“You gotta ansa tha phone!” Backstreet Bistro owner David Jacoby’s Brooklyn accent—undiminished even after decades in Santa Fe—rises over the clamor of soup bowls and clang of metal ladles during the lunchtime rush. His tone is more insistent than angry, and by the second ring, he’s around the counter and on the phone, jotting down a to-go order.
That “do whatever it takes” attitude is part of what makes Backstreet Bistro so successful. It’s not just David’s accent that endures: from the Mets cap on top of his head to the well-worn work boots on his feet, David epitomizes “old-school” Brooklyn style and values—hard work, honesty and humor.
David doesn’t mince words, nor does he waste them. He gets right to the point, and fast. When he reveals his motives for opening Backstreet Bistro (originally named Baca Street Bistro) in 1994, he’s characteristically frank and succinct: “I got fed up with working for other people, so I did it.”
When prodded, he elaborates, “I was born into this business. My grandparents owned a bar/restaurant, my mother cooked, my grandmother cooked. My father was a restaurant supplier. I started going out with my father at age five, doing deliveries, giving out apples with menus attached. My father started teaching me how to cook when I was a kid. We’d grill steaks on the Hibachi on the front porch; I was making grilled cheese, or making coffee for my mother in the morning.” He summarizes, “I loved to cook, and I knew one day, I’d open up a restaurant.”
It’s pretty clear he’s doing what he loves. Even as folks line up six deep to get a bowl of Hungarian Mushroom, a cup of Platinum Roasted Potato or a Corned Beef Rueben, David remains busy but unruffled, waving at small children, talking sports with his regulars, and singing along to “A New York State of Mind,” all while effortlessly multitasking the register, the phones, packaging orders and managing his staff.
He may own the place, but he’s not above getting in the trenches and doing anything that’s required. I ask him how many hours a week he works, and it’s apparent that he doesn’t keep track. He simply replies, “Sixty, 65? I work as many as I need to, no matter what it is.”
“You have to be very disciplined to be able to do this,” he emphasizes. “I work hard, and my crew works hard every day, no matter what it takes. If you don’t want to work hard, you’re never gonna make it in this business.”
His dedication sets the tone for the entire staff. The servers reflect David’s work ethic and grace under pressure. They somehow achieve an unhurried efficiency, stopping to smile and chat with customers, yet speedily getting orders out. It’s a difficult balancing act, and patrons take notice. “The wait staff is always hustling, and always busy, but they always get your order right,” Backstreet Bistro regular, Haskell Sheinberg, observes.
David does seem to have a knack for retaining quality workers. He talks about the challenge of finding good employees, saying modestly, “They come, they go; I can’t make them stay.”
“The smart ones stay!” server Kat Roberts interjects with a grin. “He’s the best boss ever. I tell people this all the time—I’ve been waiting tables since I was 16, and David is the only person I’ve ever worked for who works harder than me. He’s here all the time; he works really hard. So I do everything I can to make him happy and make his business work.”
It would seem the smart ones really do stay—one of David’s cooks, Flavio Ventura, has been at the restaurant for 18 years. Another, Cesar Velasquez, has worked at Backstreet for nine years. “Our boss is cool,” Flavio says. “The way he treats people, it’s fun to work with him.” One server, Moises Cerda, has worked at Backstreet for 10 years. Kat has been there for just over three years herself, and as she puts it, “I will be with David until he tells me to go away. The bistro is amazing and I love working here, and I’ll work for David as long as he’ll let me. Anyone out in the world will tell you the best part about the bistro is David. He knows everyone in town.”
As I watch David greet customers, he does appear to know everyone by name. He jokes with them and asks about their families. There’s an uncontrived sense of community and familiarity. The atmosphere is casual and friendly, and as result, Backstreet Bistro inspires intense loyalty from Santa Fe locals. Many people come multiple times per week.
