hrefs not being rendered as links with EJS

I have an ejs file that i call from node.js that seems to be doing the right thing, but not rendering the links properly.

here is the call from node.js:

res.render('response.ejs', {jsondata : isu});

here is the code on the response.ejs page

<div>
<% for(var i=0; i < jsondata.length; i++) { %>
    <li>
       <%= link_to(jsondata[i].time, "Entry/"+jsondata[i]._id) %>
       <%= jsondata[i].location.place[0]%>                   
    </li>
<% } %>
</div>

this is what it returns (displayed on the page):

<a href='Entry/5411f73ef0fd92861601775f' >Thu Sep 11 2014 12:25:50 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Woodlawn Ave N
<a href='Entry/541251980570a2ba17f02c89' >Thu Sep 11 2014 18:51:43 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Woodlawn Ave N
<a href='Entry/5412524d0570a2ba17f02c8b' >Thu Sep 11 2014 18:54:29 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Woodlawn Ave N
<a href='Entry/541253b50570a2ba17f02c8d' >Thu Sep 11 2014 19:00:32 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Bagley Ave N
<a href='Entry/541254c054041703194a957d' >Thu Sep 11 2014 19:04:48 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Russell Ave NW
<a href='Entry/541502b197ed2f8022f0b399' >Sat Sep 13 2014 19:51:29 GMT-0700 (PDT)</a> Woodlawn Ave N

but if i copy this output to a file and open it in the browser i do see the hrefs rendered as links so no idea what is going on here.