Jimmy's Famous American Tavern Bringing Life to Dana Point

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern

25001 Dana Point Harbor Drive

Dana Point, CA 92629

The second of our two Orange County Restaurant Week picks this year was a place that we had only been to for their grand opening party. We had been meaning to go back sooner, but something had always popped up, like it usually does with us. We had a great time at the grand opening party, the food was great, but they were just samples, so we were really looking forward to trying full size versions of their food. When we saw that they were offering a three course, $30 dinner during OC Restaurant Week, we hurriedly made Friday night reservations for Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern, or as the cool kids call it, JFAT, has been opened in Dana Point since August of last year. They have another very successful location down in the Point Loma area of San Diego. When this Dana Point location opened, it felt like the shot in the arm this area needed. The harbor area of this southern beach city has always kind of felt dated to me. Lending to the old feel of this area was restaurants like El Torito, Harpoon Henry's, The Wind and Sea, Gemmell's, and the now departed Jolly Roger. All restaurants that I seem to remember my parents going to on Saturday nights, when they left us with babysitters over thirty years ago.

JFAT is run by a man familiar to OC diners, David Wilhelm, of French 75 and Chat Noir fame. He's ditched the white table cloths and bread scrappers, for this much more casual tavern, that emphasizes classic American comfort food. Burgers, steaks, and large plates dominate the menu at this big restaurant that seats 200 plus. Not only is JFAT's presence bringing nightlife to the harbor area, but they are also doing it in an eco-friendly manner. They are one of thirteen OC restaurants to get a seal of approval from the Green Restaurant Association. Restaurants can achieve this honor by using sustainable food, waste reduction and recycling, among other factors. It's nice knowing that JFAT is not just about making money, they have a conscience as well.

We got to JFAT just before 7PM on a recent Friday night. I was happy we made reservations, as the place was packed. The restaurant is dominated by a large bar in the middle of the room. We were sat on the enclosed patio, in the rear of the restaurant. Even though we were away from the action of the bar area, this is still a loud restaurant. The clientele here is a good mix of people. Young to old, and everything in between. We really had no need for the menus, as we knew we would be having the OC Restaurant Week menu. We put in our order, and this is what we came up with.

Okay, not on the restaurant week menu, but we could not resist this Warm Cheddar, Spinach, Beer and Chorizo Fondue ($7). This rich dip was almost too cheesy, and warm was an understatement. I burnt my mouth with this scalding cauldron of cheese a couple of times. The big flavors here worked well. There was plenty of spinach, which I would have liked to have been cut up in some smaller pieces. I did not really get a lot of the chorizo here, but did not seem to miss it. This was served alongside some herbed croustades for dipping. This was a good choice, as the cheese coated the bread well, and did not break off in the dip. Our waitress even provided us with some extra, as the five included on the plate did not go that far. This was a larger than expected serving size.

Okay, now we are getting to the OCRW menu. First up was Katie's selection for her starter, the Farmers Market Salad. This I assume is JFAT's version of a house salad. This salad was made up of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, corn, croutons, and topped off with a Dijon vinaigrette. Katie used her obligatory, "this used fresh produce", but also added that she loved the croutons here. They were made with their jalapeno cornbread, which added a nice flavor to this house salad. She was also pretty excited with the dressing, because it was lighter than other vinaigrette's, but did not sacrifice flavor.

The night we went to JFAT, was the night that we actually had cooler weather, which has been pretty rare this winter. I wanted something to warm me up a bit. That's why I went with the New England Style Clam Chowder. This clam chowder had plenty of small clams in it, with a nice and mellow flavor. Not too thick of a chowder, this reminded me of the clam chowder I used to have at Polly's Pies as a kid. That's not a knock on JFAT's version, as I was pretty partial to Polly's chowder when I was growing up, even though I have not had it in a long time. This was served with a couple of house made potato chips for some reason. They were good, but I would have rather of had a dinner roll with this.

You don't see stroganoff on too many menus anymore. People probably have a connotation that this is an old fashioned dish, but JFAT updated it with this Filet Mignon Stroganoff. Gone is the heavy sour cream sauce, and added is mushrooms and pearl onions. Even without the heavy sauce, this still had a richness to it. The large egg noodles were cooked well, the filet was very tender, and there was a good dose of mushrooms and pearl onions spread throughout this plate. I love when chefs use pearl onions, but Katie thought they overpowered a little.

I was really in a quandary when it came to my entree. I had a choice of either fried chicken or the Cider Braised Salmon Creek Pork. My German background won out on this occasion. This pork dish definitely had a Bavarian feel to it. It came with apples, bacon and cabbage heaped on top of it. The pork was a little spotty on this night. A little dry, but the sauce helped. The sauce also helped with the pretty bland mashed potatoes. Should have gone with the fried chicken that I have heard good things about.