Local CPA Jon Jecker, for example, comes in an average of three days a week. He says, “The food is great, it’s really consistent, but it’s more about the ambiance. I’ve operated restaurants and worked in restaurants, so there’s something very familiar about this place.” Jon adds, “If you come as often I do or as long as I do, it’s like you’re part of the staff.”
Another regular, Patrick Casey, has been coming two or three times a week since the bistro opened. “I’ve been coming as long as I can remember,” he says, and jokes, “I like it because he hardly ever has armadillo on the menu! No, no, I like it for the consistency, the prices are totally reasonable, there’s plenty of parking available. There’s a friendly atmosphere, and you see a lot of local people.” Across the table, fellow diner John Bishop concurs, saying, “Everyone here is a local. The only time he gets tourists is when they Google ‘Soup in Santa Fe.’ So you see a lot of people you know here.”
Jeff Taylor and his wife Mary lived in Santa Fe for months before their first visit to Backstreet Bistro. “We saw it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and we saw he had won the Souper Bowl, but we just couldn’t find it!” Jeff laughs, “Then one day we were banking nearby and we finally saw it. It was like a great discovery!” Ever since that visit, they’ve been hooked. “He does a great corned-beef Rueben, the soups are awesome, and the pies are good, too!” Jeff raves. “Also, it’s fast, and the people who work here are super nice. You can tell that David Jacoby treats his people well.”
One of the most compelling things about Backstreet is how David’s New York style blends pleasantly with Santa Fe’s laid-back cordiality. David chose to open his restaurant in Santa Fe because he enjoys what he calls, “The live-and-let-live attitude. I just fell in love with this town, and it hasn’t stopped, things have gone really well for me here.”
Patrick Casey sums up the New York/New Mexico synthesis perfectly with an anecdote about the bistro’s community table. “Once I was sitting here and the guy next to me asks, ‘Are you having a New York lunch or a Santa Fe lunch?’ For a moment, I wondered, ‘Wait, I’m not at a New York deli.’ Then the guy explained: At a New York lunch, you sit next to each other but no one talks. At a Santa Fe lunch, you sit next to each other and everyone talks and gets in each other’s business. And it’s true!”
The community table also allows people to get a seat quickly, which matches well with David’s intention when he opened the business. “It’s good food at good prices, served quickly,” he explains. “This is a very busy business area, and most of my clientele are business people, about three quarters of them are eating lunch on their lunch break.” David says his customers are often “average working people who are eating lunch on the run and need something nutritious, filling and reasonably priced.”
And, oh, the food they’re eating. In addition to the standard menu of sandwiches and salads, there’s a rotating menu of soups that changes daily. “We decide what to make every day based on what’s available, what’s fresh and good, what people are asking for, what the weather is,” David says.
There’s a hint of nostalgia to the menu choices, too: Every Friday, they serve Matzo Soup, their most labor-intensive recipe. The tradition harkens back to David’s childhood memories in Sheepshead Bay. “Every Friday when I delivered newspapers in Brooklyn,” he recalls, “every apartment smelled like chicken soup. Every Friday.”
They make the Matzo Soup traditionally, simmering the bone broth overnight and making the matzo balls from scratch. And while David maintains a sense of tradition, he’s not afraid to branch out either. The menu frequently includes new soups like Jamaican-style Vegetable, or the recently added Thai Chicken Noodle. “We just started it this summer,” David says. “Everyone loves that one.”
There’s more than enough love to go around at Backstreet Bistro. Customers love the food. They love the owner. The staff loves each other. They love their boss. They love the customers. “I love the people who come in, we have a ton of really awesome regulars,” Kat says with complete sincerity. “We all know each other, it’s like a family.”
After spending a few days with the folks at Backstreet Bistro, I’d have to agree. The food and the people at this little lunch spot are everything a family should be: casual, comfortable, and most of all, comforting. If you’re not yet acquainted with Backstreet Bistro, you definitely should be. Head on over and join the family.
Backstreet Bistro is located at 513 Camino de Los Marquez in Santa Fe. 505.982.3500, backstreetbistrodailysoup.blogspot.com.