Today we're going to change that with John Lindquist. He's the managing partner at tam O'Shanter in Los Felis. And I welcome you to the show, my friend Neil. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure and I appreciate you taking the time to come down. I know Saturdays are very hard, they're a busy time for restaurants for a
couple reasons. I do want to talk about tam as a whole because it's one of my all time favorite places that encapsulates, you know, motion, a vibe, a sense of getting away and away from the noise in life. Great food, you know, fun servers, people that seem to want to want to be there and work there, people enjoying themselves, all these things. But I want to start out with something you're doing now with Table thirty one,
a special that you're doing. Why don't you tell people about table thirty one please?
Yeah?
So Table thirty one is the most requested table in the restaurant.
It actually was Walt Disney's favorite table.
Wow, did he ever say why it was? Is there is the location? I've seen it, I've never sat there, But is there some reason that he wanted that.
It's a foretop, right, Yeah, it's a fore top, mainly because it was his back would be up to the wall. He could see everybody coming in through the bar area was mafia, no, but he would take his meetings there, and you got to remember the animators were there too, and they always wanted to get stuff in front of him.
Gotcha.
He could see him coming fire.
People were going to show his wares or their wares or whatever. And he had his favorites there as well. Right, His foods that he liked that he ordered quite often. Was he the Taypo ordered the same meal over and over?
From what you've heard, Yeah, he was pretty much here's a meat potatoes kind of guy. Yeah, so chili fried eggs, hamburger steaks, real simple.
Fair Wow, sounds like me without all the genius, but the appetites similar, and so there's a lot of I mean, the vibe of tam O'Shanter is also whimsical, and it wasn't far from the studio at the time, and all of those things, so it made sense. Do you know of any specific I don't know, deals or ideas that were made at table thirty one.
Well, I mean a lot of things were done at Table thirty one. Table thirty one was part of the inspiration for some attractions in Disneyland were actually formed right there. He sketched him on the back of Tama Shanner napkins, which are now in the family Archive in San Francisco.
Wow, they won't even give us a copy of them, but really we did.
We were able to get what was on those napkins and we were able to etch it into the table.
So you can see the etchings on the table.
That's cool. Yeah, that's cool and permanent and a really neat thing. There are so many people that in Los Angeles have touched or experienced or have had an idea pop into their head. To be able to, I don't know, commemorate that in a way is powerful. Now, you folks at tam O'shantern have gone above and beyond with that and now offering something that you couldn't get before, and that is a lunch and a dinner that's been curated around the Walt Disney experience with a historian or somebody.
So explain about that.
Yeah, So guests have the opportunity now to book and guarantee the table before it was always like a first come, first serve, you know, and you never knew if you were going to get it. So those who didn't get it felt like their day got ruined because they didn't get to sit at the table. So now we made an experience via open table where people can book it
out for two hour time slots. So basically how it works is they get a four course meal either lunch or dinner, and it's some of We've got Wall's favorite burger on there, which is the only place in the restaurant you can get that burger is at that table.
Yeah, because it's not on the menu right now, it's not.
On the menu, and it's it's always been like this secret menu item, but it was it's never official. It was not officially put on a menu anywhere. So they can get they had the opportunity to have that. And then throughout the meal, we've got our storytellers there. So we've got our historians on staff, our Disney table ambassadors.
That's so cool to come to the table and they'll bring little.
Tidbits and talk about, you know, the experience that Wald had when he was there.
You know what's funny is I don't have a problem eating alone, you know. For what I do, I try a lot of places out and go places. My wife is not a big foodie, so so you know, I'd go occasionally. But Town is one of the few places where I just go sit at the bar and have a meal there and don't even think about it. Just the vibe of the place and talking with whoever's bawding the stick and just hanging out is just it just
puts you in a whole different mindset. How long have you been the managing partner.
I've been running the place for the families for fifteen years now.
Wow.
Yeah, And you know what brought you there? Had you been in that industry before? Had you known the history of tam O'Shanter?
