BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. — Just about a mile west of the Bainbridge Island ferry dock in Winslow you can grab gas — and some gourmet eats at Jake's Pickup.
"We serve mostly organic comfort food in the back of a gas station — pumpin' it out!" laughed Jake Angel, who owns this eatery serving scratch made grab-and-go next to a Chevron station with his wife Kristi. When they first opened, there were skeptics.
"A lot of people came in and they were like, 'You're gonna do fancy food from a gas station? That's not gonna work,'" Jake said.
It's been working, for seven delicious years. Fresh frittatas, hickory-smoked sockeye salmon, and fresh-baked pastries were coming out of various ovens and smokers when we visited.
What the kitchen turns out appears to be limited only by Jake's imagination, which essentially has no limits. Jake and Kristi used to travel the U.S. doing high-end catering.
During the cross-country trips, they noticed that there was a lack of organic comfort food that was easy to grab while traveling. So they settled down on Bainbridge Island, opened the eatery they wanted to find on the road, and named it for a classic pickup they owned that that looked like a cousin to Mater in "Cars." The pickup was parked in front of the mini-mart that houses the restaurant and participated in local parades. They sold it awhile back, but the name — and the great grub — remains.
"It's a grab and go, 'pick-up' your food kind of place, so it flowed, it just worked," said Kristi about the name.
Also, they are both car nuts, Jake even owns a vintage race car. So the name resonated, especially since they now supply road warriors with everything from homemade ice cream to sublime sandwiches.
"We got a Yelp review on the tuna sandwich the other day, it's a five star Yelp review," Jake said. "And they're like, 'Came through, it's a gas station, all they had was tuna sandwiches. I would take a ferry all the way back to Bainbridge for that tuna!'"
Jake explains their tuna is his mom's recipe he grew up with in Brooklyn — except Jake uses Grade-A ahi instead of canned fish.
If you want to fuel up here for less than the price of a gallon of unleaded (at the time of this writing), get a three-buck Sconenut. Jake explains it's his invention, and the place is known for them.
"What the Sconenut is is the best of both worlds. It's better than a donut because it's not fried, and it's better tasting than a scone because it tastes like a donut."
He bakes dozens of different flavors, and the pastry is so popular, Jake's ships them nationwide.
So if you aspire to something more than ancient drip coffee and a Slim Jim next time you get gas, pick up something at Jake's Pickup.
"I'm good at making food and that makes people happy and that's why we do this," Jake said.
Jake's Pickup is located at the Chevron at 406 High School Road N.E. on Bainbridge Island, they're open 7 days a week, fresh donuts happen on Fridays, Cinnamon rolls on Sundays. (206) 842 -5595
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