by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
“My husband’s Greek and I’m a WASP, so we just have this urge to feed people all the time.” —Carlisle Pantinakis
The Back Porch Café wants you to feel as though you’re eating on your own back porch. A white picket fence runs along the walls even with the windows. Each table sports a green and white checkered table cloth (real linen, not plastic) and is topped with glass. With bright, faux potted plants adorning the tables, it succeeds at looking and feeling like a back porch. The décor is otherwise fairly neutral, with a tendency toward Italian/Greek touches here and there. At night they bring the lights down low for a cozy atmosphere. It’s an intimate place with three areas to sit. Smokers, or anyone who wants to enjoy a breeze, can sit outside. There are two small dining areas are inside and there’s a small bar where many patrons enjoy a glass of wine, a chat with the proprietor and a meal.
Much of the clientele are regulars. Carlisle Pantinakis and her husband, Byron, know their customers, greeting them as they come in, recalling which special they prefer or, if they’re one of the adventurous, letting them know what’s new on the menu. While I was there, Carlisle and a patron traded old jokes while he sipped his wine. Judging from the amount of regular customers, you’d think that this place had been a neighborhood fixture for twenty years. But, the Back Porch Café has been open for just two years.
Most neighborhood-style restaurants settle into a comfortable menu, and Back Porch does have core items that they’ve developed that don’t come off the menu, but the Pantinakis family likes to keep things interesting for their customers by offering something new as often as possible.
Carlisle checks on her tables, doing what she can to make sure that every diner has a great experience. If they don’t love a dish, she wants to know why. If they put a new dish on the menu and most customers think it needs something extra, her chef will customize the dish. That was the case with the restaurant’s Pastitsio, a layered Greek dish, consisting of ground beef, tubular pasta and, in this case, a flaky pastry topping. The variations of this dish are many, but it’s basically a meat and pasta casserole, generally flavored with spices like a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. When the Back Porch first served the dish, it was without the tomato cream sauce that now surrounds it. They served it in the traditional manner, without the sauce, but when patrons said they felt it needed something, they went back to the kitchen. What they developed was a tomato cream sauce with just enough tangy pizzaz and a touch of nutmeg to make the dish truly great.
“It isn’t traditional…my husband’s grandmother would be spinning in her grave because of that sauce,” said Carlisle. Traditional or not, it is mighty tasty.
While traditions in cooking are revered, they take a backseat to taste. The Pantinakises have such a superb relationship with their patrons that customers often bring in their favorite recipes, which the kitchen tweaks a little. Items that began as a customer’s treasured family recipe are often named after the customer.
On the lunch menu you might want to give their Reuben a try. It’s the best I’ve had in Jacksonville to date. The super garlicky bruschetta is a top appetizer pick, and it’s easy to taste why. It is loaded with garlic, so get your date to eat some too.
Another popular pick is the generous flounder francaise. Lemon lovers will dig this lightly battered appetizer. I know I did. The sharp lemon pairs well with the side of rice it comes with.
One customer I chatted with was a fan of the meatloaf. I talked to him about other menu items, but he shyly mentioned that he was “stuck on their meatloaf” and that he never got anything else. He did order sangria on my recommendation.
Chef John Salisbury spoke to me at length about his style of cooking. He really seems to love the art of creating dishes and will even create dishes that aren’t on the menu.
“If we aren’t slammed and we have the ingredients in the cupboard, I love putting something together,” the Chef commented.
The inventive sauces he spoke about sounded so delish that I plan to give him complete creative license the next time I sit down at the Back Porch Café.
3031 Monument Rd Jacksonville, FL 32225
Ph: (904) 998-9918
Mon. - Thurs.: 11.30a-9.00p
Fri. and Sat.: 11.30a-10.00p
Sunday: CLOSED
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