Jocko's

The town, or at least the old downtown of Nipomo, is about two blinks long. There's a church and a quilting shop across the street, an Italian restaurant down the block and that's about it. Just outside of Santa Maria, it's in the heart of the Central Coast's old cattle country.

Jocko's, which in one form or another has been serving up grilled meats since 1926, sports the motto out front "come in and monkey around."

Once you sit down, your food comes out fast. Ordering is simple. Pick your meat. Choose your salad dressing — all made right there — and your potato, i.e., fries or a baked spud (you want baked), and you're done. Prices are all-inclusive for the entire meal. Their specialty, and the second-most expensive cut of beef, is the large Spencer, a hefty, not to mention huge, slab of rib-eye on the bone for $27. Yippee.

But first you get an old-fashioned relish tray with chilled sweet pickles, carrot and celery sticks, some olives, pickled hot peppers and a basket of packaged breadsticks and crackers. Then comes your iceberg salad with a fine ranch or Thousand Island dressing. There's also a good blue cheese dressing (the fixation of my childhood) and a fancy honey-dijon model too. The lettuce is cold, very cold, but a perfect segue to the massive meaty entrees.

S. Irene Virbila, Times Restaurant Critic, 8/26/10