Local cafe gives diners a home-style experience

A well-respected establishment since 1942, Vic’s Cafe provides home-style food with a sophisticated polish. Originally owned and operated by Vic and Lorna Buckley, ownership changed in 1973 to Larry and Jan Eastwood, whose daughter, Cheri, is the current manager and chef. Cheri graduated from the San Francisco Culinary Academy in 2007 and brought a new vision to the menu while honoring the traditional tastes.

Vic’s Cafe offers a day-long menu with breakfast, lunch and light dinner options in the style of comforting home-cooked meals. Breakfast, which is also served all day, offers a personalized menu to customers, with sections such as Vic’s Favorites and Vic’s Special Scrambles. A unique twist includes the Build Your Own Breakfast option, where diners can customize their meal by choosing a plateful of eggs, breakfast meat with a selection of bagels, pancakes, fruit and more. If you are looking for a delicious lunch, the cafe meals range from hot, cold and charbroiled sandwiches, salads and an extensive children’s menu to satisfy the younger diners. For an early dinner experience, customers can order their true home cooked meal at any time during the day with popular dishes such as liver and onions, chicken fried steak and homemade corned beef. Jan has made scrumptious pies for over forty years, so make sure to grab a slice of pumpkin, apple, banana split and even Snicker’s pie, to name a few, to finish off your meal. The cafe also offers a delivery service, online ordering, and catering.

Dora and Joe Robles from Santa Maria discovered Vic’s Cafe after a local recommended it to them last year, and during their week long camping trip to the fair, they returned to enjoy delicious food and great service.

The fun traditions that Vic’s Cafe offers build strong community ties, allow tourists to experience a small town feel and guarantees locals to frequent the restaurant on the days of their favorite specials. Meatloaf is the specialty on Monday, Tuesday offers up taco salad and Friday is set aside for recently delivered fresh fish, such as snapper and salmon. An in-demand item is Vic’s Jerky, which Larry and several friends started producing 20 years ago. This flavorful jerky, which is made at the restaurant, is mailed to eager customers in places such as Wisconsin, Oklahoma and to the military service. The bond between Vic’s Cafe and the community is a strong one, with the staff always friendly and a warm meal promised to comfort. “We love locals and tourists… we thank them for sticking by us all these years and through the changes,” said Cheri, who added that the customers are like family.

Visit Vic’s Cafe at 841 13th Street in Paso Robles. Open Monday through Saturday 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call (805) 238-3988 or go to vicscafepasorobles.com for more information.