The Jam House

Nice little juice shop.
They have a nice selection of juices and smoothies and you can even make your own. They have a signature drink called «Raspados» which are nice, cool and refreshing… nice summer treat

The service is sooo slow, and the fruit salads aren’t all that. But the staff is very sweet, and the place is very cute. I wonder if you can study here. The fruit salad at the paleterias are better, but their raspados look really good and made from scratch. I’ll have to try them in the summer, but there are so many options!

If you grew up in America, you know all about «Miracle on 34^th Street» (it was unknown to me until Thanksgiving Day 2001, to which I can only say, «dudes, you got the wrong holiday». Anyway. I guess the movie «starts» on Thanksgiving.)
It involves the store Macy’s (talk about marketing!!), a fake real Santa Claus, a career woman who doesn’t believe in love, a child who has never heard of the magic of Chritsmas (advertisers were quite behind, after all) and a bit of snow…
Well, MY miracle happens on 18^th street, and the only common element to this 1947 classic is snow. Edible snow. Delicious snow. Okay, more like Mexican shave ice but I had to make the story work, right?
So now, read carefully: we all know about Hawaiian ice, or the little carts on street corners that sell crap. Here, I am talking about raspados (the local term) BUT instead of squeezing a bottle of toxic fluorescent syrup on top of your cone, the good folks of Jam House ladle generous spoonfuls of homemade jam. Dozens of them: strawberry, raspeberry, pineapple with or without chili, tamarind, orange, blueberry, mango, coconut, dulce de leche, …and something exotic I had never heard of, chamoy. Made from pickled fruit, chamoy is a liquidy paste whose complex flavors can be described as salty, sweet, sour, and spiced with powdered chiles all at the same time. It’s delicious, and oh-​so-​different.
Puzzled by the options? Don’t be afraid to ask! Service is excellent, and your treats will be done exactly as you want them. I indulged for the first time in a raspado with peach and strawberry, and switched to a bionico for the second time. Don’t let yourself be fooled by the name; no luchador involved. It’s more like the most delicious fruit salad you will ever have (banana, apples, pineapples, strawberries, melons, mango…) bathed in sweet cream and topped with whatever your heart desire: in my case, chamoy and toasted coconut.
There are no words.
I bet my pants that if Johnny T was still haunting the streets of Chicago with a hungry spoon, he would be all over this place…
Magic, indeed.

I am a strong supporter of local businesses. One of the first thing I do after moving into a neighborhood, is seek out the local mom-​and-​pop stores. I’d rather spend my money there. So that was how I found, House Jam; out jogging and taking in the Pilsen/​Little Italy scenery.
When I eventually went in to purchase a smoothie, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. As i pointed out items I wanted in my smoothie, the attendant seemed hesitant to serve me a decent spoonfuls of the tiny pieces of fruits. The smoothie was mostly ice therefore pretty plain. I have made and tasted better smoothies. The «jams» are very very sweet and as a result actually quite unhealthy. I like the décor and ambiance. It says Indie artist workspace.
Overall the experience was sup par. Up your game.

I found out about The Jam House from the now-​defunct TV show, 190 North. Janet Davies sure was annoying, but once in awhile, this show yielded an undiscovered delight.
Such was the case for The Jam House, which sells the frozen delight known as shave ice. I have loved shave ice (and for all you grammarians, it’s not shaveD ice) ever since trying it in Hawaii many years ago.
The Jam House calls their shave ice ‘raspados,’ (raspar means ‘to scrape’ in Spanish) and they come in a mind-​boggling selection of flavors. The ice is shaved from a huge block and topped with any flavor you choose. The jams are housed in glass jars on the long counter. The fruit toppings aren’t really the consistency of jam, they’re more like thick fruit syrups, and they taste like pure fruit. The flavor choices are plentiful, from the traditional (think strawberry, coconut) to the more exotic (mango-​chili, tamarind, sweet milk). Flavors are meant to be combined. I had the blackberry and peach, which was artfully layered (and subsequently forcefully destroyed). The finished product is a thing of beauty; not too sweet (depending on what fruit you choose since some are naturally sweeter than others) and oh-​so-​refreshing.
Also on the menu are fresh fruit juices and smoothies, as well as tortas and wraps. Fresh fruits and vegetables line the shelves. The place is immaculate. The owner is always on the premises, ready to acquaint you with this special treat he grew up with in Jalisco, Mexico.
I love this place, and while I wish it was closer, Pilsen is the perfect neighborhood for it.
Give it a try and see for yourself why this is such a treasure. It’s the real deal.

