San Jose: All-day restaurant Jack’s opens at Westgate with pancakes-to-pot-roast lineup
It's the fifth restaurant for the Marcovici family of the East Bay
Who can make a success of a 7,600-square-foot West San Jose restaurant space with seating for 200 inside and 100 outside?
The Marcovici brothers of the East Bay have taken on the challenge, opening their newest all-day restaurant and bar, Jack’s, at Westgate shopping center. This Saratoga Avenue space was most recently Mextizo Restaurant & Cantina and before that, the Blue Door. And for many years before that, this was home to a Chevy’s Fresh Mex restaurant.
Veterans of the restaurant business — their parents operated Eleni’s in Clayton (Mama Eleni came from the island of Cyprus) — the trio decided to open their first Jack’s in Pleasant Hill in 2010 with a menu of classic American dishes and Greek-inspired favorites. As the website says, “Dave took after our mom and just knew how to cook. Chris and I (John) took after our dad, and just didn’t.”
Since then, they have opened other restaurants: in Newark, San Bruno and San Mateo.
The massive menu of dishes made from scratch ranges from pancakes to pot roast and also features five types of breakfast burritos; a dozen salads; 14 sandwiches, including freshly roasted turkey; a lamb burger and plant-based “lamb” burger; seven varieties of mac and cheese; and dinner entrees such as Mama Eleni’s meatloaf, sauteed petrale sole and grilled lamb chops. An early bird special is offered from 4 to 6 p.m. daily. There’s a full bar with cocktails and 16 beers on tap.
(BTW, those breakfast burritos are available only on weekdays. Why? The hilarious answer involves brothers John, David and Chris failing to enroll in Calculus and Physics classes in high school. Read all about it on their website; click on “The Explanation.”)
How do they manage to staff up for so many all-day operations? “Our team is attracted to our emphasis on working together to make all our guests feel like this is their second home. And we like to have fun while making sure this is a great experience for everyone who works here and dines here,” John Marcovici said. “Plus we all get to eat delicious food at work!”
Details: Jack’s opens at 8:30 a.m. every day and serves until 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday at 1502 Saratoga Ave., San Jose; www.ilovejacks.com