Pioneer Out, Le Burger 4304 In as Jaja Gets a New Look

On Oct. 31, 2024, a car crashed into the building at Intro in Ohio City that houses Jaja and Pioneer restaurants, causing both to immediately close. Original estimates pegged a spring 2025 reopening for both. In the interim, however, the complex’s developer, Harbor Bay Ventures, has brought in an entirely new hospitality group to oversee operations at Jaja, Pioneer, Truss and Edda Coffee.

Since coming on board, JJJ hospitality, a Minneapolis-based hospitality group run by John Gross, Josh Hoyt and Jonathan Gans, has been hard at work reimaging, re-concepting and rebuilding those concepts.

The first major decision was to jettison Pioneer and replace it with Le Burger 4304, a concept that JJJ hospitality launched in Minneapolis in 2024. Yes, it’s a burger restaurant, but it’s often described as an elevated take on the genre.

“Our goal when creating Le Burger was to put an incredible amount of backend work into the food, just like we would at the nicest fine-dining restaurants that we operate or have worked in but have the end result be really approachable for the guest,” explains Jonathan Gans, one of the Js behind JJJ hospitality.

That decision required the removal of Pioneer’s signature feature, the 20-foot live-fire cooking suite that ran along one wall. A new kitchen is being built that will largely be hidden from view, though diners at the bar will still have peeks into the back of house.

In Minneapolis, Le Burger is a high-volume fast-casual eatery. In Ohio City, it will be a full-service restaurant that will feature a nearly identical menu. The core of that menu are the quarter-pound wagyu patties cooked on a flattop and topped with a variety of ingredients such as foie gras, smoked bacon, fried onions, truffle aioli and special sauce. The burgers are tucked into a sesame-seed topped bun and bundled up in a wax paper wrapper.

Le Burger also offers crispy chicken sandwiches, fried cod sandwiches and housemade vegan and vegetarian patties. The restaurant also prepares a handful of elegant salads, baguette sandwiches such as the classic French ham and butter, and snacks like chips and dip.

But as much as guests adore the burgers, they lose their minds over the french fries.

“We take a huge amount of pride in our french fries,” adds Gans. “They’re really very special.”

Those fries are triple-cooked, going through a process that involves an herbed water blanch, air-chill, oil blanching,  freezing and, finally, deep frying to order.

The removal of the wood-fired grill, which also served as the kitchen for Jaja upstairs, necessitated a complete overhaul of that restaurant’s food. The dining room, with its drama-filled, maximalist décor, will largely stay intact, says Gans.

“It’s a wild space,” he says the room. “It’s beautiful and there’s nothing like it.”

Going forward, Jaja will be under the direction of new executive chef Logan Abbe, formerly of The Last Page. An all-new menu with a more focused point of view is currently being developed by Abbe and the JJJ team.

Likely next spring, the adjoining patio will reopen with its own unique identity, menu and vibe.

Over at Edda, the café, JJJ already has rolled out a new menu and plan to unveil more tweaks and improvements down the road, says Gans.

“Our goal for Etta is to try to make it as much of a food destination as it is a place for coffee and everything else,” he states.

The plan is to open Le Burger later this fall and Jaja to reopen a couple weeks after that.

Gans, who has been spending lots of time in Ohio City, is thrilled to become a part of that dynamic food scene.

“I love that there’s so much pride and commitment to local and independent businesses in that part of town,” he says. “It’s pretty special. We’re sensitive to the fact that we’re based in Minneapolis and we want to really honor the rich culture and history down there.”

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