For more than six years, West Ward residents pining for the crab cakes and hand-cut fries of Uncle Wesley's had to go without.
But that's about to change next month.
A new J's Steaks and Subs restaurant is opening at 1100 Bushkill St. in Easton. The owner bought the old recipes, so you can expect big burgers in addition to what J's does best: steak sandwiches and subs.
"I think this could be a great fit," said the new owner, Eddie Lozano. He's gotten great feedback from neighbors of the restaurant that was open from 1939 to 2010.
"They all sorely miss Uncle Wesley's," he said.
He bought the site from the family of Matthew Cyphers and hopes to have it open again by March 1 or March 15 at the latest.
He's trying to revitalize the entire J's Steaks and Subs chain. The chain once had more than 40 restaurants as recently as 20 years ago but was down to three when Lozano bought the name about three years ago.
He revitalized the final three locations in Telford, Bethlehem and Northampton and added a location in Lower Nazareth. He plans to open new restaurants at the Uncle Wesley's site, in Forks Township and on Easton's South Side this spring. His goal is to be at 20 locations by next year.
That's what Lozano does. He takes struggling brands and fixes them. For a three-year period, he was commuting from Palmer Township to Pittsburgh every week to revive Iron City beer.
He left the job as Iron City CEO four years ago to spend more time with his children, ages 10, 8 and 6. He hopes to do with J's what he did with suds.
"I thought it was a great opportunity to take a business that had fallen on tough times and turn it around," he said.
When you eat at J's, you'll get a Philly-style cheesesteak with a twist. Forget the Cheez Wiz. Most steaks come with American cheese, marinara sauce and a topping of pickles.
"Our hoagies are bigger, taste better and are more attractively priced (than competitors')," he added.
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New to J's courtesy of Lozano are chicken cheesesteaks, natural fruit smoothies and chicken chimichangas.
"We've sampled them with some employees and our customers and everyone loves them," he said.
One longtime Uncle Wesley's menu item Lozano won't offer? A beer. The new restaurant won't serve alcohol and will cater to families rather than just adults. That's why he'll serve ice cream and shakes.
But Lozano does hope to refurbish a potato peeling machine he found in the basement. He's optimistic that a good scrubbing will have it up and running and getting potatoes ready to be sliced into homemade fries.
Although he needs to replace some of the outdated kitchen equipment, the previous owners left the restaurant mostly ready to go with just some cleaning.
"It's like they just closed the door that day and never came back," Lozano said.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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