An inside look at Miss Jackson's Kitchen on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, on College Hill in Easton. The American cuisine restaurant specializes in breakfast and lunch. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Juan Martinez always wanted to open a restaurant that was like visiting an aunt who was an incredible cook.

From fluffy buttermilk pancakes to breakfast shrimp and grits, Miss Jackson’s Kitchen is the latest — and quite a bit different — restaurant from Martinez who, along with his wife, Melanie, operates five Don Juan Mex Grill locations throughout the Lehigh Valley.

This breakfast-and-lunch-focused American restaurant with a Southern twist opened recently on the ground floor of Lafayette College’s McCartney Residences in Easton and takes the place of The Trolley Stop, a full-service diner that recently closed after a year of business.

Miss Jackson’s, with seating for around 140 customers, has everything from breakfast dishes such as peanut butter crunch toast and Southern eggs benedict to healthy bowl options for lunch.

“I’m trying to eat healthier,” Martinez said. “Somedays I want a healthy lunch and other days I want a cookie.”

Dishes to try include chicken and waffles, and at Miss Jackson’s you can smell the cinnamon and vanilla as the plate arrives at your table. The fried chicken is juicy and crispy without being greasy. Others include huevos rancheros and a variety of omelettes, including vegetarian options.

An alert reader tipped us off on the closing of the Friendly’s restaurant on William Penn Highway in Palmer Township.

“The lease was up on that location and we decided not to renew. Instead, we are planning on a new Friendly’s with a different style building for the future. There is no date for this,” said Bruce Stein, franchise owner.

Friendly’s, known for its ice cream sundaes, Fribble milkshakes and other desserts, was founded as an ice cream shop in 1935 by brothers Prestley and Curtis Blake — according to the company’s website.

The Lehigh Valley has other Friendly’s locations: 1836 Catasauqua Road in Hanover Township, Lehigh County and 6894 Hamilton Blvd. Trexlertown; as well as several in the Poconos.

For customers of the Chick Fil A restaurant on Hamilton Boulevard in Lower Macungie Township, the pandemic brought on having to navigate through an ever-changing maze of traffic cones, careful navigation around a crowded parking lot and figuring out where the drive-thru ends and begins.

That may all see some improvement as the popular chicken-focused chain is looking to adjust its drive-thru configuration to accommodate a permanent double drive-thru with canopies.

“This appears to be a common practice since the start of the COVID pandemic that the company is doing both regionally and nationally,” said Nathan Jones, the township’s community and economic development director in an email to Retail Watch.

The chain’s plans are scheduled for some discussion at the Oct. 11 planning commission meeting.

In other Hamilton Boulevard news, no word yet on the start of construction for the much anticipated Wawa drive-thru, which will be only the second such eatery for the chain.

Wehrung’s Macungie will celebrate with a grand opening 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oct. 22. There will be free food, visits from CAT Country 96 FM and 99.9 The Hawk radio DJs, as well as door prizes and activities for kids.

Wehrung’s Macungie — pronounced WEAR/ings — is what used to be the Dries Do it Center on Brookside Road near Route 100. Dries was a legendary retailer, acquired in January by Bucks County-based Wehrung’s, a lumber and millwork supplier.

Longtime customers can come see all the renovations that have been made to the 35,000 square-foot store, including a 4,600 square-foot space dedicated to kitchen, bath and flooring, and a drive-thru contractor customer warehouse with covered storage for lumber and building material supplies pick-up.

While there’s plenty new, the store’s focus hasn’t changed — offering top-notch customer service with knowledgeable, experienced staff and owned by a family-run company with longevity.

Just as with Dries, Wehrung’s Macungie offers everything you need for your home construction and renovation projects with dependable service and material supplies.

Info: Wehrung’s Macungie is at 3580 Brookside Road, Macungie. wehrungs.com

Burger fans, we have some delicious news.

Wayback Burgers — the popular chain known for its creative, juicy burgers and hand-dipped shakes — has two new locations coming to the Lehigh Valley.

Construction is underway at 5585 Hamilton Blvd. in Lower Macungie Township. And there’s another location planned for 2185 W. Union Blvd. in Bethlehem. Both are listed as coming soon on the company’s website.

The two locations, once they are open, will mean the chain has 18 restaurants owned and operated by local franchisees in Pennsylvania and a total of four in the Valley. There are two current Wayback Burgers restaurants in the Lehigh Valley: Bethlehem Township and North Whitehall Township.

Wayback Burgers is a Connecticut-based company known for its cooked-to-order burgers, including their popular “Cheeeesy,” which features four slices of melted American cheese. (Thus, the four “e’s” in its name).

Their burger options are available as single or double patty and along with the traditional beef they offer Impossible meat selections and a number of fried chicken sandwiches. They also are known for their milkshakes that come in flavors from vanilla to Oreo mud pie.

As reported by my colleague Evan Jones, developers and city officials held a groundbreaking for what’s to come at the site of the former Boyd Theatre.

Monocacy General Contracting is developing the property at 26-44 W. Broad St. with DLP Real Estate Capital. Expected to be completed in early 2024, the $50 million project will bring some “much-needed” housing to the downtown area, according to the developers.

The ground floor of the building will feature two retail businesses and the developer is looking for tenants.

Zekraft Curators of Taste is poised to open its third location mid-month on Cedar Crest Boulevard, across from the Lehigh Valley Health Network campus.

The new location, at the site of what was 3 Men & A Bagel, will be Zekraft’s third location to open in just over a year. The original location at 306 S. New St. on Bethlehem’s South Side opened in September of 2021 and the second opened in May at the Simon Silk Mill in Easton.

“We will offer the same things at this location as we do at our others but will add more grab and go items,” said Zeke Zelker, who co-owns the business with his wife, Elaine Zelker, in an email.

Fresh, healthy grab-and-go items are what has put this new business on the map, especially their salads-in-a-jar and bottled chai teas. They also are well-known for their “tartines,” which are essentially open-faced sandwiches featuring a host of healthy toppings including peaches, ricotta and honey and short ribs, gruyere and caramelized onions. Zekraft also has fresh organic coffee, macchiatos, cappuccinos and more.

As much as possible, they source their ingredients locally and regionally, including from Apple Ridge Farm (Saylorsburg), Hen’s on the Hill (Bangor), the Flour Shop (Bethlehem) and Primordia Mushroom Farm (Lenhartsville).

Along with its brick-and-mortar locations, Zekraft is a vendor at the Easton, Emmaus and Bethlehem farmers markets.

Morning Call reporter Jennifer Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6628 or jennifer.sheehan@mcall.com