Juan Jasper kitchen & Wine

I had known about Juan Jasper for a while now but it took me a while to actually visit because I knew it was a small space and I hate waiting! However me and partner took a chance Saturday evening and when we arrived, we were immediately seated at the last two available seats at the bar. Lots of wine options and it seems like they are more than happy to let you try before you settle for a glass. Their menu is small, but always changing. I follow them on Instagram and see the rotation of specials they have daily. We interacted with each of the staff that was working and they were all great. We ordered more than enough drinks and food for a GREAT price. The whole atmosphere of the restaurant, which felt casual, but serving elevated food is what will have me visiting more often!

Came here for a Monday pop up and it was Awesome! Very talented Chefs. Great ambiance and vibes. Had the sun dry season ricotta toast, the tagliatelle with egg and the pistachio gelato. All delicious! Unique for SD. Love the open kitchen.

The food is perfection here; quality and portions!! Friendly service by happy wait staff! Plenty of parking on the street for this charming but casual spot!!! 5 stars!

Took my time visiting this tiny establishment. Every time we'd walk by it was full. I always looked out the window when we drove by, full. Luckily one Friday we got done early and decided to visit JJ. We arrived a little bit after 4 (you know, didn't want to seem eargerly excited). Because I was. Their dishes are totally random and unexpected. A few good a few well random.The food: -deviled eggs with chorizo-personal size pizza with burrata (or some type of cheese)-charred octopus served with hash browns, I believe? The true disappointment were the deviled eggs. Chorizo in deviled eggs? Like, why?. We ate them.. I kinda wanted to throw up in my mouth. Slightly insulted by the combo. Kept a good attitude & shoved them into my mouth. Like a good Mexican. I could argue that serving just one as a "delicacy" would be welcomed by my mouth. The dough on the pizza well doughie. Unnecessarily doughie. Again, I ate it. And, well kinda hated it. It grew on me by the end. Lastly the octopus , meh, meh, meh. We live by the Pacific Ocean therefore we have very high expectations for seafood.The service: half good, half bad. Waitress started strong and suddebly stopped checking in. Waiter stepped in and brought our check. Cool concept. I'm sure they have better dishes than what we had. Dying to go back? Nah. Leave the open seats for the others.

Food was really good, service was great for the small space they try to accommodate as many people as they can handle. Open kitchen area is cool because you can see what's going on and who's cooking and prepping your food. Celery salad was really simple and fresh and ingredients mixed very well together and the sweetness complements the crunchy fresh taste of the celery. Topped with a mountain of freshly grated aged cheese. Burger was juicy and cooked medium to perfection inside, the bordelaise sauce was perfect for dipping it. French fries were nice and crunchy! Tried the special of the day fish with an Al' Pastor (adobo sauce) and pineapple. Don't recall type of fish but it was really tender, did have lots of bones and maybe a dash of salt would have made it a bit better

Service/SettingI came here on a Wednesday evening. Staff was welcoming and friendly as soon I entered. The restaurant itself is tiny, but it creates a unique, intimate experience for the diners. Food:I ordered the Schnitzel special after seeing it on their Instagram page. I was pretty floored with how good it was. Great flavor, meat was juicy and seasoned, and balanced well with the sauce and vegetables. With a glass of wine on the side, I was totally happy with my meal. Overall:Outstanding experience eating here. A neighborhood gem!

I've been waiting to post a review on this place, mainly because I'm an extremely selfish human being (in a good way of course) =). I don't want people to know about this quaint "mom and pop" shop that serves only the best local ingredient with limited made today only menu. I don't want people to know about the extremely well priced wine list with amazing selections of old world (and new world) wines. I don't want people to know about the amazing service this place has because mostly only people in the surrounding neighborhood come dine here on a daily basis.Juan Jasper is owned by the same people as Sepulveda Meats and Provisions which is right next door. The review on that place will come in on another day. Serving up only the finest, fresh cut meat and hand made pasta, this place is what defines passion for food. No silly tire company stars or beard dudes are needed to come judge this place to tell me this is one of my favorite restaurant.Now for the food, with a disclaimer, menu tends to change often here. So don't be a silly person and go into this restaurant and pull up my pictures and say "I want this!" If it's not on the menu, then it's probably not being served. Respect the menu.Steak tartare, of course the freshest of the raw beef, raw egg yolk, balsamic, served with some frisee salad. Just perfectly balanced and you can taste the amazing freshness of the meat.Deviled Eggs, what make this special is the house made chorizo just randomly making special appearances throughout your mouth with every bite.Pasta, any of them. Order them. Fresh handmade pasta. Enough said.Celery salad, yea I know, yuck. But on the contrary, un-yuck = delicioso! Who knew this vegetable that's usually only partnered with a fried chicken part that doesn't even help the chicken fly covered with some type of sauce, can be made into a salad paired with medjool dates, would be such wonderous combo like Cory and Topanga or Jim and Pam.Crab cakes, crispy and stuffed with delectable crab meat. Seabass with shitake mushrooms, this dish would put them high end Asian restaurants out of business. Perfectly cooked seabass with a light mushroom sauce. Yum.Desserts, usually I'm too full before getting to dessert. But as a wise person said before, desserts spelled backwards is stressed. So don't get stressed out and live life. Order that dessert. You won't regret it.Service is amazing. The servers are always hustling, flipping over tables as soon as people are finished. The seats are limited, however they never make you feel rushed to get out. 8 out of 5 stars. Come, but don't come. Really because I want to keep this place only to myself and my local neighbors.

