Though his son Adam has officially taken over Hoffman’s, Ed Hoffman doesn’t plan on retiring from what he loves.
After being featured on TV’s Restaurant Impossible, Hoffman’s made some changes. In addition to their diverse offerings—breakfast, lunch, elegant California style dinners, cakes and baked goods—they added a full bar, plus they’ve been tweaking the menu over the past eight months. Additionally, owners Ed Hoffman and wife Judy have handed the reins to their son Adam. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still involved, and we talked to Ed about the future of the restaurant.
SCW: Are you still working at Hoffman’s?
Yeah. It’s my home away from home. I still derive a lot of satisfaction from making nice cakes. I’m 61, and I’ve been working in the food business my entire adult life. It’s time to kick back a little bit. I’m a little more relaxed now. I still got a schedule. I still have to come in and bark orders, but a few less hours.
You’ve added an entire gourmet burger menu, with nine options. What the best one?
We have an East Coast burger that’s called the Back Alley that I really like. It’s not our best seller, but it’s really interesting. It has green olives, ham and cheddar. It just makes a fantastic flavor on that half-pound patty. We’ve always made this great, natural, grass-fed half-pound beef burger on our own wheat bun. People have been telling me for years, you have the best burger in town, so I thought we’d let everybody know front and center on the menu.
What other ways have you changed the menu?
We lowered prices on things over the last year, and we’re trying to play more of a volume edge, and have food that’s more appealing to the general public, rather than the California cuisine. We’re just trying to pull in a few more tourists. When I grew up in the business, I grew up in fine dining, French restaurant, tuxedos and tablecloths—that whole thing. Through the years, things have gravitated more to simple, comfort food. That’s probably a reflection of the economy. That’s where we’re at. The first thing I did was bring back some of our old favorites, like the butternut squash ravioli, and two German entrees: Jägerschnitzel, which is a pork cutlet with red cabbage, and also a German-style trout. We kept the meatloaf. We still want the same pizzazz. We’re not really dumbing things down. We still have a great California-inspired cuisine. It’s just in different formats that say, “Here try me, don’t be afraid of this.”
