San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Breakfast spot offers best meatloaf sandwich
For anyone who’s queued up for the hour-plus wait to grab breakfast or brunch at Pancake Joe’s, you’re well aware the stylish diner is one of the city’s hottest spots to start off the day. But the offerings go well beyond bacon and eggs at this institution. It has a lunch menu worth exploring that includes what may be my favorite meatloaf sandwich in town.
I recently gave this beefy behemoth a try at the Pancake Joe’s location on Donaldson Avenue near Jefferson High School, and I can say it’s a savory delight that will leave you both sated and spattered with rich brown gravy.
At the heart of this sandwich ($9.59) lies several slabs of classic onion-laced meatloaf sizzled to a golden crisp. This meatloaf is serious stuff, with little if any filler to distract from its big, beefy flavor. That loaf is piled onto a buttery griddled hoagie roll, doused in deeply savory gravy and scattered with sauteed onions.
If that isn’t enough to tempt you, the meatloaf sandwich comes with a side of house-made mashed potatoes sure to please any hard-core carb lover. These mashers have the perfect little telltale lumps of freshly boiled potato throughout and sport even more gravy and shredded cheese on top.
While Pancake Joe’s is best known for its breakfast fare, the rest of the lunch menu includes a lineup of familiar deli and diner staples, such as a classic corned beef Reuben ($9.99), a Monte Cristo ($9.59) served on French toast, tuna salad ($9.59), a BLT ($8.99) and more. Unique sandwiches include the Hawaiian sandwich ($9.99) stuffed with ham, turkey and grilled pineapple, and the Jalisco sandwich ($9.99), which is a torta filled with chicken or fajita-style beef, grilled peppers, mushrooms and cheese.
Pancake Joe’s (two locations) 1011 Donaldson Ave., 210-785-9007; 6703 Ingram Road, 210-647-7720, pancakejoes-sa.com, Facebook: Pancake Joe’s. Hours (both locations): 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday