Last week, we passed along the tantalizing rumour that much-loved restaurant jane’s on the common (2394 Robie) now has takeout. Happily, the rumour’s true---the new takeaway counter’s called jane’s next door and, as its name suggests, it’s serving up its eats in the storefront right beside the original jane’s (at 2398 Robie, once the Wilkie’s Wonderful World comic shop). jane’s took over the space a couple of years ago, when the restaurant was undergoing a kitchen expansion, and the new shop opened quietly at the beginning of April. “It was just another way to offer food in the neighbourhood,” says Jane Wright, who owns both businesses. Wright does have some sad news for chair enthusiasts: There’s no seating in the new space. “It’s not a restaurant. It’s just a takeaway store,” she explains. She’s also careful to say “takeaway,” rather than “takeout.” After all, the offerings available at the counter are “not exactly the same meals as the restaurant,” Wright points out.
So what can you expect to take away? Fair trade coffees and teas, soft pecan sticky buns, an assortment of freshly baked muffins (the carrot muffin comes with “a dollop of cream cheese in the middle”) and various homemade croissants. There’s also a revolving line-up of delicious-sounding sandwiches, all served on fresh bread from Julien’s Bakery in Chester. Past sandwiches have included a roasted vegetable and goat-cheese sandwich, a curried chicken sandwich and a roast beef sandwich (the meat roasted next door and served with caramelized onions, white cheddar cheese and horseradish mayo). The counter also sells a number of frozen entrees---soups, duck confit, fish pie---and generally has a couple of ready-to-go warm options available as well. All the jane’s next door food is “made in small batches in the kitchen at jane’s,” so customers can expect quality. Plus, most of the takeaway containers at the new shop are either biodegradable, recyclable or compostable. Check ’em out from 8am-8pm Tuesday to Friday and from 8am-6pm on Saturday. Just don’t check ’em out at janenextdoor.com. That is “a site dedicated to artistic female nude photography.”