Assessing restaurants, professionally or personally, is all about measuring expectation against reality. For example, if you make reservations at the fanciest restaurant in town, put on a clean shirt and polish your shoes, and steel yourself to spend fistfuls of dollars, you expect everything about your eveningfood, service, atmosphere, everything — to match your elevated expectations. If they don’t, the blow is crushing, and you’ll want to tell people about it.
On the other hand, when you’re in the car, and you’re hungry, and you pull up in front of an unassuming restaurant with little besides a spare blue awning to advertise its presence, expecting only to fill your stomach (cheaply) and carry on with your day, and the place hits you with humanity, hospitality and a decent meal at a fair price, you’ll want to tell people about it for a different reason.
DJ’s Berkeley Cafe is the second kind of restaurant.
The neighborhood has known about and kept DJ’s humming since it opened in 2006. The ride hasn’t always been smooth, but setbacks like a major fire (which forced the place to shut down for several weeks in 2008) haven’t dented the ranks of DJ’s committed clientele. If anything, the fire and DJ’s rise from it seem to have strengthened their enthusiasm.
What they come for is simple, thoughtfully prepared and relatively wholesome food served in a room that is comfortable and relaxed (except at brunch, but more on that later.) Exposed brick walls, spacious booths, a nice big bar, and a shady patio off to the side. It won’t win any awards, and you may feel like you’ve been here before, but both of these work in your favor by making you feel comfortable.
So does the food, which if you order correctly at breakfast will be the meaty and fresh corned beef hash (sweet, soft chunks of beef, lightly crispy fried potatoes, eggs, poached for me, liquid yolk-centers waiting to creep out over the hash with a swipe of your fork). Or, you’ll choose the beautiful mess called The Kitchen Sink, a pile of potatoes, cheese, eggs, green chile, bacon (Canadian and strip) that would remind you of those late-night diner breakfasts of your misspent youth if it were only greasier, which thankfully it isn’t. Instead, it’s delicious. (Missing the mark: the chorizo breakfast stew, which looked beautiful but lacked depth and subtlety.)
Lunch is DJ’s best-kept secret; you’re not likely to wait for a table if you come just a tad early or a tad late, and rarely even if you come at peak lunch hour (about noon until 1). “Sit wherever you like” is the refrain. If it’s a hot day, sit inside and sip cold lemonade while you wait for your buttery, sweet, spicy crab- cake sandwich on a grilled baguette. If it’s a temperate afternoon, sit outdoors and sip your lemonade with half a soft pulled-pork sandwich and a cup of the day’s soup (unless it’s the oddly puddinglike tortilla soup). Choose the cayenne-spiked coleslaw as your side. If you’re alone, bring a magazine and linger for an hour.
As to brunch at DJ’s Berkeley Cafe: The menu expands a bit from the breakfast roster, and the food is on a par with the rest of the week. Generally, the atmosphere is just as hospitable. However, the place can be thronged. You’ll likely wait for a seat. For a long time. While you wait, in the foyer or on the sidewalk, your expectations will naturally rise, thereby imperiling your impending meal.
I understand that for some people, this waiting is an integral part of a successful brunch experience, but I do not count myself among them. If you, like I, hate to wait, don’t spoil DJ’s for yourself by coming for the first time on a crowded weekend. Come on a weekday instead, and find yourself happy in a bowl of today’s soup and a half a sandwich.
Under no circumstances should you expect the food at DJ’s to expand your culinary horizons. It won’t. But this is a good thing: In the balance, most of us would rather eat familiar food most of the time, so long as it’s well-made. The cooks at DJ’s know and honor this.
The bottom line: A meal at DJ’s Berkeley Cafe is a laid-back, inexpensive experience that you won’t regret paying for (think about $20-$25 for two for food and drinks for breakfast or lunch). It is the kind of restaurant that tries very hard to look like it’s not trying very hard, effectively managing your expectations before its pleasant surprise. And that’s something to tell people about.
What’s your go-to breakfast place? Tell us at denverpost.com/restaurants.
DJ’s BERKELEY CAFE
Breakfast, brunch and lunch 3838 Tennyson St., 303-482-1841 djscafe.biz
** (OUT OF 4)
Atmosphere: Relaxed, unfussy, clean room with exposed brick walls and a large bar. Shady patio.
Service: Friendly, welcoming, honest.
Plates: Sandwiches, about $7-$10, breakfast plates about the same.
Hours: Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Details: Street parking. Wheelchair accessible. Very crowded at peak hours. Pleasant patio. Available for private parties.
Four visits
Our star system: ****: Exceptional ***: Great **: Very Good *: Good