The Paul Cummins Gay 90s
“A Saloon Created For The Carriage Trade”
- Professors of the Piano and Banjo
- Beauteous Feminine Cupbearers
- Gleaming Fire Pole
- Amazing Oil Paintings
- Luxurious. Salubrious. Pulchritudinous.
- Home of the Biggest Drink in the West
- Greatest Guest Participation Sing Along Nightly
157 North La Cienega, Beverly Hills, California
– from The Jab’s collection
Roundup of Bay Area old west style roadhouses – part one of three.
We are real lucky in the San Francisco Bay Area because we have three (perhaps more) old western style roadhouses/restaurants. That’s more than in any town in Texas that I know of! In fact, there may be more here than in any other city in the U.S. I challenge my readers to name another city with three vintage western style restaurants!
In the countryside of West Marin County, California, there is a ranching village that looks frozen in the 19th century – Nicasio, population 96 (2010 US Census). In the town there is a church dating to 1867, a one-room schoolhouse from 1871, a town square with a baseball diamond, and Rancho Nicasio saloon and restaurant, built in 1941 on the spot where the Hotel Nicasio (1867) burned to the ground in 1940. The restaurant is in a ranch style building along with a general store and post office.
The bar is filled with taxidermy, old photos of the Nicasio area, and a wagon-wheel chandelier hangs from the ceiling. You can eat in the bar if you prefer, or to avoid a band cover (or a band you don’t care for).
The dining room is a large with many wooden tables and a big wooden dance floor and stage, where bands play most weekend nights (Fri-Sun) starting around 8:00pm (the cover charge varies – sometimes there is no cover and the band passes the bucket) . The best way to experience the Rancho is to book a table at around 6:00-7:00pm so you can have dinner before the show, preferably seeing a country and western band like local western swing acts The West Coast Ramblers or the Lone Star Retrobates or Los Angeles act Big Sandy & His Fly-Right Boys (all personal favorites and highly recommended!).
The West Coast Ramblers
Allow plenty of time to get there because the roads are windy and treacherous and it’s nice to have a stroll around the village before dinner (if you arrive before dark). The food is good. On my recent visit I enjoyed the excellent lamb medallions (and a chilled iceberg wedge salad), but the steaks and the pork chop are also good choices. On summer weekends starting Memorial Day weekend they have barbeques out back with live music. The fog often rolls in during the late afternoon so bring a jacket.
Polish up your steppin’-out boots, put your Stetson on, and head out to the Rancho for a wild time!
Rancho Nicasio
1 Old Rancheria Road, Nicasio, CA 94946
(415) 662-2219
Open for lunch Mon-Fri 11:30am-3:00pm, Sat-Sun 11:00am-3:00pm
Dinner Sun-Th 5:00pm-9:00pm, Fri-Sat 5:00pm-10:00pm
Harold's Silver Dollar Bar, Reno (from my personal collection)
In 1919 Edward Tovrea opened the world’s largest pen feeding stockyard in Phoenix, Arizona, which operated on 175 acres and could accommodate 300,000 head of cattle on their way to market anywhere in the U.S. In 1947 a restaurant opened in the center of the stockyard, designed in a mid-century modern architectural style.
original Stockyards Cafe, 1950 – photo from Stockyards Restaurant’s Facebook page
original Stockyards Cafe interior – photo from Stockyards Restaurant’s Facebook page
The original Stockyard Cafe burned down in 1953, and in 1953-54 a large new restaurant was built, connected to a new administration building for the yard.
Stockyards sign, 1954 – photo from Stockyards Restaurant’s Facebook page
The restaurant still exists in the same location today.
