Jovick Brothers Café brings quick-service breakfast and lunch to downtown St. Louis

Casey Jovick’s new daytime concept quietly opened yesterday

When Casey Jovick goes about opening a new restaurant, he begins with the neighborhood. “What does the population there want? Or what kind of need can I fulfill?” he thinks.

So when the owner of Westport Plaza’s Jovick Brothers Deli and Princeton Heights’ Jovick Brothers Burgers first saw the space at 500 N. Broadway in downtown St. Louis a few months ago, his process was no different.

What is now Jovick Brothers Café is within a tall building across the street from the Stifel Nicolaus building and in the vicinity of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. So Jovick thought about how hybrid schedules are becoming less common and workers are returning to offices.

“My vision was quick, easy, grab-and-go kind of stuff,” he said, explaining the menu contains breakfast favorites and lunch. “People can come in, grab a sandwich, a hash brown and a coffee and be in and out within three minutes.”

The cafe, which quietly opened yesterday, has a menu that includes what Jovick calls “some cooler stuff,” as well as standards. That includes housemade schmears (chive and onion, honey-walnut), a lox bagel, avocado toast and the Big Boy – two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two sausage patties, hash browns and your choice of bread. It’s an unapologetically large option.

“It’s funny, and I always try to make something ridiculous on each of my menus,” Jovick said.

Customers can make anything a combo, adding a drink and a hash brown, for $4, which speaks to the generally reasonable pricing on the menu. Breakfast items begin at $4 and stretch to $12 for the Big Boy.

Lunch includes offerings reminiscent of the Jovick Brothers Deli, such as a Reuben, the Voodoo Dip (Cajun turkey, hot pepper cheese, remoulade and Voodoo jus), a caprese sandwich, a pesto grilled cheese and a Greek salad. There’s some vegetarian options, but the menu is concise by design.

“We're trying to just hone it in and do some cool, interesting, funky stuff,” he said. “Make it delicious, make it rad.”

The opportunity to open the cafe began with an unexpected phone call from a former business partner – when Jovick opened his burger concept last year, he’d thought he’d be done for a while. But opportunity waits for no man, and he says he’s not necessarily done opening restaurants though he’s also not necessarily looking.

“In a world where people are trying to franchise their restaurants and take them national and whatever, do all that stuff, I’m really just trying to do something fun and provide delicious food to the people in our community,” Jovick said. “Being a lifelong resident of the city of St. Louis, there’s an inkling of pride to have a restaurant in downtown St. Louis. I think that’s pretty cool.”

Jovick Brothers Café is open 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.