Jam Restaurant Diner-Inspired Cuisine | Chicago, IL

Though it occasionally dabbled in dinner service, the Ukranian Village location of Jam was best known for its daily brunch.

These days, the BYOB restaurant is embracing its savory side at its new Logan Square digs.

Jam still opens at 7 a.m. and serves an excellent breakfast. But now that breakfast is available all day, until the restaurant closes at 9 p.m., and is accompanied by a more robust lunch menu and hearty dinner plates.

Go after 11 a.m. for sandwiches and salads, like massaged kale with savory bread pudding ($7). To soften the sturdy green, chef Jeffrey Mauro cures the leaves in Kosher salt for 24 hours, then rinses them and gives them a rub-down, working lemon-yogurt dressing into the crevices.

Go after 5 p.m. for blue-plate specials ($17), dishes with one foot in the diner and another in the upscale kitchens where Mauro was trained. Venison Stroganoff (pictured) is the best of both worlds, with braised shoulder and neck meat, slices of leg fillet, and Swiss chard leaves and pickled stems on curly egg noodles.

Dessert is diner-inspired too, with apple pie and chocolate mousse cake–though Jam's superlative malted-custard French toast also ends the night nicely.

Jam, 3057 W. Logan Blvd.; 773-292 6011 or jamrestaurant.com