.”
The Local Jam offers a Russian Day every Wednesday as a cultural contribution to the community.
“My mom comes in and cooks,” said Irina Cochran. “We do a sampler. [Gordon] said, ‘Well, I would like to try a little bit of everything. You should have a sampler.’ So we created a sampler.”
She was born in Russia and has also lived in Ukraine; and her ethnic background inspired her to serve Russian food as a part of The Local Jam in addition to breakfast, which is served all day, and lunch.
“Russia is a huge country,” Cochran said. “There are dialects of food.”
Potato pierogies with sour cream, Russian-styled potato salad, a cabbage roll and borscht make up the Russian Sampler plate.
“We make this borscht with chicken,” Cochran said. “We also make our own stock.”
The Ukrainian-styled borscht has many vegetables in a meat-based broth and is a perfect meal for a windy winter’s day. There is a very good balance of vegetable and meat flavors in the borscht — it’s like a garden in a bowl.
Sour cream compliments the pan-fried pierogies, flavored with strips of white onions. Paired with a cabbage roll, which contains rice and beef, these parts of the dish are filling, just like the borscht.
The Russian-styled potato salad is made with ham and apples and contains no mustard. Overall, it is a little sweeter than the American or German versions of the same dish because it uses apples.
For those unacquainted with Russian food, I recommend the sampler plate, which provides various tastes and types of Russian food.
And I recommend giving yourself time to appreciate its many flavors — just like The Local Jam.