Their breakfast was pretty good, but it was made better with the atmosphere, blood red or not. R&J’s looks like they haven’t changed since they opened in 1957. This means that while most other restaurants redecorated to a “modern” style in the 80’s, R&J’s boldly sat that trend out and survived despite it. They waited out the awkward phase of restauranteering (like growing out your hair) and now they revel in their now-profound kitsch. I would say it was overbearing kitsch, but Leif was in love with it.
The food, as mentioned before, was pretty good. The eggs were as ordered, there were no plate mix-ups and the coffee was refilled more times than I could count. The four slices of bacon were as good as bacon gets without being fancy, and the three sausages were the typical breakfast links (although pleasingly grilled). The potatoes were chopped and just the right amount of greasy. Our server came around with a jam service, ladle and bowl at the ready. No skimpy pre-packaged crud here!
They had no peanut butter sadly, nor good hot sauce (only Tabasco). The meal was topped off with a fistful of Ovation after-dinner chocolates. I like fists of chocolate, or chocolate fists, if you will.
While the coffee was clearly from the subterranean lake, we were informed that the beans were ground fresh before brewing. This made it tremendously more palpable. (I thought the coffee was great and not from the underground lake at all. Leif)
There were Ivan Eyre paintings on the wall, a respected artist who sporadically lives in Winnipeg.
Rae and Jerry’s is the Velvet Glove of the 50’s. That is, what a fancy restaurant would look like 50 years ago, but still fancy. While R&J’s may have been the fancy place to go back in the day, I’d say their fanciness wore off decades ago and they’ve had to rely on their excellent steaks to keep in business. I can’t say how long they can float on good steak and kitsch, but there were about 15 people in for breakfast on an Easter Sunday, indicating they’re still good enough to skip church for. I wonder how many new customers they attract, and whether like Sals they will be in trouble once their dedicated senior crowd dies off.
I found it amusing that the menu stipulated a $7.50 minimum order, when nothing on the menu except drinks or a side of fries was under that amount. There will be no loitering over coffee in this establishment! Get eating meat or get out!
Rae and Jerry’s is worth a once-over for breakfast, but I look forward to going back for a proper steak at some point.
April 12 2009
Rae and Jerry’s
Steak House
1405 Portage Avenue
Hours of operation:
Mon - Sat 11 AM - 11 PM
Sun 11 AM - 8:30 PM
Breakfast served only on
weekends and holidays.
Breakfast Feature $11.75
Coffee $2.75
Rae and Jerry’s is another Winnipeg staple whose name had been tossed around at the Breakfast Connoisseurs for a while. First off, I have to address the rumour that they are closing down. The manager said it was just that – a rumour.
Stepping into R&J’s is like stepping back into the 50’s. It hosts garish colour schemes – red, orange and yellow earth tones. The red vinyl seats were amusingly kitschy. The whole atmosphere reminded me of beef blood, which has probably helped bolster their steak sales over the years. One fellow breakfaster commented that the décor made her angry (not unlike the stereotype of a bull). Even the servers were wearing all-red uniforms. We figured it was for camouflage.
Our coffee cups were totally non-functional – they were thin and had teeny tiny finger holes. We couldn’t have a hot beverage without warming our wee fingers past the comfort level. The orange juice that came with the meal was surprisingly good; likely fresh but with no pulp (and I love pulp). It came in a glass that could only be described as a cannikin, or the older sibling of a shot glass. (Do you mean a ramekin Andrew? I think it was shaped like a good old fashioned north american juice glass. Not super sized like were used to these days. Leif) It was served on the same kind of saucer the coffee cups did, so our table was soon lousy with saucers supporting puzzlingly-shaped cups.
Big chunk of beef for breakfast.
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January 24 2010
1405 Portage Avenue
Breakfast only served on weekends and holidays.
Breakfast Feature - $11.25, coffee - $3.00
R & J’s is still going strong, contrary to rumours that they were closing. Good thing too; it’s such classic Winnipeg culture that I almost expected to see Burton Cummings eating a steak here. A Salisbury steak! (Bah doom. Pish!)
The Breakfast Connoisseurs recommend slitting your sausages up the middle to butterfly them on the grill, thus melting the nasty bits.
R & J’s had us choose from six kinds of toast, which is three more than 99% of the places we’ve reviewed. Multigrain, pumpernickel (yum), French, rye, brown and don’t forget brown’s honky cousin, white bread. To wash down all that meat and bread, they gave us double shots of orange juice. I say double shot because it was probably two fluid ounces max. A delicate amount of juice, straight from the Tropicana carton but just enough and tasty too. Leif thought it was really squeezed from oranges in the back. The hashbrowns were sadly deep fried but tasty.
Interestingly, our server was great with order accuracy except for when people asked for less meat. Two people out of our sizable party of 14 ordered less meat or no meat, and were given the regular amount of meat. Lots. If there’s anything a server or cook would be confused about in a steak house, it’s a desire for less meat. (Grateful carnivores were eager to accept the bacon surplus.)
Our server imparted another interesting fact: there was only one cook doing breakfasts. That surprised us as the restaurant was pretty full, but likely the well-dressed (and notably older) people were ordering lunch. We breakfast weirdos were kept in the far corner by the de-vegetarianing booth) Our food’s cooking time was considerably shorter than our wait time to order - our party arrived when they opened at 11:00am, but we didn’t get to order until 11:30am. Fortunately we had great conversation to keep us going, as well as the wide cups of decent coffee. The wide cups allowed for the coffee to cool off quickly just like at the Fort Garry, but refills came frequently.
Andru from Aimless and Andy and Wake Up Winnipeg joined us for some breakfast and an interview. Check out our funny podcast of the interview, then check out Andru’s shows on UMFM. Do it!!
Rae & Jerry’s gives a good breakfast, and a good steak and an excellent breakfast.
I hope they stay around for another twenty years – maybe their décor will come back into style again.
Boeuf: A plain omelette on the menu? Really? Who eats a plain omelette?? It’s the same as scrambling eggs without breaking it into pieces. Even though the omelette was stuffed with ham; it was deli ham, and the cheese was processed. I must admit I expected better than that from Rae & Jerry’s. They didn’t have any hot sauce either, but I can’t really be surprised at that since it’s a steakhouse. I’m sure a steak connoisseur would consider it mortal sin to put hot sauce on a ribeye.
Bonus Omelette review
by Chantal Guénette
Rae & Jerry’s: Ham, mushroom & cheese omelette
Bouquet: The omelettes listed on the menu were: “Plain omelette”, or “Fresh mushroom, Denver, or cheese omelette”. I’m not a 1-ingredient-omelette-eater (and I don’t like Denver omelettes) so I asked if I could have the mushroom omelette, but add cheese to it. Our server said it wasn’t a problem at all and asked if I wanted to add anything else, so I added some ham. Sweet. When the omelette arrived it was HUGE. It was stuffed FULL of meat and fresh sautéed mushrooms. I ate the whole thing but didn’t have room for anything else afterwards.