When I saw the dessert portion of the OCRW menu, I knew immediately what Katie would be having for dessert, the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Drowning in Espresso. Katie is very fond of coffee, as her credit card statement could tell you from all of her Starbucks runs. This espresso was served cool, so the ice cream did not melt too quickly. She seemed pretty happy with this, and I was happy we did not have to make a stop at Starbucks on the way home.

I will preface the dessert portion of my review by telling you that I am not much into fruit desserts. Sure I do like some, but I am way more partial to chocolate than fruit. Unfortunately there was no chocolate to be had on the OCRW menu at JFAT. This Seasonal Fruit Crisp Ala Mode failed to impress. Not sure what fruit they used here, it could have been rhubarb, but it was way too tart. There was also not even close to enough ice cream on this. The fruit was served warm, so after the ice cream melted, this almost resembled a bowl of Grape Nuts with fruit. Definitely not one of my favorites.

I was not too excited by my selections at JFAT, but watching other tables food come out, I have definitely not given up on this restaurant. I look forward to coming back and trying either their burgers, or their prime rib, which sells out almost daily. Also worth mentioning are the desserts on their regular menu. They have a creation called the Bananageddon, and a Jimmy's Old School, that is a basically a hot fudge sundae with warm chocolate chip cookies, served for two. Yes please. Even though it was busy on this night, we experienced great service. Our waitress divided her time equally among her tables, and kept everything moving along at a good pace. Glad we made time to experience Orange County Restaurant Week at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.

Out of five Megamouth sharks, (because in 1990, one of these rare species of shark was caught off of Dana Point), five being best to zero being worst, Jimmy's Famous American Tavern gets 3 Megamouth sharks.

For more information about Jimmy's Famous American Tavern, go to their website here: http://j-fat.com/

Bringing Life to Dana Point Harbor

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern

25001 Dana Point Harbor Dr.

Dana Point, CA 92629

If there is one area that needed a place like this, it is the Dana Point Harbor. Until I started this blog, I really had not been down to Dana Point Harbor. Sure, I came down here when I was in elementary school to see the Pilgrim Tall Ship, and to visit the Ocean Institute, but other than that, we would always hang out in Newport or Huntington Beach, places where there was some action.

When I started this blog, most of the restaurants that we went to in the Dana Point Harbor area were straight out of the early 70's, with many of the customers well into their 70's themselves. One of my first reviews was the Jolly Roger, which luckily got put out of its misery a few years back. We watched the great Phil Shane at Harpoon Henry's, but the only thing good about that restaurant was the entertainment, and if the food would have been put up on stage, people would have asked for their money back. We liked the food at Gemmel's, but this French restaurant was lacking in the service department, and the average age of customers in this restaurant were probably alive the last time the French won a war by themselves, (that would be 1884's Battle of Fuzhou, where the French defeated the Chinese). Yes, Dana Point Harbor needed a shot in the arm, and I think it got one, with the opening of Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern, or as the "in the know" people call it, JFAT, opened at the end of August. This is their second location, the other one being in San Diego. I guess you can call JFAT one of San Diego's favorite places, because they get tons of four and five star reviews on Yelp., along with a close to 90 percent approval rating on Urbanspoon. Those are some impressive numbers, but that is not all that is impressive about Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.

Before they opened to the public, we were invited to their grand unveiling, which also doubled as a fundraiser for the Dana Point 5th Marine Regiment Support Group, which is a non profit organization that provides support and outreach to the Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton and the soldiers deployed , as well as their families. As you can see in the picture above, they raised over $9,000 for this very worthwhile organization. A very nice gesture by a new business in the community.

We got to JFAT just before 6PM, and the party was well underway. I really liked the dark wood and the sleekness of the restaurant. Near the doors are some real comfy looking leather booths, which will be nice on cold winter nights. What really got me excited was the back of the restaurant, where they have a patio, with garage like doors, that really invited the outside atmosphere into the restaurant. The cool breezes off of the harbor really were a nice feature on this warmer than average summer night. The middle of the restaurant is dominated by a large wood topped bar, with plenty of seating around it. The bartenders were filling drink orders fast and furiously, so we quickly grabbed a seat out on the patio and put in our drink orders.

