A Place to Get Down, Get Real : Return of Upscale Greasy Spoon Gets the Ranch Excited

For most residents of Rancho Santa Fe, the closing of Quimby’s restaurant a few years back came as more of a shock than just losing a comfortable downtown hangout where you could always count on a good strong cup of morning coffee.

It was like going without their town square--a painful sight of watching the sidewalks being rolled up, the benches carted away, the “Going-Out-of-Business” signs tacked up on the trunks of the overhanging Eucalyptus trees.

Quimby’s, after all, was Rancho Santa Fe’s version of a worn and polished greasy spoon. Not far from the trendy eateries that seldom fail to make the lists of San Diego County’s best restaurants, Quimby’s was like that homelier sister who was always glad when you called.

For almost two generations, folks had gotten used to seeing a restaurant on that well-traveled corner near the heart of town. Many saw Quimby’s as a descendant of Bill and Emma’s place, the 1950s-era diner that had counted Howard Hughes and the Hollywood set as its customers.

So, when Quimby’s quivered and died in March, 1990, its regulars sighed.

“People hated to see it close,” said Elinor Meacham. “It was a Rancho Santa Fe landmark.”

Recently, however, Ranch residents got an early holiday gift when Quimby’s reopened under new management. For most Ranchites, it was like welcoming an old friend back from the dead, getting to reheat a cup of favorite coffee gone cold.

Or better yet, the restaurant’s return was as pleasurable as seeing a concrete parking lot--or real estate office--plowed under and replaced with a grassy park to loll away so many sunny mornings. There was just that much satisfaction.

Dixie Dunlap, a Quimby’s regular for almost 20 years, recalled her reaction to the news about the emergence of the newest Quimby’s. “I said, ‘Praise the Lord, they’re open again,’ ” she said. “Boy, did we miss that place.”

For weeks before the restaurant’s reopening, people would stop by and inquire about the date. And, when it finally came--without a cent spent on advertising--the place was packed. All by widespread word of mouth.

“We opened up at 7:30 a.m. that morning,” said new owner Klaus Moeller. “And at 7:31 we had customers. Lot’s of them. The reaction was instant, and it hasn’t slowed since.”

Word of the revived restaurant has spread even beyond Rancho Santa Fe.

Just the other day, national television talk-show host Regis Philbin mentioned the restaurant’s rebirth on his morning program. It wasn’t the first time that Quimby’s had been mentioned on the show, which is recorded in New York City.

According to Moeller, Philbin had driven past the old Quimby’s a few years back and spotted a few satisfied customers at a sidewalk table, nursing cups of coffee and perusing the morning paper.

“Ever since then, he’s sort of taken to the place,” Moeller said. “He says that, when he retires, he’s going to move to Rancho Santa Fe so he can spend his mornings doing just that--drinking cups

of coffee and reading the morning paper with nobody to bother him.”

Regulars say that easy-going atmosphere has always been the attraction of the place. While other local restaurants often required a coat and tie, Quimby’s customers could always come as they were.

“In Rancho Santa Fe, you frankly have to get dressed up to go anywhere,” said Quimby’s manager Herb Kelley, formerly the manager at The Inn, a venerable eatery that as been around as long as the Ranch itself.

“If you don’t dress to the hilt, people stare. They don’t want you in their restaurant. So people coming off the golf course often had nowhere to go unless they go home to change. At Quimby’s, though, you see men in jogging suits. And women in curlers. If they don’t care, then we don’t either.”

During its last gasps two years ago, Quimby’s faltered, regulars say. The service and quality of food suffered. “Before it closed down, it really was a greasy spoon,” Kelley said. “It was very dark and dingy and black. If you touched the table or chair, it stuck to you.”

For many Ranch residents, though, Quimby’s absence created a social vacuum that was impossible to fill. Downtown Rancho Santa Fe, dominated by banks and real estate offices, just didn’t have another down-home restaurant to meet the community’s appetite.

“Quimby’s just sort of filled a need in our life,” said Elinor Meacham, as she sat in a window booth the other morning with her husband, Gil. “It’s comfortable, warm, cozy and quaint. And, when it closed, a lot of people didn’t know where to go. So they left the Ranch for breakfast and lunch.”

And they wrote letters to the local newspaper, the Rancho Santa Fe Review, demanding its return--as though the place were some sort of right, not just a restaurant.

Such allegiance goes back years. Former owner Carol Hard said Quimby’s was opened at the site on Paseo Delicias in the early 1970s, replacing a skein of former restaurants there that included The Viking and The Granada.

Quimby’s was named after a British pub by the original owner, who sold the restaurant to Hard in 1980. She said the decision to close the place 10 years later was a difficult one.

“Quimby’s represents family in Rancho Santa Fe,” she said. “It got so I couldn’t go to the post office and not be sidelined by people who wanted it reopened. It was a casual place where people could go for a drink after work.

“I’ll bet that many of the real estate transactions and bank deals on the Ranch were closed over a drink at Quimby’s.”

Dixie Dunlap was another loyal regular who patiently awaited Quimby’s return. And, when it finally came, she missed it.

“I went into a barbershop one day and asked people ‘When is Quimby’s going to open?’ And they told me that it already had. I was so mad. The place had already been open a whole week, and I didn’t know it.”

Added Moeller: “I hear it all day. People talking about Quimby’s, Quimby’s, Quimby’s. Around here, this place is taken seriously. Sort of on the level of Desert Storm.”

And the competition has sat up and taken notice, Kelley said. Some have dropped prices recently. And he has seen spies, checking the quality of the soup, the fluff of the omelets.

But Claire Cote, dining room manager at The Inn, was unfazed by the new competition.

“We simply have a different clientele here, so we’re not worried at all,” she sniffed. “If anything, they’ll help us. Make the town a little more exciting. No, they haven’t hurt us. We’ve lost some waiters to them. But we can live with that.”

Kelley says that waiters aren’t the only things being stolen by the new Quimby’s. “Why order an $8 glass of wine there when you can get it for $3.25 here,” he said. “There are a lot of wealthy people living here. But no matter how much money you have, you don’t want to be ripped off.”

As he spoke, actor Victor Mature strode into the restaurant--decked out in a jogging suit and matching silk scarf--ready to order a late breakfast. Mature said he missed not having a regular place to come for a drink with his golfing cronies after a round at the nearby country club.

“Quimby’s is part of the town,” he said.

Resident Oliver Ayres said the restaurant is frequented on weekends by people who hike and bicycle through the Ranch. But the locals, he says, are the ones most thankful for its return.

“It just gives you a choice from the fare at the other places,” he said. “I mean, how many lamb sandwiches can you eat?”

But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the new restaurant. The other morning, a customer complained about the quality of the food. Managers say they are working on it.

They’re even planning some renovations. But locals don’t want the place to get too snazzy--that would take away its charm.

But no matter which way you slice it, Quimby’s--Rancho Santa Fe’s unofficial town square--is back.

“It’s something different around here, a family-style restaurant with reasonable prices,” Kelley said. “There are other restaurants around here for people who want a pick-up spot, for the new money and old money.

“We’re a place for the regular old money.”