Egan's Ballard Jam House
1707 N.W. Market St.
206.789.1621
Sunday, Monday: closed
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 6 p.m.-11 p.m.
Friday, Saturday: 6 p.m.-1 a.m.

Market Street's Egan's Ballard Jam House (can we simply call it Egan's?) must be one of the best places to see jazz in the country.

The small theatre-type room is almost half stage with the other half filled with tables seating about 40, Vegas-style.

Beautifully lit and acoustically stunning, the intimacy of the space is moving, no matter who's on the stage.

Nice staff and an occasionally spotty menu make it possible to eat, drink and listen to jazz at the same time.

Of course eating is not required, so just having a drink and watching the band is fine too. But, our visits there have included far too many "I'll have tap water" patrons, and it's nice to help support this marvelous place by consuming something that costs money.

The menu looks promising and delivers value on a few of the modestly portioned items. Obviously food is not the prime reason for Egan's existence, but you can do quite well with some planning.

The Monk Bowl (Thelonius? Disciplined brotherhood?) is a clear star, with greens, sliced-fresh vegetables and feta over rice. $7.50 for this very smart and sassy bowl of nature's bounty is priced right.

Grilled Whiskey Chicken ($17), on the other hand, was slightly sad. Not bad, but a teensy bit sad with an absence of whisky flavor, a slightly floppy chicken cut and primarily absent vegetables over rice. Stunning? Hardly. Warm and delivered promptly. You betcha. Horrible? Certainly not.

More puzzling is the Plowman's Plate, clocking in at $12.50. Billed as grilled kielbasa, wedge of sharp cheddar cheese, french bread and pickle, this meaty platter focused almost entirely on a nicely grilled kielbasa sausage.

We think the kitchen may have been short on the cheese and pickle, generally not difficult items to stock. We had to mount a labor-intensive search hunting for the pickle and cheese, finally finding the small bits hiding under a piece of bread just before we called 911.

But, that's fine. We adjusted, re-framing our approach and thinking of the plate as a vehicle for making small and hot little sausage sandwiches. We suggest Egan's consider changing the name of the plate to "Hot Little Sausage Chunks for Putting on Bread and Eating Like Small Sandwiches," removing the minuscule pickle and cheese pieces from the plate and saving them up until they have enough for a real cheese and pickle platter.

The cornbread and ice cream dessert blew our funky selves away. This was a total show-stopper. Hot cornbread cubes made for a surprisingly appropriate bed for the slowly melting ice-cream, and the texture combination between the traditionally crumbly cornbread and the smooth, silky ice cream turned our heads around, and then back again. And $4 for this? The steal of the century. We were worried we might get pinched for grand larceny for selecting this big-time value.

A full bar menu offers the standard beer and wine choices, all priced reasonably, and the Sea Breeze cocktail (selected from the special "Hat Tipper" list of cocktails, where a dollar from each drink purchase goes to the band), was a solid thirst-quencher.

Egan's survives from food and beverage sales, and the Web site good-naturedly asks patrons to "come hungry and thirsty." And while the jazz is clearly the main feast at Egan's, thoughtful selection from the menu can be a productive and fruitful endeavor, hopefully ensuring this little gem sticks around for a while.