Dixie’s Home Cookin’ has a new owner, but don’t worry. Breakfasts still will be huge

Fourteen years after they opened their downtown Sumner cafe known for its excellent homestyle breakfasts, David and Christine Jacobs are handing over their aprons to a new owner.

They’re leaving Dixie’s Home Cookin’ in the hands of an experienced restaurateur from California. Meanwhile, they’re retiring to California to be closer to family.

Their daughter Sarah’s graduation from college prompted the next phase of their lives.

“My daughter’s now graduated from college,” David Jacobs said. “The plan was to move back after that, to be closer to family.” .

They announced their departure Monday (Oct. 15), their last day of work at the restaurant.

Although they’re leaving Dixie’s, the recipes, name and business will continue. The restaurant’s cooks and servers were offered jobs.

In 2004, the Jacobs opened the restaurant as an homage to Christine’s father, who died in 2002 and whose nickname was Dixie. A former Army cook and firefighter, he collected a following for his homestyle specialties, such as his famous meatloaf. His recipe is on the menu at Dixie’s as an open-faced sandwich loaded with a pile of gravy ($15.99).

The restaurant’s specialties are classic American breakfasts and lunches with an emphasis on oversized portions.

The focus in the kitchen is on scratch cooking, including biscuits made the old fashioned way — with lard.

One Midwestern menu specialty — the pork cutlet sandwich — makes the restaurant a beacon for Midwestern transplants.

Christine and David are from the Midwest. As Christine Jacobs said in a 2010 interview, “Every self-respecting Midwestern restaurant has a breaded pork tenderloin on the menu.”

She added, “If you’re not from Midwest and eat it, you might not like it. You can’t find it anywhere out here. It’s served with pickles and mustard.”

Dixie’s serves the cutlet as a breakfast offering with two eggs, potatoes and choice of breakfast bread ($12.99) or as a sandwich ($12.99).

The rest of the menu reads like the greatest hits of American diner food: Hot cakes, omelets, hobo hash, corned beef hash, biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak at breakfast. At lunch, the menu moves to charbroiled half-pound burgers, classic diner sandwiches and hot open-faced sandwiches with a choice of meatloaf, roast beef and turkey.

What’s next for the Jacobs?

“I’m never opening another restaurant in my life,” joked David, who before restaurant life worked a career in retail for Best Buy. He and Christine moved here to open stores for the company.

He called restaurant work laborious and tough, but the connections they made with customers made the difficult work worth the effort.

“Christine’s going to sob when we leave today,” he added. “We’ve loved all the people and it’s been great. The customers have been the best thing about this whole experience.”

Dixie’s Home Cookin’

Where: 15717 Main St. E., Sumner.

Info: 253-863-0111, dixieshomecookin.org.

Hours: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 3:00 PM.