RASPADOS. Now that I’ve found out about these it’s gonna be hard not to get one every day. Simple stuff: hand shaved ice with jam on top. But the jams they have, oh the jams. A whole line of beautiful glass jars waiting to top your ice. Cherry and lime jam? Mango kiwi? This is the real deal, shouldn’t even be compared to the stuff that uses flavored syrups. Unreal.

Wraps are the best in Pilsen — Avocado and Shredded Chicken are both awesome
The smoothie version of El Relaxer is boss, however, only some of the people who work there do it for you (the others just juice it — still good though)
The pasta isn’t the best but it’s mainly because it’s not sauced up, too healthy for me — I like my carbs high in carbs not slightly carbed

As I sit here, sipping the most satisfying, light, delicious, pineapple coconut milk banana smoothie (less than 3 dollars?!? YAY!), I am reflecting on how many times I have biked past This Colorful, fairly new, addition to the neighborhood.
Many times, I assumed it was closed, when it is in fact open until early 9pm most days. What an idiot I was.
Don’t make the same mistake I did, do yourself a favor, and walk in as soon as you can!
Amazing homemade flavors (mother made!) for shaved ice, serve as a colorful fun inviting display, and happen to be edible, natural, healthier, and DELICIOUS.
This place is going to get so much of my money this summer, and I’m OK with that.
Have yet to try the food, but I only expect great things, given the kindness, and care I witnessed in preparing my smoothie and hand shaved mango coconut ice.
WOW! thank you for opening up down the street from my house, Jam House.
I’ll see you soon. … maybe later today… this is soooo good!!!
^_​^ five thumbs up.

MOLLETES! Savory frijoles and bread topped with mango and jalapeño salsa! I will be back. In fact, if I didn’t work in the loop, this would be my daily lunch!
Very nice place: always super clean, nothing fancy, and the most inexpensive fresh juices I’ve found. I appreciate that they have both vegetables and fruits available. Sadly, I’ve never seen the place too busy, but that means there are always seats available, and WIFI! I wouldn’t mind sitting on my laptop and taking my online courses here.
The service (owner) is never overtly friendly to me, nor un-​friendly either. So no real complaint. The only detriment is it’s a very specific concept. If you want juice/​smoothies or shaved ice, it’s spot on. I’d go for the Molletes too, but I didn’t see a lot of other options.
I have to comment, I see a review below that criticizes a place called THE JAM HOUSE for using a sugar based product AKA JAM! What the bleep were you expecting from THE JAM HOUSE? I moun the loss of logic. n RIP

Smoothies are just as good as the Chinatown’s Joy Yee well better since it has real coconut inside. Service was great, but took a while to make my smoothie they should have more than one blender I spotted one. Other than that i’ts tasty! would highly recommend and would be back again.

On a hot evening, there is no better place to go in Pilsen than the Jam House. Nothing fancy inside but it is definitely a step up from a vending cart. The counter beckons with a line of colorful jams of which I cannot decide which one to try today.
I was very happy with my small raspado of jamica and my son totally enjoyed his milkshake of vanilla and condensed milk. I’d much rather bring him here to support small business and have something more natural than take him elsewhere for something full of artifical flavors.
We will definitely be back and maybe I’ll bring my daughter and her roommates from UIC to try something new. I was eyeing the bionico. next time that fruit is mine!

