An Homage To John G’s originally published on Food and Fond Memories on May 23, 2011 by sandyaxelrod Leave a Comment (Edit)
An Homage To John G’s
Chocolate Dipped Fruit to enjoy while waiting for a table at John G’s
And that’s just half the line!
If you have ever visited Palm Beach county you probably have heard that the best place for breakfast or lunch by the beach is John G’s. It is most definitely a landmark not to be missed. John G’s has occupied the same scenic spot fronting Lake Worth’s public beach since John Giragos opened his restaurant doors in December of 1973 and has been open year-round for breakfast and lunch seven days a week ever since. John G’s is a family affair with Keith and Jay Giragos as extremely gifted Chef Managers and Wendy Giragos Yarbrough as the highly personable and efficient Dining Room Manager. Steve and I have been going to John G’s for 29 years since we moved to Florida. It doesn’t matter what time it is or what season it is there is always a line. They don’t take reservations or credit cards. Many years ago John retired (he has since passed away) and left the business end of John G’s for his very able children to run. But he just couldn’t stay away from the friends he made of his customers so on the weekends he would come in and pass the juiciest, sweetest dark chocolate covered strawberries and pineapple chunks to all of us lucky enough to be waiting on line for a table. One time we were seated in a booth and John recognized us as regulars and stopped by our table to say hi. We started talking and he sat down with us while we awaited our breakfast. It was wonderful to get to know him a little better. As it turns out he had been in the dry cleaning business just like my dad before moving to Florida. That was also when we learned that the restaurant opened the same year that our son Brian was born so we always knew just how long they’ve been in business. When we had our catering business we would always see Wendy and her family at food shows and other related events so we became friends with Wendy as well. For the past few years there has been some uncertainty regarding the stability of the old building that housed their restaurant along with several other businesses. The building has been shored up many times but now there is no longer any doubt the building is coming down on May 31. We assume it will be rebuilt bigger and better. But in the meantime this long established landmark will close at this location on May 30 and move a couple of miles down A1A to a shopping center in Manalapan across from the Ritz-Carlton and open back up sometime in the summer.
The best cinnamon nut French Toast anywhere!
Owner Wendy with Steve and Me
Steve and I are sad to see them have to leave so we decided that we absolutely had to have breakfast there one more time before they closed. Therefore yesterday we did our usual ritual. We went to John G’s and then to the beach. It was a picture perfect day with cloudless skies and a slight breeze and I guess a lot of people had the same idea because the line at John G’s was even longer than normal. In addition to that there was a crew from the Palm Beach Post doing a feature on Wendy, her family and the restaurant. I was waiting at the end of this very long line with Steve when he offered to go take some pictures for my blog. He came back a couple minutes later and told me there were two seats at the counter. Only regulars know that you don’t have to stand on line to wait for counter seats so we hurriedly grabbed them. Although of course we were handed menus we really didn’t need them because we knew exactly what we were going to order. As far as we are concerned the Cinnamon Nut French Toast with perfectly cooked sausage links is all they really have to have on the menu it’s THAT GOOD. And that is all we ever order for breakfast at John G’s although everything on the menu is delicious and abundant. By the way if we were having lunch we would probably order one Greek salad and one order of their Fish and Chips and share both! As always we thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and time chatting with Barbara Marshall from the Palm Beach Post and our brief few minutes with Wendy. When we walked out the people who were in front of us on line were at the front of the line still waiting to be seated. To John G’s farewell for now, see you later in the summer in Manalapan.