This is one of the few places I want to gatekeep because of the limited seating, intimate vibes, and delicious bites. This is a super hidden, local gem of a place that is ideal for those that love wine and tapas pairing but with the occasional, unique twist on classic favorites. I love that you can a front-seat view of the chef preparing your food so you can see the love being poured into the dishes. During my visit, I tried the Vietnamese Beef tartare which came with prime filet mignon beef, quail egg, mint, Thai basil, pickled daikon, fish sauce, lime juice, and it was so fresh, subtle, and light for a raw meat dish. The chef was kind enough to let me sample a pate beignet with fig jam paired with champagne and it was AMAZING! The sweet, savory pairing washed down with a crispy bubbly was perfect!Come here early or expect to wait a bit since it seemed like it can seat max 20 people at a time.

An absolute neighborhood gem. Juan Jaspers is tiny, so know that even if you arrive early, you might not get a spot. This intimate spot is best for small groups or you could even come solo and grab a spot at the bar. They have a nice menu of eats and drinks, but they post specials on their instagram!

Oooooooooooo on the TLC tip!I'd been pining to try Juan Jasper for ages, so they were at the top of my list for Valentine's dinner. We decided to do the dinner a few days early so we could ditch the crowds and the prix fixe menus.We arrived about 5 minutes after opening and already there were only 2 patio seats available; this place fills up fast. Although we hoped for a seat inside at the bar, we jumped at what was available. We were facing the street and had just a small area to eat at, so we were...kinda bummed; this was not the romantic dinner we had in mind. Desperate to improve our situation, I was sharkin' the indoor seating and boom! As luck would have it, someone moved so I swooped in like a hawk. Now we were seated at the bar, almost like a chef's table, and ready for action. Things we're looking up; they'd never look back.The menu is rather small, so initially we struggled to pick two shareable entrees. Luckily, I had already learned that if I wanted to order an off-menu steak, I could simply go to the butcher shop next door (the owners are related), pick out a steak, and JJ's would cook it and make it a plate for an extra $20. So that's exactly what we did. We picked out a beautifully marbled Brandt beef 1.3 lb bone-in ribeye. Winning! Back at JJ's we also ordered the burger, the spicy caesar salad, the cheese curds special, and a glass of Jean Max Roger Rose. Let's start with the burger. Ohhhh what a burger it was; it was phenomenal. It was so good in fact, we almost ordered another one to share. 1/3 lb freshly ground beef that was cheffed to an absolutely succulent medium, oozing with the tastiest of juices . I'm talkin' the most delicious bordelaise covered awesomeness, tucked under a blanket of cheese on a carb filled pillow...mmmm...check out my video for the proof. $17 and 6/5!The starters were very solid and came out very quickly. The piping hot cheese curds had a deftly seasoned coating, and were served with really tasty robust marinara. These were by far the best curds and sauce I've had. $10 and 5/5The spicy caesar hit the spot, as we needed something light and refreshing. I believe the "spicy" aspect was from a Tabasco sauce mixed into the caesar dressing. I'm not a fan of Tabasco but it didn't overpower the salad. Overall, it wasn't spicy but it was solid and big enough for 2. $9 and 4/5.The steak was served with broccolini and a salsa bravo. I wasn't sure what to expect from a salsa bravo but it was good. I'm not accustomed to having a red sauce with steak but this was good. The sauce was very versatile and could easily be used on chicken and pork but anyhow, back to the steak. Before I get too ahead of myself, if you haven't had a steak from Sepulveda Meats and Provisions, you must. The best steak I've ever cooked was from there. Their meats are exceptional and tonight's steak was no different. Although it was cooked a tad more than I would have liked, it was still very moist and tender. We did enjoy the broccolini, however I would have liked to see another side along with the steak. ~$65 and 5/5Ambiance was great inside. It's really small ~8 seats so come early or be prepared to wait a while. Sitting at the bar is almost like a chef's table, being so close to the kitchen. The chefs brought nearly every dish to us, which was really cool. I always love a good open kitchen. It looked like people who were waiting on the sidewalk, were still able to order wine so that's cool. Service was attentive but not "hovery". I really liked how they offered us samples when choosing our wine. We went with a glass of the Jean Max Roger Sancerre Rose, which was slightly tart and sweet. We had planned to order a bottle, however my beautiful, "cheap date" was already feeling quite pleasant from the samples. One of the servers had a bit of a frantic/nervous energy, but it wasn't too distracting. We presumed the new menu may have just thrown them a bit out of sorts. Thanks to Juan Jasper for a very memorable 5 star experience! We shall happily return for another lovely meal.