Great place. I wanted to give it 4.5 stars but I can’t figure out how. I docked it .5 star becuase there was no AC. When I went, it was a bit warm outside, I had been walking for a while so I was really hoping to enter a nice cool store. But besides that, I really really like this place. I hope to come back real soon.
I had a torta which took a bit long to get becuase it was only one person working and he had to make a couple of other things before he got to me. But it was well worth the wait.
The respado was a bit sweet (I had a medium) so I think I’ll try a small next time. There were sooo many flavors to try too! Some of which I didn’t know what they were and some that I just know I have to go back and try again.
I know the place opened up a month or two ago so it’s still in its infancy but I really do hope it does well and thrives. In the meantime, I’ll ponder what flavor to get… probally the Lechera one. Or the mango with chile. Or Nuez. Or mamey. Oh god, this is going to be hard!

I hope I’m not showing my «gringo» side by writing a mediocre review for Jam House, but I have to say I was disappointed.
Walking in I thought the place cute but plain. No AC and a counter loaded with different types of jam, not really decorated, nothing really making it feel unlike a deli setting I guess? A very friendly counterperson took me through the concept of raspados (again, my silly gringo side is making a visit) and was nice enough to let me try a couple different jams til I found the one that I liked.
My husband and I both got shaved ice, mixed with the counter top jams (should they be refrigerated??) I tried a mix of mango chile and chamoy… sweet/​salty combo. My husband, the caramel jam… which I think is just a sauce. Just over a $ 4 purchase. Very, very sugary. When I commented on the mango chile tasting like honey, I was surprised when he said all the jams were sugar-​based (ie. not healthy for you at all). For a place jam-​focused, I was expecting local in-​season fruit, low sugar options, organic options… but there were only these super sweet, sugary jams to choose from.
AND…he shaved the ice from an ice chunk in an Igloo cooler. I just thought this wasn’t business-​like, more street vendor… but I’m not sure if the coolness of raspados is hand-​shaving, then this was a legit process.
On our walk home, we were overwhelmed by sweetness and ended up throwing it out halfway through.
Overall, this place has been opened a month and a half. Tasting Table covered it recently, which is why we ventured over here. I think they were early to cover Jam House. It seems like their intentions are to eventually have food options and they’re still getting it together.

Super sweet young family owned place. Free wifi on the weekends (unlike the the cafes surrounding it). The owner told me that the jam/​shaved iced are recipes from his family in Mexico and gave me a free cup. This place is clean, modern, inexpensive, healthy, and has great mango anything. Take a step back from hipster land and get your juices flowing at this down to earth shindig.

I own a business in Pilsen and when our power was out today we decided to take a trip down to Orozco Elementary and check out their garden. On our way, we noticed a sign for raspados (shaved ice) in a new store called The Jam House. We couldn’t resist stopping on the way back to the office and boy were we glad we did. They had about 20 large jars full of homemade (*I think) jam on the counter in a variety of flavors from strawberry to mamey to spicy mango and pineapple. After much debate, we settled on 4 small raspados — strawberry-​fresa, mango chile, blackberry-​zarzamora, and pineapple-​pina. The best part was next when the guy behind the counter opened a small cooler and started shaving a huge block of ice with an old-​fashioned metal scraper — by hand. It was so cool and we knew we were in for a treat. After the ice was topped with the thick, sticky jam we were ready to dig in. We shared the 4 small raspados and couldn’t agree on our favorite. The mango chile definitely had a kick (sweet then cold then spicy). The pineapple and strawberry were good, but super-​sweet. My personal favorite was the mango chile. Smalls were definitely big enough as we had all hit our sugar plateau by the time we got back to the office (where the power was still out and we all went home).
This is a great addition to the neighborhood. I’m always dismayed by the raspado carts with pre-​crushed ice and high-​fructose/​artificially flavored syrups. This place was different — how it used to be done — and I am happy to have found it (and been the first to review it on Unilocal). Come one, come all!