JaxDog Café & Books — Restaurant in La Grande

I’m updating my review after six years as they have changed a bit since my first one. Their establishment used to be above a bookstore that they ended up buying. After some structural emergencies in that building, they moved to a new spot and is still one of the best places in town by a lot (only Liberty Cafe compares food wise, but you don’t get the same level of service there).

Jon & Laura are the very best of people and I am so grateful that they have been able to remain afloat after catastrophe and covid.

Old review: In short: delicious, healthy, & expertly-prepared offerings in a cozy setting with great atmosphere In detail: JaxDog is a hidden gem that is simply incomparable to anything else in La Grande. It is nestled on a second-floor, almost loft-like space above a lovely book shop that you walk through to get there, so it's easy to miss but completely worth finding. The menu is small and changes daily; there is always a quiche, 2 soups, and an entree and one or more of those are always vegetarian. They post their offerings on Facebook each day and it is also on a sandwich board outside of the book shop. As a native Vermonter, I am used to restaurants that serve delicious, healthy meals made with high quality ingredients, but such establishments are few & far between here. JaxDog is like something I'd find back home and I am grateful that we discovered it. I am a finicky vegetarian, so honestly there is not always something here that I am interested in eating, but my omnivorous husband would happily eat almost every dish they have ever offered and the food is always so good when we do eat here that I cannot give them less praise for my own restrictions. The only downside of this place is that it isn't all that child-friendly. If your kid is an awesome eater, then sure, but otherwise it would be tricky. Water is the only beverage option outside of coffee & tea and soup is the only thing on the menu that could be gotten in a smaller portion (tho entrees are certainly large enough to share)... we usually end up letting our 4-year-old eat one of their amazing cardamom rolls if we bring him, tho he does love their quiche on the right day & sometimes the soups; our older 3 wouldn't eat anything here other than the rolls, but they're always in school when we go anyhow! ;) But I'll also give them no less stars for this as I don't expect any decent small restaurant to cater to children unless they specifically claim to... I only mention it as a heads up to...

The food presentation is gorgeous. Friendly staff. They had rose tea, which is hard to find even in Portland. The ganache bar is like eating a bag of chocolate chips (the fancier kind), but it's gluten free! Atmosphere almost made this 5 star for me. Lots of great books. Window seating. Romantic, hip, classy, chill. It's all of those things. I'll be bringing my friends and my daughter. Was a little disappointed with the Ahi salad. Overwhelming coconut aminos flavor. The seasoning would have been sufficient with a balsamic glaze dressing or something. And it was over cooked. That's kind of my fault, I didn't specify rare, I just assumed because it's seared Ahi it would have been rare. But it was gluten free too and dang it that's hard to find here. Overall I really enjoyed my visit and it's a taste of Portland in this little town, which makes me...

We stumbled upon this place after seeing it shared the name with our Doggo! Such an awesome little place! Loved the quiet and serene bookstore/cafe vibe and the food was amazing!

They had a cardamom roll (cinnamon roll with cardamom) that was out of this world! We ended up getting a second one to go for a snack later!

We had a house salad, and their entree with soup. All of which was so fresh and full of flavor! We enjoyed ourselves and the food so much I forgot to snap pix before we finished them, hahaha!

Next time we are on this side of the state we are definitely planning on...