I lucked out, honestly, good for you. So I came out of grad school, I went to Vegas.
I was working in restaurants there, and then I ended up in la randomly with the same company that I was working in Vegas. They were opening a restaurant out here. Didn't do so well, and then I found Lowri's. I found Lowri's the primer m. I said, wow, it's an interesting restaurant, it's an interesting concept. I think I'll go and work for them. So luckily they gave me a job, and then you know, the spot at the Tama Shutter came out. They said, this would be perfect for you. You know,
you'd love to do this. It's a real challenge and it's a fun place to work and I lucked out, you know, fifteen years ago.
Good for you, I mean, and it is it is. I would imagine it's a challenge for a couple of reasons. You have new people coming in. You have old people who have been there and I mean old who have experienced the restaurant through whatever changes or thereof, and things like that that want things exactly the way to stay. And I always find that heritage places throw that curveball where keeping it the same but moving it forward is a battle.
Is that true? That's absolutely true. We have our what we refer to as our legacy guests, right.
Yeah, some of them. I called them old legacy guests sounds better.
So we've been open for one hundred and three years.
Yeah, we have guests who are one hundred and three years old who have been there every year for their birthday essentially, which is which is nuts to think about, you know, one hundred three years old in the restaurant business is crazy. But to have guests who have been there for the better part of that century that we've been open to balance having to move forward, you know,
having to put a vegetarian dish on the menu. Yeah, I mean that was a scary thing when that was done, you know, twenty years ago, and you can imagine the uproar. But every every time we change the menu a little bit, we do get a lot of pushback from the guests there.
So, well, where's this dish? Where's that dish? They said.
We always tell them, Listen, you got to remember that that dish you had twenty thirty years ago. It might have changed, but that was new twenty and thirty years ago when you started like, yeah, so you're gonna find something new.
Yeah, something Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it. You know, that's the whole point is. That's why it's funny how tam o' shantered has been through, you know, all kinds of different things La has been through. But the reality is most places that are coming into the sea and the food scene now are trying to find a vibe, trying to find something that's worth. It's more than just the food. Now now people want an atmosphere and they want you know, and Tam has had it
the whole time. So people get to go in there enjoy that. And whenever I walk in, I don't care what time of the year it is, I always feel, you know. Now, the holidays are always fun, and of course going in there in March is always a blast. But it just has its own energy and speaks to an older La and Hollywood that I happen to be a fan of. So you're very lucky to do though.
Right now, my guest is John Lindquist. He is the managing partner of Tam o' shanter in Los Felis in Los Angeles here right off of the five if you're going that way, and it just is a special place. It's owned by the Lowry's folks, so you know that they The food is already spectacular, but the vibe and the history one hundred and three years old, it just
is an incredibly special place. And so John was talking about how Table thirty one is where you know, Walt Disney used to sit there with you know, three guests and make deals and come up with you know, ideas of things, you know, notes on napkins type stuff and talk about having a foot in the door of history. And we were talking a little bit about how you can now get that. You can reserve that table a special meal for a special price that I think is fantastic.
It's basically a four course meal there. You can check that out. Do you have to go to the lowry site first? You go to Lowry's to find you guys?
Oh yeah, you can go to Tamil Shadder dot com or Lowry's online dot com dot you either.
Way, and then you can on the open table you can reserve and get your reservations there. So what's going on with the menu right now? What are the things? Prime Rib obviously is going to be on there, but what are some things that are the favorites of people that come in tam O Shanter.
So our number one favorite during the daytime lunch service is our brisket sandwich. Oh yeah, We've been doing brisket for a long long time. It's the most popular and I know why because it's the only thing my wife asked me to bring home from the restaurant, you know, after being there at fifteen years that's the one thing she still requests, can.
You bring me some brisket tonight?
It is? It is an incredible sandwich. And yeah, brisket's fantastic.
Yeah, it goes great with our pant coleslaw, beets and pickles that we've been doing for at least fifty Wow.
And what's your jam? What do you go to after being there the whole time fifteen years? Yourself?
