Lea este artículo en español aquí.
With a name like “FlapJack’s,” it at first seems odd that the pancake section is the smallest on the menu at this Tres Pinos breakfast and lunch spot. But, according to co-owner Naomi Arias, that does not mean they should be overlooked.
“I’m a sucker for our flapjacks,” she said. “I know it sounds super cliche because of the name, but there’s something about them. It’s all the love we mix into it, and, honestly, adding warm syrup makes all the difference.”
Long-time customer Sil Sicoli agrees. She said that while she appreciates the food as much as the great customer service, she has never particularly explored the lunch menu.
“I only have breakfast when I come here,” she said, “because they make the most excellent and fluffy pancakes. They’re just wonderful.”
Arias began working in restaurants at Hollister’s The Elegant Touch, now Heavenly Bakery, where she was a barista, a runner, a dishwasher, a food prepper, a line cook and, she said, “whatever else they needed me to do.”
“It was very similar to what I am doing now,” she said. “The sandwiches were great, and the soup was to die for. I worked with some great bakers in the back, Kim and Nancy, and with Ecklin, who was my teacher and my everything.”
FlapJack’s will celebrate its 10th year in business this June, but at the start of 2015, the location housed the Country Cafe, and Arias was managing the Ginger Cafe in Gilroy, an Asian fusion restaurant.
“I’m not going to lie,” she said. “That was something new to me, but it’s really all about getting to know your clientele and your menu, the noodles and the sauces. It was pretty fun, but it was definitely a different kind of place.”
When Arias first heard that the Tres Pinos location would be available, she planned to open it with her brother, Eddie Ruiz. When he could not commit to the business, her uncle, Shannon Pride, of Pride Conveyance Systems, stepped in to help.
“He said, ‘Hey, do you want to just pull the trigger and go forward?’” Arias said. “My uncle is definitely a businessman—his [company] is the global number one in the industry now and he’s president and founder and a lot of other titles I can’t even think of.”
Initially concerned that the location was a little out-of-the-way, Arias quickly decided to take the chance.
“This place had already been well-established throughout the community,” she said. “It was always known for really good food. It’s on the highway, and we have a National Park just around the corner. I thought, why not?”
Arias said that, along with the locals who come through, she draws regular customers from as far away as Watsonville, one of whom said his three favorite restaurants are in Tres Pinos.
“Between us and the Inn at Tres Pinos and the 19th Hole,” she said, “we’ve got some pretty awesome restaurants here. And we are blessed with our clientele. I figured, well, why not stick to our niche and just live the best life possible?”
Almost everything on the menu is prepared in-house, and Arias said one secret to her success is filling the menu with quality ingredients.
“We get a lot of compliments on the freshness,” she said. “It is very rare that we freeze anything. We prep daily and try to prep almost by the order. People rave about our fruit, and because I have had issues when I dine out, I make sure it’s done right.”
Arias said that even though this is not a great time to be in the restaurant business, particularly in navigating the supply and cost issues, she and her uncle are “pushing forward with all our guts and glory.”
“It’s not easy, but we’re here,” she said, “To put it plainly, this is kind of my calling. Seeing customers smile when they are breaking bread and sharing a conversation just makes my day. And I genuinely think I make people feel pretty good by the end of their meal.”
Flapjacks – The secret, Arias said, starts with the coldest water possible. “Then you stir it up,” she said, “don’t overmix, and add as much love as you can.” There are stock flavors, like apple walnut, banana walnut, blueberry and strawberry, but Arias favors the chocolate chip. “A little bit of chocolate chip semi-sweet morsels cooked on the inside,” she said, “and then powdered sugar, a couple more morsels on top, then a chocolate Hershey drizzle. And I always heat our syrup—I can’t eat it cold.” It’s dessert for breakfast, she said, and the kids love it. The must-try here is the Fresh Fruit Flapjacks, which combine all the fruits (with or without walnuts).
Chilaquiles – For the FlapJack’s take on the standard breakfast dish, Arias uses a house-made red sauce with her tortilla strips and makes it her own by tossing it with parmesan cheese. The dish is topped with two eggs, feta cheese, sour cream, cilantro, onion and avocado, all layered over black beans. “We use some different cheeses to give it a little twist,” she said. It is enough of a change to wake up your taste buds, making the dish distinctive.
The Breakfast Burrito – “It’s massive,” Arias said. “It’s like two and a half or three pounds. It should definitely fill you up.” It comes with two eggs, home-fried potatoes, and your choice of ham, bacon, sausage, or chorizo, then topped with salsa, sour cream and avocado. There is definitely enough there to make two meals of it.
Strawberry Spinach Salad – “The strawberry spinach is one of our most popular salads,” Arias said. “We make our own dressing for it, a strawberry-based apple cider vinegar with salt and honey to counterbalance the bitterness of the spinach.” It comes with candied walnuts, feta cheese and avocado. According to Arias, the Cobb Salad, with chopped chicken, bacon, hard-boiled egg, tomato, carrot, avocado and blue cheese crumbles, is a close second—and is her favorite.
The Tres Pinos Scramble – There is a little bit of everything in this scramble, with sausage, ham, bacon, bell peppers, garlic, onions, mushrooms, tomato and spinach mixed in with the eggs and served over a bed of home-fried potatoes, topped with cheese, salsa, sour cream and avocado. If that, or one of the other five omelets or scrambles, don’t do it for you, you can create your own, starting with three eggs, a choice of three cheeses, and four ingredients from a list that includes nopales, artichokes, chorizo, smoked turkey and 17 other choices.
Grilled Chicken – “I kind of learned that one when I worked at The Elegant Touch,” Arias said. “The roasted red bell peppers, the bacon, the onion. It was one of my favorites there and just tweaked it a little, slapping it on some grilled sourdough.” The peppers really define this one, adding another dimension to the marinated chicken. It comes with a side of ranch dressing, which I suggest you ignore—if you slather it on, you will miss the subtle interplay of flavors bouncing around in this sandwich.
The Tres Pinos Burger – Served with avocado, tomato, grilled onion and cheddar cheese on garlic-buttered sourdough. “It’s a half-pound patty,” Arias said, “80/20 ground chuck. It’s definitely the way to go unless you’re feeling a little more like the barbecue burger with sauce and onion rings. But I found a lot of people just like it simple.” To me, a restaurant lives and dies on how seriously they take their burgers, and this burger is a good one. Arias said her mother, who is a very critical judge of burgers, agrees.
FlapJack’s
6881 Airline Hwy, Tres Pinos
(831) 628-5003
Hours
Wednesday-Monday 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Closed Tuesdays
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
You must be logged in to post a comment.