Jack's Restaurants

Lovely restaurant with dim lighting, high leather booths, and classic steak/seafood.  Every staff member we encountered was friendly and welcoming.  On your next visit you may want to consider splitting your entree, both me and my mama had so much food left on our plates it looked like we hadn't eaten anything (even though we were stuffed).

Nice dinner last night.  The John Dory special was fabulous, the whole fish Sole was less special. The server was very friendly and made for a very nice experience.

We ended up here after walking into Luciana's down the street and promptly walking right the fuck back out of there. Jerry Seinfeld-ish "what. is. the. deal. with their douchey attitude." Anyway as we walk out and look for plan B, the nearest restaurant on the yelp app is Jack's and it is just a block away. So it is on like Donkey Kong as long as the 'tude is a little better than Luciana's. It turns out Luciana's did us quite a magnificent favor by repulsing us so thoroughly - because Jack's was definitely the culinary highlight and best restaurant-atmosphere-experience of all my time in the OC and the LA area.

Already in kind of a judgey mood walking in I initially channeled my inner-Gene Belcher and I felt like I had just stumbled into a dimly lit hive of rich white people. The first impression was that I was way underdressed with my Banana Republic sweater bought on clearance and my running shoes. The host at the front of the house didn't seem to mind, and there were two televisions on tuned to snowmobile racing, so first impressions are often wrong. Though the place is dimly lit and kind of romantic-ish but more on that later.

The water was presented for drinking as well as the bread basket for requisite snacking. The menu unfortunately had several things that caught my eye. The veal marsala, fettucine carnivale (bacon!!!,) and pescatore pizza were all contenders. The only dish that got invited to the big dance was the fish, the blue crab crusted filet of sole with a buerre blanc sauce with potato croquettes and vegetables; and it came with a caesar salad. A review of their food in two acts, with an intermission for the atmosphere.

Caesar salad: while a relatively small portion with a disproportionately large amount of croutons (btw I hate croutons) the dressing was tasty, and they put anchovies on top so yeah, if this salad was a potato then it would be a nice potato.

Atmosphere: the waitress was super nice and eager and popped in when appropriate, that's good service without being annoying. The water guy swung by when it was time for a refill, that's an important touch if you are not downing gallons of wine and too busy to notice the water cup is lacking. Also while it was somewhat of a rich white people quarters (my dish was $27 just for impartial reference, when my #FancyFriday biggest splurge when traveling was $29 at Capurro's in Fisherman's Wharf SF) it was at least an open-minded liberal group. One of the corners had an adorable old (70 yo old, not like 33 years old) gay couple as they talked and looked into each others' eyes and shared food it was basically just a SQUEE moment. That kind of thing would not have taken place at the bro shack next door in Luciana's, bro.

Crab crusted filet: this was so amazingly tasty I would fill up a bathtub with this, splash around in it, and then eat my way out of the bathtub. There is nothing I did not like about this dish. The vegetables were perfect and very hot, providing some color and less-fishy-flavor to the plate for some minor segues away from the fish. And the potato croquettes were big balls of potato. Two of them. It wasn't a knish, it wasn't a hush puppy, it wasn't a kolache. This ball shaped thing was weird. But still tasty. Lightly fried. The fish itself was a huge portion of sole, it took up the majority of a large plate. Plus the crab was not sprinkled lightly on top, Jack's made it rain with crab, and crab is so tasty. The blanc sauce was the least proportional item out of everything. I liked the sauce it was just not very present in the same way the monster filet , large pile of vegetables, huge balls of potato, or the large amounts of crab were. The whole dish was like a party in my mouth where everyone was enjoying the party and nobody had social anxiety and was off in the corner petting the cat and not talking to anyone, or even worse like usual, still at their house safely secure underneath a blanket and after taking a few drinks of scotch were blogging rather than having to interact with people. But anyway this is one of the best meals I have eaten out on the road.

Without a doubt I would tell you to bookmark this place and check it out, especially if you are participating in the yelp 100 challenge. Instead of the same old bland thing like chicken day after day, give up Starbucks a few days in a row and take someone special here - even if they aren't special, the food and the atmosphere will make it a special experience.

Even though I am sailing away from Dana Point I will still recall the Thursday night  that I came upon Jack's and they fed me. They fed me well. I would even go so far as to suggest a name change to Jack-Jack's to encapsulate the awesomeness of The Incredibles; though a popular shanty bar with dollar beer near my frat house as an undergrad (that comedian Kevin Nealon drank with us at one night) was also named Jack's and so maybe they can keep the name with all the good memories.