One Eyed Jack's in Winamac to be featured on America's Best Restaurants
Sep. 2—One Eyed Jack's in Winamac will be hosting a visit from America's Best Restaurants this month.
America's Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focusing on local, independently-owned restaurants, will bring its ABR Roadshow to the restaurant on Friday, Sept. 16.
Popular dishes will be highlighted, along with extensive on-camera interviews with owners Mike and Jenny Kasten about what makes their restaurant a special place in the community. The episode will be aired extensively on social media channels at a later date.
The Kastens have backgrounds in engineering and accounting, respectively, but when friends bought the restaurant, Jenny began working there two days a week after her accounting job shut down. Within six months, the Kastens took over, buying the building and changing all aspects of the restaurant, from decor to menu. Initially, they were met with resistance from longtime customers who did not want things to change, but eventually they won residents over.
The restaurant draws customers from all over to Winamac due to its popular menu items, such as the breaded tenderloin, which is also offered as a seven-pound "Titanic Two-Handed Tenderloin Challenge".
"We're in a very rural area, but we get people that come from hours away, and it's mostly about the breaded tenderloin," Jenny Kasten said in a press release. "Landslide biggest seller. ... It's a little cult classic for our area."
In 2020, the Kastens opened the One Eyed Jack's Celebration Center, renovating the 138-year-old Vurpillat Opera House right down the street from the restaurant as a place for large events such as weddings.
The Kastens have helped make One Eyed Jack's a tourist destination for their tiny Indiana town.
"We're pretty proud of that," Mike Kasten said.
One Eyed Jack's offers dine-in and carryout six days a week. It is located at 124 N. Market St., Winamac. For information and the menu, visit www.oneeyedjackswinamac.com.
