JiST Cafe, A Breakfast & Lunch Spot in Little Tokyo

Something that's not quite easy to find in Little Tokyo is a place to grab a decent breakfast (perhaps only the Hawaiian-inspired Aloha Cafe). That'll change when JiST Cafe opens this Thursday with things like creme fraiche pancakes, chashu hash & eggs, omu (omelette) rice with Spam, and earl grey sour cream pancakes. The concept comes via Glen Ishii (Noe at Omni) and Caroline Shin (Kogi BBQ), and plans to serve Japanese-inspired comfort food from as early as 5 a.m. The Ishii family has been involved with Little Tokyo restaurants for three generations, according to the cafe's Yelp page, which lists Tokyo Gardens and Tokyo Cafe as two progenitors to JiST Cafe.

The cafe writes an open letter to the community, posted on its gate:

"We know that opening up a smallish mom & pop shop is risky in an era of rockstar chefs and superbly articulate, criminally discerning, hard-to-impress foodies. But we still wanted to bring something new to Little Tokyo and to give it our best shot. May our totally gangster grandmothers who gave up so much to get us here be looking out for us as we take over the reigns of the family business. - The JiST Family"

Another nice wrinkle for local residents is that Jist will deliver breakfast. Check the restaurant's Twitter page and Facebook for more updates. Starting July 11, hours are Tuesday to Friday, 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Mondays. [Eaterwire]
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JiST Cafe

116 Judge John Aiso St Los Angeles, CA 90012