If Cheers is the place “where everybody knows your name,” Jack’s is the place where the owner knows every customer’s name.
“My goal is to memorize every one of their names, and I work on that all the time,” said Brian Kea, owner of Jack’s Restaurant in Old Town Orcutt.
Jack’s Restaurant is named after the man who opened it in 1977, a Dutch baker known as Jack Schat.
His restaurants were famous for big pies and big omelets.
That hasn’t changed.
The current owner, Kea, has worked at Jack’s in Orcutt since 1982. He bought the restaurant nine years ago and is keeping the tradition alive.
“Basically, Jack’s history is all about big portions and good service. And we’ve tried to keep that going,” he said.
The staff hasn’t changed much either: “Oh my goodness! I have six employees who have been here 20-plus years,” Kea said.
Diners like consistency in their service and food, and that’s what you get at Jack’s.
The top-selling item on the menu is turkey: turkey dinners and hot, open-faced turkey sandwiches.
“I sell a lot of turkey,” Kea said.
The 12-ounce chicken-fried steak, made in-house, is a signature item as well.
A lot of people order the 10-ounce Angus chuck burgers. There are nine on the menu, including the bacon cheeseburger, mushroom and Swiss burger, chili burger, and aloha teriyaki burger.
There is also every sandwich under the sun, including Reuben, barbecued chicken, Philly steak, tuna melt, and French dip.
And breakfast is big at Jack’s—any time of the day.
During my recent visit, I ordered the California King Omelet, and what arrived was indeed a delicious feast fit for a king.
The huge, four-egg omelet came loaded with bacon, fresh salsa, avocado, and Jack and cheddar cheese, and it was topped with sour cream and fresh guacamole. It was served with hash browns and biscuits.
The menu at Jack’s has no fewer than 23 omelets to choose from, including crab delight, Hawaiian, Hungarian, linguiça, and Mexican.
All of Jack’s sauces and soups are made from scratch, too.
And, for those who don’t need a lot of food to be satisfied, most of the meals are offered in half portions.
“Some people stopped coming here because there was just too much food on the plate,” Kea said. “So we started doing that the last 10 years, and that was a very good idea.”
And a trip to Jack’s wouldn’t be complete without a piece of pie, made fresh, in-house by the same baker for nearly 20 years: Karin Cushaway.
She uses extra-large, 10-inch pie tins (the huge pies appear to be 10 inches tall too!).
Take, for example, the popular Lemon Dream pie, made with a layer of cream cheese on the bottom, lemon pie filling in the middle, and topped with a massive amount of fluff.
“Very popular,” Kea said. “We do have quite a few people who come in in the evenings just for pie and coffee.”
A slice of pie is $5.25, “or if you buy a meal, then the price goes down to $4.50 for a slice,” Kea explained.
“We sell a lot of whole pies, and we take special orders for pies,” he said.
Jack’s started out as one of the only restaurants in town, and now Old Town Orcutt has blossomed with many choices for the dining public.
“It’s amazing watching it grow from a little ghost town to what it is today,” Kea exclaimed.
But people keep coming back to Jack’s, especially on weekends.
“I have several customers who come daily,” said Kea, a self-described easy-going guy, who has a master’s degree in psychology. “I would say 90 percent of my business is repeat customers.”
Clearly, there’s a lot to be said for a business owner who takes the time to know you by name.
Sun wine and food columnist Wendy Thies Sell would like you to name your favorite restaurant or winery. Write her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 13-20, 2014.