As Jake and Connie Eckman mixed, blended and chopped ingredients for the day’s menu at Jake’s on Main on Wednesday, they talked about their plans to retire — again.
“When we moved here, it was to semi-retire,” Connie said as she prepared the salad dressings made fresh daily at the restaurant. She laughed, and added, “That didn’t quite work out.”
But the day-to-day running of the restaurant takes far more time than suggested by their hours of operation — there’s hours of preparation time every day to line up all of the ingredients and freshly-made salad dressing and sauces that go into the meals. They shop for ingredients daily, partly to ensure freshness, but also because the restaurant has a very small kitchen that doesn’t have room for a walk-in cooler to stock extras, Jake said.
“We make everything from scratch; it’s very labor intensive,” Jake said.
They are going to try semi-retirement again; Jake’s was set to close at the end of the day Saturday.
“It’s bittersweet,” Connie said. “It’s been a lot of work, but there’s been a lot of gratification.”
After four years of running the restaurant, plus running their bed-and-breakfast, the II Georges Inn, they are simply ready to slow down, Connie said.
The restaurant survived River District renovations, though Connie admits at times it was extremely frustrating because the outdoor tables couldn’t be used, and people had a hard time figuring out how to get to the restaurant with roads closed and parking was an issue. Even now, Connie said, people using GPS coordinates to locate them often get sent to the street that no longer exists in front of the building.
But they did survive, and Connie credits loyal regulars and people determined to find the popular restaurant despite the challenges of River District renovations. Now the restaurant has its outdoor dining area back, overlooks the new fountain and still gets views of spectacular sunsets.
“The fountain is nice,” Connie said, then laughed. “I cursed it for a year, but I’m glad it’s there now. I think it really helps downtown.”
The Eckmans purchased the Broad Street building they remodeled to be the II Georges Inn in 2004, but didn’t move to Danville until 2007 and opened the inn a few months later.
Before opening Jake’s on Main, the couple offered occasional specials dinners for guests and the community — by reservation only.
“We’ll be able to do wine-tasting dinners again, with five, six, seven courses,” Connie said. “They’re fun — and they’re not every day.”
But her eyes fill when thinking about closing — even though it means they will be able to take vacations and focus on the II Georges Inn again.
“I’m going to cry that last day; a lot of blood, sweat and tears are in this place,” Connie said. “I’m going to miss it.”
But Connie is pleased with plans by the people who will be taking the restaurant over.
“We timed this good; someone good is going to take it over,” Connie said. “We’re going to support them; we’ll be down here all the time.”
What’s next?
Jake’s on Main will re-open as Me’s Burgers & Brews by the middle of September, according to Emily Tomlinson, who is taking over the restaurant in partnership with her mother, Kathy Cropp.
Tomlinson said the new restaurant will feature hamburgers with “surprising” ingredients and toppings — a concept she said is growing across the country.
“I wanted to bring it here,” Tomlinson said.
The theme of the restaurant will be literary, with burgers named after authors. The classic burger will be called the “Emyl Jenkins,” after a local author who died in 2010.
“She ran Evince magazine for years,” Tomlinson said. “I’m a writer; she was my mentor.”
After a couple of weeks of painting and getting ready, she will be ready to reveal the whole menu, but said it will have a few surprises in appetizers, entrees and desserts.
Everything will be fresh, with the menu changing seasonally to reflect what farm-fresh ingredients are available — and what customers like the best, Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson said she will keep her current job as the communications specialist at Averett University, while being at the restaurant nights and weekends. Cropp will handle accounting and other duties.
Preparation work will be handled by staff. Tomlinson said she hopes the current staff at Jake’s on Main remains and will be considered for more expanded duties overseeing some of the chores Connie and Jake currently do.
“The staff has been a huge help … they know where things are and how they work,” Tomlinson said.
The new owners plan to expand hours — staying open until 11 p.m. weeknights and midnight on weekends — and will consider expanding hours to include lunch service in the future.
“We want to get dinner down pat and do it really well first,” Tomlinson said.
The wide selection of craft beers served at Jake’s on Main will continue — and even expand.
“There are five taps now; we want to bring it up to 12 — but one will be a non-alcoholic root beer,” Tomlinson said.
She will have some help keeping the selection of craft beers up to par — her husband, Rod Tomlinson (also known as “the beer guy” at Vintages on the Dan) will lend a hand as he continues to work at Vintages on the Dan.
“We got him cards that say he’s our CBO — chief beer officer,” Tomlinson said.
The name of the restaurant includes one of Tomlinson’s nicknames: Me. A nephew couldn’t say “Emily” as he was learning to talk, so she became “Me” to the child and the nickname stuck.
Tomlinson laughed as she said the name lends itself to some fun uses at the restaurant.
“We won’t have Happy Hour — we’ll have Me Time.”
Thibodeau reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
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