Trust Us: Janet Olsson and the Community of Industrial Eats

Janet Olsson is quick to call hospitality her “passion” and delights in sharing plates of delicious food with both longtime regulars and new diners to her Buellton eatery.

Olsson, who co-founded Industrial Eats restaurant with her late husband, Jeff, is proud of the work the couple put into their popular eatery.

“I have an incredible group of staff-slash-family members that I work with every day, and I get to interact with the wonderful people we have coming in every day.”

Besides, she said, socially, “it’s a blast” to operate a restaurant as popular as Industrial Eats. Regulars become friends, regulars bring in new diners, who then become regulars, and so on and so on.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Janet Olsson has piercing blue eyes and a smile that illuminates her face.

Industrial Eats’ diners rely on Olsson and her team to always showcase fresh-from-the-farm produce, meats and seafood, so “we utilize extraordinary, quality ingredients that are available (literally) on our doorstep. The quality is unparalleled,” she said.

In 2000, Janet and Jeff Olsson launched New West Catering, offering their unique pizzas and small bites to guests at wine festivals and private events; she and her team still cater at least twice monthly.

In 2013, the Olssons opened Industrial Eats, naming their site for its location on Industrial Way.

“We wanted to offer this quality [to the public] at a restaurant, not just at special events [like with New West]. That was a driving force behind opening a restaurant,” she said.

Now, she divides her days between office work, meal prep and working the floor, greeting and serving guests.

While Jeff Olsson was the consummate host, with a wide and welcoming smile, Janet focused on menus that the couple knew would continue to draw crowds. Some of her continual favorites on the restaurant’s menu are the same meals she gravitates toward when she cooks at home, either for herself or “small groups of friends.”

Since “I am an Irish girl,” among her go-to items are shepherd’s pie, and “one-pot wonders” such as stews and chili. “I love it when the aromas of chili fill the house,” she said.

Also in her lineage is Irish soda bread, and Olsson makes a loaf at home every week. Whites are Olsson’s favorite wines, with Chardonnays her go-to.

In her free time Olsson likes to hike Figueroa Mountain and raise Monarch butterflies, which are attracted to the milkweed she grows in her garden. “The plants’ ‘milk,’ or sap, is poison for other insects but protects the butterflies, who then lay their eggs on the milkweed,” she explained. In a particular year as many as 75 Monarchs might hatch in her yard.

Today, nearly 13 years since it opened, Industrial Eats has 22 employees. Two lead cooks and a team of others prep and prepare meals made to order.

Olsson describes the menu as “huge,” packed with standards—pizzas, salads and sandwiches—and seasonal specials. When chanterelles are available, the chefs put them to good use both on pizzas and sautéed with butter and garlic.

Daily menus are listed on parchment paper hanging high on the wall, and are divided by “pizzas,” “sandwiches,” and “hot” or “cold” dishes. At the bottom of one parchment are the words “Trust Us,” which means just that: “Let us cook for you.”

All plates are then prepared to order in cast-iron pans in the two front ovens, Olsson said. Those pizza ovens cook at up to 800°F, while the chefs’ sauté line remains at 400°F to 450°F.

Olsson has a special place in her heart for the eatery’s regulars, who number into the hundreds, she said. While many reside locally or in greater Southern California, others are “commuters between San Francisco and Los Angeles,” who seek out Industrial Eats, conveniently located about one mile off Highway 101.

One such local regular is winemaker Mikael Sigouin of Buellton’s Kaena Wines. On the day I interviewed Olsson, there sat Sigouin himself, tucking into the Cobb-style “Kaena Mikael Salad.” The restaurant’s point-of-sale computer has a key with a salad of the same name because it’s Sigouin’s regular order.

She loves the fact that Industrial Eats’ communal seating creates “camaraderie among strangers over a nice meal”—a fact that I, as a local regular, have enjoyed.

The restaurant is a favorite of the region’s winemakers, and Industrial Eats’ owners have never charged a corkage fee. That translates into regulars—winemakers or not—bringing bottles to share with the table.

Olsson herself offered our table a bucket of ice for the sparkling wine on our recent visit. Olsson knows us by name (we’re all in the wine industry) and her attention to detail was a kind touch.

As we did on that evening, “Guests tend to come in big groups and order various plates to share,” she noted.

Between Industrial Eats’ main dining room and the Grand Room is the newer and cozy “library,” formerly the tasting room for Alma Rosa Winery. A large fireplace constructed by Richard Sanford, former owner of Alma Rosa, is set into the rear wall of the room.

The Grand Room was Janet and Jeff Olsson’s solution to requests for winemaker dinners and special events, and seats 65 people. Janet continues to regularly host dinners for winemakers in both the library and Grand Room, she said.

181 Industrial Way, Buellton
805 688-8807
www.IndustrialEats.com
Open daily noon–8pm