I mean, I'm always a sucker for a nice piece of prime rib. But that said, you know, I'm a pub food kind of guy. Yeah, I love the vibe of our pub, so I love our chicken sandwich. It cannot be beat. It really is a it's a it's an amazing sandwich. And I'm a burger guy too. Yeah, but I get mine. I add the extra patty to mine.
Yeah, look at you. I'm trying to think if it's is it served with a knife in the center these days, I'm trying to think of it, or if the burger just comes as is it's been a long time.
It comes as okay, it's topped with you know, your traditional lettuce tomato.
Oh my god, it.
Just that is like the food that brings a smile to my face no matter what. And when you don't know what you want, you can walk into place like tam O Shantern and get something off the menu and it's going to bring you that joy that like, oh, I didn't even know that I wanted this today, but this is what I want. So of course, okay, that's sandwich. What about dinner time? What's what's the number one order that comes in on the menu.
I mean, then number one order is you know, I mean fifty percent of the guests to order prime rib. Yeah, and you know, I mean, obviously we've made it famous with Lowry's the Prime Rib, and Lowry's the Prime Rib was born at the Tama Shanter. That seasoning salt was mixed in our garage at the restaurant in nineteen thirty seven, right before we opened in nineteen thirty eight.
At Lowry's. The Prime Rim still one of my favorites.
I learned about it from my mom and now it's a staple not only in my indoor kitchen, but my outdoor kitchen in the backyard has it in sealed drawers back there too. It just is one of those things that you don't get anywhere else and your side, what's your side? Your go to side?
My side is always the cream spinach. Oh yeah, we do it traditionally with the bacon in it, and it's you know, it's it's been a staple of that menu since nineteen thirty eight.
Excellent. How's business been?
Business is great? Actually good?
You know, I think we had a very challenging start to this year, but we've been an anchor in that community in Atwater Village for one hundred and three years, so we kind of became their go to comfort spot, you know, with all the trouble that was happening with fires and whatnot. I think people found that sense of comfort and sense of home that the time of Shenner kind of kind of gives off.
And it's an interesting vibe there on Los Fieless Boulevard too, because you have the new I mean, you have Costco across the street, and you have stuff like that, But there is that little nook right there on the most gosh, what would be that most southern part of trying thing where that runs. But how you have this time capsule in that building and that it hasn't seemed to change. I mean, could look at pictures of it forty years ago.
It looks the same.
Yeah. You go into you know, open the door and go in there and you see the faux and the history. Just the vibe, the the smell of the place is just welcoming, everything about it. So I just I can't say enough great things about it. Any last words about tam O'Shanter that you want people to know or if they haven't been in, what they should try.
Yeah, if you haven't been in. I mean, we've got a diverse menu. We're not We're not a one dish restaurant like Lowry's the Prime Rim. We've got a little bit of everything for everybody.
You know. We're family friendly. We always have been.
You know, we see three generations of a family sitting around the dining room table and love it. You know, dining rooms every night. So you know, it's just it's a great place to to get away from the hustle and bustle of LA.
Yeah, and it's friendly and you're always met with friendly. It just the whole I can't recommend it enough if you if you've never been, and I know we've got a massive audience, you know throughout California and beyond even Las Vegas and Arizona and everything else. But you know, make a day trip. If you're you know south here, you're in Orange County, make a day trip or plan to come out. And if you're local and haven't been, just take yourself out, go and enjoy yourself. It just
really is a special place and there's good people. So it's my first time meeting John Lindquist there, so it was a real pleasure.
Man.
I appreciate you taking the time to come in.
Yeah, Neil, thanks for having me, and I really appreciate me you.
It's my pleasure. But I know that Saturdays are busy, so you've got to run back and make sure that the cats are all where they're supposed to be. But good time had by all at tam O'Shanter. Get out there and enjoy yourself. And if you have the testecular fortitude to go there four in March and enjoy a little Saint Patti's Day, good luck to you. It's packed, but man, it's like nothing else you've ever experienced.
As well,