A Reno institution is having a big week. PJ & Company Restaurant & Saloon is celebrating 30 years of being in business, right at the same spot on Wells Avenue. PJ’s owner Steve Erickson agrees: it may be old-style, from the appetizers written on the chalkboard to the bar set up right in the dining room…the way restaurants did it 30 years ago: "Yep. And that's what we're doing right now, 30 years later. The blackboard's actually new for us."
PJ's is Steve Erickson's first, and he says last restaurant. When he opened, south Wells Avenue was changing. Original residents moved to the suburbs, leaving behind their 100-year-old homes as rentals… many of which are being renovated. But PJ's is what it's always been. "We knew we wanted to do breakfast and lunch and dinner and have a bar. We were a sports bar before there were sports bars."
Yet, it's special. Customers have been inspired make to paint and frame it and immortalize it in handmade portraits you see hung on the walls. Former President Obama came by. Waitress Bonnie Bernal told me it was, "Carrot cake and an iced tea and he tipped $5. That was the most asked question that day!”
There are a lot of longtime employees here...Bonnie's been waitressing here for 14 years now. And customers at this Reno classic are mostly regulars…you can tell by the chatter, and how many greetings you hear going from one table to the next. As longtime customer Phil Herrington put it, "Everybody knows everybody! It's amazing, it really is. I've never come here without seeing somebody that I knew." Phil has been coming to PJ’s at least once a week since opening day. Before that, it was Froggy's Lunch Box. And before Froggy's, it was a gas station…car lifts and oil changes right where the bar is. Today, Phil says, "The food is good. But the people are better than the food." At a nearby table, customer Debbie Kosar agrees: "Consistently good food, good service and good drinks."
PJ's has its quirks too, like the secret menu that only those in the know ask for. Waitress Bonnie says, "It’s got all these goodies on it. Anytime you want to read it, we've got it available." So why make it secret? "Well, it just makes them feel special that its secret, but it’s really not that secret."
Debbie Kosar and her husband Jimmy are hard pressed to think of anything that's changed at PJ’s since 1987…except what they order. Last week? "We had eggs Benedict." Today she was getting a cheeseburger.
Over the past 30 years, PJ’s has also outgrown itself. Things are a little tight here, if you're lucky enough to snag one of the few parking spaces…and you don't mind bumping elbows. Newcomers may think the place is a bit run down and could use a spruce up. But then, it just wouldn't be PJ's. Oh, and where does the name PJ's come from? Nowhere…Steve just thought it sounded good. Everything else…just like it was in 1987. As Bonnie told us, "Everybody likes the food, everybody likes the waitresses, the bartenders. It just works...so why fix something that isn't broken?"
PJ's is not letting the anniversary go by without several specials this week. You can go online to see more at www.pjandco.net, call 775-323-6366 or check their Facebook page. PJ’s is located at 1590 South Wells Ave. and is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
