Foodie Friday: Jo's Cafe

Good coffee and delicious food are in abundance at Jo’s Cafe. 

This quaint coffee shop located just off Hopkins Street provides San Marcans with some of the best coffee in town combined with great food options. 

Jo’s says it’s been “slangin’ coffee in the ‘666 since 1999,” and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Marcos coffee spot has continued to do so. 

Jo’s closed its indoor seating amid the pandemic but has plenty of outdoor seating on its patio. The coffee shop has transformed a side of its building for a walk-up ordering window. 

Whether you have a perfectly sweet cafe con leche — my personal favorite — or order Jo’s fluffy pancakes, you can’t go wrong when you visit this San Marcos spot. 

What to get

During our visit to Jo’s Cafe, I had to have a cafe con leche, which is simply raw sugar, espresso and steamed cream. It provides the perfect jolt of energy to get you through a long day. Although we ate lunch at Jo’s, I picked the breakfast sandwich to sample. This savory sandwich came with a fried egg, pepper jack cheese, smoked paprika sauce and bacon on a toasted English muffin. I went with a side of potatoes to round out this delicious meal. 

My dining companion went with a turkey and Swiss panini, which came with hand sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, sliced tomato and smoked paprika sauce on ciabatta bread served with potato chips. He raved about the quality of the sandwich. 

Both food selections came in at a combined $15. The perfect price for a hearty meal. 

Jo’s has plenty of other breakfast options. Consider trying the breakfast plate  — two eggs any way, your choice of sweet potatoes or regular potatoes, two strips of bacon and a toasted English muffin, or the pancake plate, which comes with two eggs anyway, three buttermilk pancakes and two strips of bacon. 

Jo’s also has breakfast taco options and breakfast burrito options. 

For lunch, Jo’s also has a ham and cheese panini  and a caprese panini. The coffee shop also offers a Reuben sandwich, which is served with hand sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and homemade Russian dressing on toasted marble rye bread. 

Jo’s also has a California turkey club, BLT and grilled cheese sandwich. You can also try the spot’s garden salad. 

Jo’s has plenty of specialty coffee options, including the iced toddy, which is cold brewed iced coffee, or the overdrive — an iced toddy with an espresso shot. The coffee shop also has a milky way, nutty Irishman, caramel cream latte, shyster, butterfinger, chai charger, almond joy, moon mocha, sugar daddy and frappes. 

If you go: 

Jo’s Cafe is located at 310 Mary St. and is open from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week. 

For more information visit Jo’s Cafe’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Jos-Cafe-242591845931740.