A new restaurant will fill the void left by the Red Earth Cafe when it closed its doors several years ago at Johnson-Sauk Trail State Recreation Area. Jack’s Place, under the management of Jackie Garms, is expected to open sometime at the end of June or beginning of next month.
Garms may be familiar to patrons of the Kewanee Park District’s 19th Hole. For seven years, she was head cook at the Baker Park restaurant. When Garms left her position last year, she took some time for herself.
“I was relaxing, watching my grandkids. I enjoyed myself,” Garms said.
But she also realized that she was used to having something to do and for several years, Garms had thought about opening her own restaurant, going so far as to look at the former Station House building.
“It had issues,” she said, and the building was above her price range.
So when she saw an email from the state seeking bids on the Johnson Park space, she made a decision to go after the opportunity.
“I needed to do something,” she said. “I was getting bored. It was like a sign.”
Garms attended the first mandatory meeting and put in a bid for the property. The process requires potential operators to bid one to five percent of the gross sales. When she learned that her bid was chosen, she went to work to fill out the paperwork and started the lengthy process, which included creating social media pages like Facebook and Yelp
“It was a lot of paperwork,” Garms said, and since she created her restaurant’s Facebook page, it already has hundreds of followers.
Coming up with the name for the restaurant was easy. Her dad was named Jack and people call her Jack, so she settled on Jack’s Place. Growing up, cooking side by side with her dad is where she acquired her cooking skills.
“He’d make stuff, things I had never heard of before,” said Garms, who did much of the cutting and dicing for her dad, acting as his sous chef in training.
Garms said she started day one as a waitress at the 19th Hole but by the second day, they put her in the kitchen and she found herself at home there cooking for customers.
“I really liked it,” she said.
Garms describes the concept of her new restaurant as a cafe-style diner. Her menu offers breakfast all day, appetizers, sandwiches and sides. Prices range from $1.50 for toast and jelly to $10.50 for a double cheeseburger, chips and a pickle spear. For an extra $2, customers can add bacon.
Jack’s Place will also offer customers a delivery option from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on orders $30 or more. And Garms is planning to bring back the popular breakfast buffet.
Once up and running, she hopes to remain open through November. Next year, she will open earlier in the season, she said. But last week, she was waiting on the health department to give her the go ahead, and there are still last minute details she will need to take care of before opening.
The restaurant hours will be Monday through Sunday 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., but Garms already has future plans for the restaurant. She would love to see a deck built off the front of the building to offer outdoor dining and take full advantage of the lakeview. She is also open to taking reservations for parties and events after 2 p.m. in the future, but she would need to discuss that with the park superintendent, she said.
“I have so many thoughts,” Garms said.
Future customers can like and follow Jack’s Place on Facebook for more information on the restaurant’s opening date.