The neon sign “Since 1889” is incorrect. The current restaurant dates back to 1954 (1889 refers to the 1889 Saloon) – photo by The Jab, 2008
The interior of the main restaurant (planned and decorated by Helen Tovrea) has been remodeled several times since 1954, most recently in 2005. However, on my 2008 visit I liked the decor of large booths and wooden tables and chairs, large wrought iron western-style chandeliers, with old photographs, western paintings and artifacts on the walls, plus a rock fireplace. But the bar (1889 Saloon) and adjacent lounge are the most spectacular and original rooms in the restaurant. There is a beautiful intricately carved mahogany bar that looks like it’s over 100 years old, but it was actually built in 1954 by local cabinet-maker Russ Kapp, who is still around at 91-years old (he also made the carved wooden bar stools that are still intact). The lounge, called the Rose Room, is surrounded by gorgeous murals depicting Gay 90s scenes, painted by Catherine Patton of Pasadena.
Catherine Patton finishing the murals in the Rose Room, 1954 – photo from Stockyards Restaurant’s Facebook page
Rose Room, 1954 – photo by stockyardssteakhouse.com
The booths have been replaced by tables and chairs, but the murals are still intact, as seen in this photo I took.
photo by The Jab, 2008
I didn’t take any photos of my dinner, but I remember enjoying an excellent steak. The steak menu (of aged, corn-fed beef) is extensive, offering a Porterhouse, two sizes of ribeye and New York strip, three sizes of filet mignon, two sizes of sirloin, a Chateaubriand, and even a buffalo ribeye.
Stockyards Restaurant and 1889 Saloon
5009 E. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85034
602-273-7378
Open for lunch: Mon–Fri 11am–2pm
Dinner: Mon-Sat 5pm-9pm, Sun 5pm-8pm
Happy hour M-F 4pm-7pm
Continuing our tour of Santa Maria County (California) barbecue restaurants brings us to the tiny town of Nipomo, just off of U.S. Highway 101. In 1957 brothers Fred and George Knotts opened Jocko’s restaurant, naming it after their father, Ralph ‘Jocko’ Knotts, expanding it into the current building in 1962. The decor is simple mid-century design, with open beamed ceilings and cement-block walls, decorated with a few western touches and taxidermy animal heads in the bar.
According to Jocko’s web site ‘Jocko’ means monkey. Perhaps they should have proofread the sign!
This place is extremely popular and is reserved well in advance (which isn’t a guarantee that you won’t wait), but I dined without a reservation in the bar, which I preferred over the dining room because it’s darker and has taxidermy.
While they are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, what you really go there for are the steaks cooked over the oak barbecue pit, which gets going at 4:30pm every day except Sunday, when it’s fired up at 1:00. The menu has four steaks offered: a filet mignon, a New York strip, a spencer (rib-eye), offered in large and small sizes, and a top sirloin, also offered in large and small. The prices are very reasonable, considering the size of the steaks and that meals include relish tray, salad, potato or rice, garlic bread, beans, dessert, and coffee. Other items from the oak pit include lamb and pork chops, sweetbreads, spare ribs, chicken, ham steak, ground beef, beef ribs, and linguisa! Plus, you can get extra-large steaks for $10 more (the steaks are big already).
I love a restaurant with good placemats!
I ordered the “small” Spencer since it was lunchtime, which was big and thick (the large is incredibly huge). It was cooked perfectly medium-rare on the rare side with a great crust, and the meat was pretty tender, though the steak was definitely USDA Choice, not Prime, so it wasn’t as good as an aged Spencer from a Prime steakhouse. It had a lot of fat to trim off the edge too, but it was still worth the cost. All of the side dishes were good. The lettuce on the salad was very fresh and the beans and salsa were house made.
Jocko’s is worth a detour off 101 for a huge decent steak, perfectly cooked, with all the sides at low prices. The service was friendly, but I strongly recommend making a reservation and going early or on weekdays to avoid long waits even with a reservation (or just eat in the bar).
Jocko’s Steak House
125 N Thompson Ave Nipomo, California 93444
(805) 929-3565
Open Fri-Sat 8am-11pm,
Sun-Th 8am-10pm
