T he Jac Sanibel Island Bar & Grille
Eve and Nicholas Alves
Eve Alves grew up in a restaurant family and the tradition is continuing at The Jac Sanibel Island Bar & Grille. Not only is her sister the pastry chef but her son, Nicholas, is the general manager. Her husband, Alex, has worked at Congress Jewelers on Sanibel for some 16 years and she jokes, “He comes in every night and he is like the mayor of the restaurant.”
Nicholas had always helped in his mother’s restaurants but with a near-perfect SAT score, he went to college to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. “I enjoyed it but in my gut, it just didn’t feel right,” the young restaurateur says about engineering.
He switched to music; that didn’t feel right either. He says, “The restaurant had always been there so I never looked at it like, ‘This is what I want to do with my life.’ It was Mom’s thing.” Five years ago, the light bulb went on. Nicholas says, “I started focusing on it [the restaurant] and things clicked. Every time I go into work, it feels right.”
He’s done almost every job in the restaurant with the exception of cooking—until now. Nicholas has spent the last few months at The Jac in the trenches, behind the line, saying: “I think it’s important. If you are in charge, you need to be able to fill all facets. You can’t lead if you don’t understand all things.”
When it comes to working with family, Eve says, “It’s hard being an owner and a mother. He [Nicholas] doesn’t always realize I’m setting him up for success and doesn’t always understand until he walks in my shoes; then he says, ‘Aha!’ ”
Nicholas adds, “We make a good team but it’s not a traditional employee-employer relationship—so certain actions are different and could go really well or really bad.” He says, laughing, “She is a Greek and a Gemini; a very spirited woman.”
Eve puts things in perspective: “Family is first. If that is the foundation, then everything else comes, including success.”
Flavors to Savor: Pork Belly. Rubbed with a complex blend of fresh herbs and citrus, the meat is smoked four hours. Finished in the oven, then sliced and served with pickled vegetables. A dish in high demand: When it runs out, and it often does, you may have to wait a day or two for more.