8450 Honeycutt Road
Lafayette Village, Raleigh, NC
Website
$2.50–$7.50
I have heard endless praise for Jubala since it opened in the beautiful Lafayette Village in North Raleigh about a year and a half ago. Much of that praise has centered on the coffee artistry of its baristas and on the Belgian waffle technique they use called liege.
First, those waffles. They come at $3.50 for a fairly small waffle with either one item mixed in or one item scooped on top. Additional toppings or mix-ins are $0.50 each. On this day, the choices included cinnamon chocolate chip, candied walnut, banana apple cinnamon, Nutella, Big Spoon peanut butter, and fresh peaches.
I opted for cinnamon chocolate chip and fresh peaches. Now, their posted menu describes a liege waffle as one that uses pearl sugar in the batter that melts to create a caramelized coating for the waffle when cooking. We didn’t notice any caramelization per se, so our expectations were confused, but the waffle was absolutely delicious and extra crunchy all around the edges. The pearl sugar is those tiny white dots you can see that look like coconut or sesame seeds. Basically, it was hardened bits of powdered sugar. With the light chocolate and delicious peaches, my waffle was just the right amount of sweet for me. One of my companions missed maple syrup, but she attributed that to merely considering syrup and waffles a must pairing rather than any deficit on the side of Jubala’s waffles. I think an order of two would be the perfect size for a hearty breakfast; plus, consider all the varieties you could taste!
I stayed at Jubala for half a day, working on blog posts like I’m apt to do. Thus, I was able to try two of their coffee drinks. The first was a macchiato.
It was made well and appropriately bitter with nice milk artistry. Once I realized, “Oh yeah, they make coffee right here,” I regretted not ordering a double. Let’s just say I need my caffeine in the mornings. My second caffeinated beverage was an iced coffee soda. Yes, you read that right.
I love the idea of this drink! It’s just iced coffee with carbonation, but that carbonation did a wonderful job of cutting through the bitterness of coffee without resorting to cream or sugar. That’s a valuable asset, if you’re a black coffee drinker like I am. I think it enhanced the coffee’s flavors as well: citrus, chocolate, leather. All their coffee is sourced from Counter Culture like a great many of the better coffee shops in the area.
In addition to the waffles you must try, Jubala offers pressed sandwiches, granola, oatmeal, and homemade buttermilk biscuits that you can liven up with apple butter, maple bacon, pimento cheese, and every nut butter imaginable (okay, you can probably come up with a few they don’t have).
As for atmosphere—
-- it’s a bit too clean and full of long, impersonal, tables for my bohemian coffee house preferences, but honestly, Lafayette Village is charming enough for anyone, especially outside on a nice day, which this happened to be. The staff was friendly, and it was obvious the regulars love it there. So my longing for a worn-out, comfy couch somewhere in the space is not enough to stop me from giving Jubala my highest marks. Can’t wait to try a peanut butter and jelly pressed sandwich.
Reviewed 10 Sep 12.
