Woman cannot live on biscuits alone, but if they are Cafe Jasper biscuits, this woman's willing to try.
Owned by Elizabeth Ferrendelli and run by Ferrendelli and her family, Cafe Jasper has built up a reputation among Tucson restaurants as the Foothills-area spot for breakfast and lunch. Now, it's serving dinner.
And most dinners come with a biscuit. Fluffy, silky inside, with a crust that just barely resists as you bite into it. They are served warm, with a pad of butter that oozes between the pores of the flaky bread.
We'll wait a moment while you imagine and sigh deeply.
Cafe Jasper's dinner menu is small, with just six offerings under the "Hot Entrees" section of the menu — and three of those are a variety of flat enchiladas. We imagine that that menu could get boring quickly.
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But you can always spice things up with a cup of soup ($3), which changes daily. On one visit, we indulged in a fat-with-flavor black bean soup cut with chiles and turkey. The thin broth was richly spiced with cumin and red chile powder, and sweetened ever so slightly with carrot chunks. Soup here is as good as the biscuits.
The Flat Chicken Enchilada ($14) didn't fare as well. Packed between layers of corn tortillas were shredded chicken breast meat, white Cheddar, goat cheese and squash.
It was an oddly bland dish, with chicken that was a tad tough and a mild green chile sauce that didn't add much. Even the goat cheese didn't lend enough oomph to make the dish memorable.
But the roasted poblano ($16) did make memories.
The two mild, smoky poblanos were stuffed with lots of fresh roasted corn and chunks of sweet lump crab (that's the meat from the blue claw crab). A squirt of lime and a generous tablespoon or so of sour cream finished off the texture-rich stuffing. On top, queso fresca and a gentle guajillo chile sauce underscored the sweet and smoky flavors.
This dish was cold on the inside, and didn't look very pretty. But it was mighty tasty.
We tried it again on a return visit, only this time the chiles were stuffed with scallops. The temperature was plenty hot, and the scallops were done just right — with a touch of resistance and cooked to retain their sweetness.
We're glad we gave those stuffed poblanos a second chance.
A more middle-of-the-road dish was the pork tenderloin ($15), a little overdone but nice and moist nonetheless.
The meat was topped with a sour cream sauce quietly spiked with mild chiles.
Most meals here come with lima beans, which generally speaking should not be allowed in kitchens — unless they are fresh and cooked to offer a touch of resistance. That's what they are at Cafe Jasper. These are not the mushy lima beans our parents foisted on us; these were actually creamy and tasty.
Underwhelming jicama and carrot slaw is also on the side with most entrees — it's colorful but not particularly flavorful.
Ah, but the desserts. Now those are flavorful and worthy of Cafe Jasper's reputation as a fine spot for baked goods.
This time of year, the strawberry shortcake ($5) seems to be a regular. Fat, sweet strawberries piled high on those luscious biscuits and topped with a generous amount of (real) whipped cream.
Now that's living.
Tucson Restaurant review
Tucson Restaurant Review
Cafe Jasper
6370 N. Campbell Ave., at East Skyline Drive; 577-0326
• Hours: 6:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays for breakfast and lunch; 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays for breakfast only; 5-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays for dinner.
• Family call: It's casual and comfortable enough to bring the whole gang.
• Noise level: Tolerable; conversations were possible both inside and on the patio.
• Vegetarian choices: A few, including the flat veggie enchilada ($14).
• Dress: Casual.
• Reservations: Accepted.
• Price range: Entrees range from $14 to $16.