Events & Venues: Where The Big Boys Eat by Jeanne Brei
Lumberjacks Restaurant, the number one spot when it comes to “big portions of country-style home cooked meals” has a new owner at its North Las Vegas location who welcomes large groups and large appetites to enjoy a log cabin dining experience.
The restaurant has been dubbed “where the big boys eat,” and its “big portions of country-style, home-cooked meals at affordable prices” philosophy has propelled Lumberjacks to success by serving quality food made from scratch, and better than any other restaurant chain.
Founded in 2004 by Jeff and Susan Garrett in Redding, Calif., there’s now 10 locations (most are in central and northern Calif.) of the “cabin-themed eatery” known as the friendly place, where the servers know the locals by name and where strangers are treated like family.
Toronto native Mario Vascotto liked Las Vegas weather and the restaurant so much that he bought the North Las Vegas franchise and moved his family to the U.S. He improved the store by removing the old carpet, replacing it with a hardwood look, reupholstering the booth seating surfaces and adding more rustic decor throughout. The former engineer at Panasonic hired friendly hostesses and wait staff to make it feel more like home, and his wife Monika greets customers on the weekends. As he explains, “it’s not cold or cookie-cutter food—we’re more like you’re eating at home.”
He likes the location being convenient to Nellis Air Force Base, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Teamsters 631 Training Facility and the “big boys” who work at the industrial parks nearby. And he offers discounts for the military and seniors.
Popular breakfast items include Big John’s Biscuit, the Logger’s Breakfast Burrito and the Sequoia Breakfast Club—a towering club sandwich stuffed with eggs, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Their lunch menu includes the One Pound Redwood Burger—the biggest burger around! It’s one full pound burger with Swiss and American cheese, topped off with three strips of bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onions, pickles and their special dressing on a grilled bun. And there’s Jack’s Melt, which is a triple decker of ham, sliced turkey breast, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomato, Swiss and American cheese with Ranch dressing served on grilled sourdough bread. The Las Vegas location is hoping to start opening for dinner this fall serving steaks, hickory baby back ribs, beef stroganoff and the log shoot pot roast, among others—all with a home-style touch that would make Paul Bunyan smile from ear to ear.
Currently, there are nine locations of Lumberjacks in Calif.; the Nevada restaurant is located at 965 W. Craig Rd., North Las Vegas, NV 89032, (702) 487-5007. Hours: Sun.-Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. For more info, visit www.lumberjacksrestaurant.com.
This story originally appeared in the September/October issue of Exhibit City News, p. 77. For more pictures and original layout, visit http://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecnflipbook_septemberoctober_2018
