Dick Reader lifted up his bowl of glistening peach cobbler with its scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream and smiled.
“Doesn’t this just say it all?” he asked. “I wouldn’t eat this anywhere else.”
Reader and his wife, Joyce, both prepared to dig into their dessert at one of their favorite restaurants.
The two travel about three times a week from Capital Hill to Lakewood to eat at Jus Cookin’s.
The menu includes dishes such as fried chicken, meatloaf and different kinds of cobbler year-round.
Offerings can change from season to season, something the Readers are looking forward to trying.
“I’m dying for when they change to pumpkin pie,” Reader said.
With peaches in season, Jus Cookin’s has been all about cobbler lately, said owners Char and Steve Modlich, who started the business about 18 years ago.
They use about five tons of peaches — about 50 cases a week — from July to September.
It’s the restaurant’s most popular flavor, aside from other popular cobblers and dishes – the most popular being fried chicken, followed by chicken pot pie.
Liver and onions is also a regular favorite — although Char and Steve Modlich differ on this particular dish.
“I like it,” Steve Modlich said. “My wife doesn’t like it.”
Char Modlich — who wore a button that read, “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.” — said she was a bigger fan of the raspberry cobbler.
Puffy, golden rolls were stacked on trays ready to be added onto dishes during the restaurant’s lunch rush on a recent afternoon.
Customers of all ages filled up much of the dining room, where the walls are decorated with everything from old colanders and hand mixers to an older set of skis.
Although Jus Cookin’s has operated for close to two decades, it has only been open locally for about two years.
That’s because the Modlichs relocated it after about 16 years in Aurora.
They moved to Lakewood when they didn’t want to lease a building anymore and decided they wanted to own their own place. Their neighbor ended up building it for them, and they made their move along with their whole wait staff.
“It’s been busier (than Aurora) from the day we opened,” Char Modlich said.
And the Modlichs have been together through it all and this month celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary.
“A lot of people can’t believe that we work together and have been married that long,” Char Modlich said.
They met while both worked in the restaurant business at a Wyoming ranch.
Now they spend long hours at their own place — Steve Modlich working 70 hours a week, a reduction from past years — while Char Modlich works about 60 hours.
“It’s worth it,” he said. “We like our jobs.”
Char Modlich oversees the front end of the business, including serving customers and hiring.
“He does all the cooking, and I do all the eating,” she said, laughing
Steve Modlich, who trained as a chef and has been in the restaurant business for more than 40 years, oversees the cooking.
“I’ve always loved cooking … country-type food,” he said. “I just loved the challenge. I loved the fast pace of it.”
Over the years, he has noticed customers’ tastes change slightly, with more eating fresh fruit and requesting more sodium-free and gluten-free dishes.
But the menu has essentially stayed the same since they were at their previous location, and it’s a formula they plan to stick with for the foreseeable future.
“We haven’t changed,” Steve Modlich said. “When it’s working, why?”