Business & Tech

Shoreline Coffee Shop's High-Wire Act in Tam Junction

New owner and chef of 50-year-old restaurant work to find the right balance between luring newbies and retaining longtime regulars. So far, despite a few bumps in the road, it's working.

, the former owner of the , knows a little something about sustaining a Mill Valley landmark institution.

He’s also known to have an opinion or two.

So when Goddard noticed that the , the Mexican-American diner in Tam Junction where he’s been eating for 30 years, stopped playing traditional Mexican music when its ownership changed hands in late 2011 – and that the new music was louder than he liked – he let new owner Ged Robertson know about it.

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Robertson, who owns and is one of the major investors behind the , was in the midst of making changes to a restaurant that hadn’t changed much in its nearly 50 years of existence. Robertson brought in Luis Lagos, the former executive chef at the Haramara Retreat in Sayulita, Mexico, to help him do so when longtime owner Santiago Ojeda retired after running Shoreline for 47 years.

But Robertson then did something that caught Goddard by surprise: he had staffers cue up some traditional Mexican tunes when he arrived. It was a small gesture, but to Goddard, it said something: they “got it,” and they wanted to find a balance between the culinary and aesthetic changes they sought without losing customers who’d been coming there for decades.

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“I have a few other quibbles, but I’m still going, which says a lot,” Goddard says. “On the whole, they’re doing the best they can do and they’re busier now than they used to be. I certainly can’t fault them for that. I still love the place.”

Robertson acknowledges that luring new customers while retaining old-timers has been a learning experience at times. Lagos changed the menu twice in the first week, which put both regulars and longtime employees on their heels for a moment, but they’ve treaded lightly since then and have reversed course when it made sense.

For instance, Lagos has made subtle changes to the beans four times in recent months, moving closer and closer to his own recipe. Shoreline now gets its eggs from on Tennessee Valley Road and its bread comes from off Hwy. 1. Other changes, such a shift to organic tortillas, have seen them reverse course after getting some blowback.

“If it goes too far, you hear about it and you adjust,” Lagos says.

Robertson recounts an instance of a longtime customer storming out in a profanity-laced tirade about the beans. He returned not long after and has been eating there regularly ever since.

“It’s this crazy little timeless place,” Robertson says. “Everybody seems to connect with it for different reasons and they’ve kept coming back for decades.”

The same can be said for the waitresses. Alice Cannistraci – “the new girl” – is 78 years old, has been working at Shoreline for 15 years and has no plans to leave.

“I’ll think about it when I’m 80,” she says. “They kid me about that, saying I’ll be going from table to table in a walker with a tray on top full of plates.”

grad Bonnie Coleman is Cannistraci’s junior by 10 years but has been at Shoreline for 32 years.

“I was definitely a little nervous at first – I was just going to retire with Santi,” she says of the ownership change. “But it’s been good. And I don’t like change – obviously.”

Ojeda, who like Robertson lives in Tam Valley, stops into Shoreline occasionally to say hello to the people he’s known for decades. The 76-year-old has a spring in his step since retiring and says he’s thrilled to have more time to visit his sisters – one in San Jose and one in Mexico City – after working 14-plus hours a day, 7 days a week for nearly five decades.

As he weathered the in December 2012 and the in the biggest building in the neighborhood, Ojeda got serious about selling his business to Robertson last year. Before the deal was finalized, Ojeda met Robertson one day in mid-November wearing a Hawaiian shirt and just tossed him the keys.

“It was just time,” he says. “I’m no spring chicken.”

“He’s a happy man,” Robertson says.

More changes are on the way, including a beer and wine menu, outdoor seating and walk-up espresso window. Robertson expects some of the changes to face some resistance, but says as long as he keeps listening to his regulars, Shoreline will continue to add newbies while keeping the diehards happy and coming back.

“Luis is putting out hands down the best Mexican food in Marin,” Robertson says.

Cannistraci says Shoreline also has a secret weapon in finding that delicate balance. She says part of Shoreline’s allure comes from offering something people crave, especially nowadays with everyone attached to their phones and computers and getting a huge chunk of their social interaction through online.

“People are so starved for a little recognition and to have a sense of place,” she says. “They light up when you remember their names and remember what they like to order. That’s what has never changed about this place.”

The 411: is at 221 Shoreline Highway in Tam Junction, (415) 388-9085. It is open from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays; 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekends.


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