March 6, 2018 – Devotees of cult Carmel Valley fixtures the Cachagua General Store and Douglas Ranch can celebrate this spring: the new incarnation of the General Store restaurant will begin serving as early as April 2nd at the historic former kids’ camp just ahead of the camp’s own reopening as a rustic, experiential camp for adults.
“I’m so excited, I’ve been going crazy,” says chef Michael Jones, who will be using Douglas Ranch as a base not just for the Monday night dinners and Sunday brunches that the Cachagua General Store became known for, but also his Moveable Feast catering company and the preparation of all of the food to be served at the reimagined Douglas Ranch.
Jones’ original Cachagua General Store in the heart of Cachagua—which for 14 years drew guests from as far away as San Francisco for its wildly creative food and Wild-West atmosphere—closed in 2016. Jones briefly revived CGS at his son Brendan’s Lokal restaurant in Carmel Valley Village, but the beloved Monday night dinners and Sunday Brunches have been without a home since last year.
For this reopening, Jones is partnering with his son Dylan, executive chef at Crema in Pacific Grove and a former Douglas Ranch camp counselor, and their friend D.J. Skelton, an army veteran who after suffering his own devastating wounds, founded the nonprofit organization Paradox Sports to provide the adaptive equipment and opportunities that people with disabilities need to pursue climbing.
“Basically we’re freeing up all the creative side for my dad and letting him do what he does best,” Dylan Jones says. “We’re letting him talk to the guests and cook,” while Dylan and D.J. will do the books, assist with floor management and help cook.
“We’re hoping to tame the Cachagua Store a little bit,” says Dylan Jones. “But not too much. Make it a little more accessible. A little less chaotic. No dogs running around the dining room. And no peacocks…yet.”
“We’re incorporating all the fun parts of Cachagua—our irreverence, the food being super local and fresh, the cowgirl waitresses, the wine selection at affordable prices” adds Michael Jones. “And if somebody makes a wise remark about the waitresses they’re still going to get tossed.”
Sadly for those sentimental about the old CGS, the new venture will have a new name—the working title is The Kitchen at Douglas Ranch—and because the location is a private camp, guests will have to be invited to make a reservation.
Jones only finalized the arrangement to take over the kitchen at Douglas Ranch yesterday, so how would-be guests can get invited to the Monday night dinners and Sunday brunches is still being figured out. But Jones is already moving his rare citrus tree collection to the property and setting up his kitchen. He hopes to start taking reservations at the end of next week, and recommends watching CGS’s Facebook page for invitation instructions. First up will be some soft-opening benefit events.
Meantime, Jim Flagg and Joy Berry, new owners of Douglas Ranch through their company, Silver Lining Hospitality, have big plans for providing rustic experiential resort opportunities such as equine therapy for adult campers and corporate groups.
“It’s a great piece of property,” Flagg says. “We’re hoping to be running at least partially by July 15th or August 1st.”
About the author
SARAH WOOD—founding editor and publisher of Edible Monterey Bay—has had a life-long passion for food, cooking, people and our planet.
She planted her first organic garden and cared for her first chicken when she was in elementary school in a farming region of Upstate New York.
Wood spent the early part of her career based in Ottawa, Canada, working in international development and international education. After considering culinary school, she opted to pursue her loves for writing, learning about the world and helping make it a better place by obtaining a fellowship and an MA in Journalism from New York University.
While working for a daily newspaper in New Jersey, she wrote stories that helped farmers fend off development and won a state-wide public service award from the New Jersey Press Association for an investigative series of articles about a slumlord who had hoodwinked ratings agencies and investment banks into propping him up with some early commercial mortgage securitizations. The series led Wood to spend several years in financial journalism, most recently, as editor-in-chief of the leading magazine covering the U.S. hedge-fund industry.
Wood now lives with her family in Washington, DC, where she is a freelance writer and manages communications for Samaritan Ministry, an antipoverty and antiracist nonprofit that provides struggling Greater Washington residents with highly personalized and compassionate life counseling and coaching.