During our inaugural visit to Jimmy's Famous American Tavern, I indulged in two of Jimmy's Favorite Drinks. These specialty cocktails joined a rather extensive wine list, sure to satisfy any wine drinker that wanders in, along with a beer lineup that deviates from the bigger, more well known breweries, by offering beer and ales from brewers like, Ommegang, Iron Fist, and Moylans. Not exactly household names, and probably some interesting beers for the more adventurous beer drinkers out there. The first of my two cocktails was the Gold Rush ($9). At Jimmy's they make this common cocktail their own by using Bulleit Bourbon, Clover Honey Syrup, and Fresh Lemon Juice. This was a very well balanced drink. I am not a big bourbon drinker, but the bourbon was evened out by the sweet from the honey and the sour from the lemon. The result was a very nice, refreshing cocktail with a little kick from the bourbon. My second cocktail was the Cucumber Cooler ($9). This one contained American Harvest Vodka, St Germain Elderflower Liqueur, cucumber and lemon juice. This was a very cool cocktail. This is the second cocktail I have had with Elderflower liqueur in it recently, maybe this floral liqueur is becoming a trend. Both drinks really made me look forward to my return trips here, and trying more of Jimmy's Favorite Drinks.

Most of the food we were going to be trying on this night was going to be tray passed appetizers, with the one exception being these House Made Potato Chips. These had a good crunch to them, with just a touch grease, which of course gave these an even better flavor. These are on the menu, but they are drizzled with a blue cheese sauce and scallions. I would imagine that the blue cheese sauce would make these chips even better.

One of the first things to make it out of the kitchen were these Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders. Besides being crazy photogenic, these were equally delicious. The buns are made by a local Santa Ana bakery, Bread Artisan Bakery. The meat, cheese and bacon worked together to form a very good burger. Having two of these sliders really got me excited to try one of their other six burgers. On my next visit it will either be the spicy Santa Fe Burger, or the Jimmy Burger. If this slider is any indication, I can not make a wrong decision with whichever burger I choose.

The next round of appetizers came out rather quickly. I can never say no to shrimp, so I had more than one of these. I am not sure what the sauce was over it, but it was pretty good. I know I have written on this blog how I am not much of a hard boiled egg kind of guy, but these Jalapeno Bedeviled Eggs had enough heat to make me rethink my bias towards deviled eggs. I'm not going to go and order a whole plate full of these, but one or two were not bad. I guess I am making progress with my aversion to deviled eggs.

These were two of my favorites from this night. The individual Ahi Poke was very good. They placed the tuna on top of a crispy wonton, then topped it with a Yuzu cream and avocado. The ahi was fresh, while the flavors from the cream and the avocado complimented this appetizer. Few things are more American than tomato soup and grilled cheese, and Jimmy's Famous American Tavern put their spin on this classic dish. The Grilled Cheese already came pre-dipped into the Herbed Tomato Bisque. I really enjoyed this bisque. It was not too acidic, and had a nice, smooth flavor. The grilled cheese was perfect when dipped into the bisque. I can imagine having this sometime during the winter, when it gets down to a freezing 60 degrees.

The last of the appetizers made there way around the restaurant. The Spicy Chicken Sandwich Slider had some of my favorites on it. A jalapeno slaw, along with a chipotle aioli. The chicken was good, but not enough of it on the slider that I had. I always enjoy meatballs, and tend to get them when I see them on restaurant menus. The Buffalo Style Meatballs definitely will get my attention. These meatballs are served with a wing sauce and a blue cheese dressing. The sauces were more subtle than I was expecting, but the meatball was well made and tender. A nice finish to a great night of food.

The people of Dana Point have plenty to be excited about with the opening of Jimmy's Famous American Tavern. I saw lots of people with smiles on their faces when they were trying the food and drinks here. This is the kind of place that Dana Point really needed badly. A hip restaurant, where you not only go to eat, but it's also a place where you stay, relax, and have a few cocktails. Finally, a restaurant in Dana Point Harbor that does not resemble a retirement home. I would say this night was a total success. A great charity made over $9000, and we now have a destination restaurant in Dana Point.

We would like to thank everyone at Jimmy's Famous for a great night out. Everyone, from the busers, the wait staff, the bartenders, and the management team had all their guests enjoyment in mind on this night. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the man behind the restaurant, the great David Wilhelm, whose resume is too long to mention here, but he made the time to talk with us, and we can tell that he is very proud of what they have done here at JFAT. Lastly, we would like to thank one of the best PR people in the business, the ever friendly Jennifer Morris, from Ajenda Public Relations. Thanks so much for thinking of inviting us, and we look forward to seeing you again real soon. Just like we look forward to coming back to Jimmy's again real soon too.

For information about Jimmy's Famous American Tavern, go to their web site here: http://j-fat.com/