HIGH TIME TO CHECK OUT MORNING JOINT & MARY JANE’S CLOSET

MANDY MILES mandy@keysweekly.com

Have you been to MM 22 recently? For something other than lunch, drinks or dinner at Square Grouper and My New Joint?

There are now two new reasons to stop in that Lower Keys neighborhood, or even make a special trip.

Nearly next door to the Square Grouper, Lynn Bell’s popular mainstay restaurant for the past 20 years, on the same side of the street now comes Morning Joint and Mary Jane’s Closet, 22864 Overseas Hwy.

Morning Joint is equal parts delicious, welcoming and irreverent, playing as it does on Bell’s pot theme. (“Square grouper” is the term Keys boaters, fishermen and smugglers used to describe bales of mairjuana and kilos of cocaine that were found floating in the ocean.)

Bell bought the building that now houses Morning Joint, which is owned and operated by Austin and Miranda Gagnon.

The joint features Colombian coffee grown on a farm owned by the couple’s friend. It also offers some of the lightest and fluffiest gourmet waffles (one of which is topped with freshly made whipped cream and Fruity Pebbles breakfast cereal. Don’t knock it till you try it, as I did.)

The panini sandwiches are perfectly pressed and crispy on the outside, while the coffee and tea drinks come hot, iced or frozen.

“We really want to be a fun and inviting place for people in the Lower Keys community, because there really is no place in this neighborhood for people to gather, hold a small meeting,