The parking lot was nearly full, and inside the serving and cook staff were hustling to take, make and serve patrons hungerly awaiting their meals, when Bigfoot Eats hosted its soft opening on Tuesday.

Tonya Paul; her husband, Richard Petty; and their daughter Jade Petty, who had just finished their breakfasts, were all delighted with their meals — the quality and the portions.

Paul said her “Country Omelette” stuffed with sausage, bacon, red bell pepper, mushrooms, onions, cheese and home fries topped with country gravy was “outstanding.” Her husband enjoyed his “Bigfoot Feast,” which included two pieces of bacon, two sausage links, two eggs, home fries and a country-gravy-smothered chicken fried steak that his daughter described “as big as Bigfoot’s foot.”

“She just does an amazing job,” said Paul. “We are so happy to have another really good sit-down restaurant in town.”

“She” is Christina Jarchow, the owner and force behind Bigfoot Eats.

The new restaurant, located at 1751 Oro Dam Boulevard in the old Papacito’s Mexican Grill and Cantina location, isn’t Jarchow’s first rodeo. She’s been in the restaurant business since she was 17. She started her hospitality career at Country Smorgy’s and then went on to work at Cornucopia, where she was the eatery’s manager until six months before the venue closed in 2022. That same year, she opened her first restaurant, Bigfoot Eats and Market, in Clipper Mills with support from her husband Mike Jarchow.

“We had stars in our eyes when first found the location in Clipper Mills,” said Jarchow. “We didn’t research how we’d survive in the off seasons. We thrived during the winter and summer months, but the off seasons or when there was no snow in the winter, we struggled.

“We really wanted to bring the business closer to home where we wouldn’t have to depend on the seasons .”

New spot

Jarchow spent three years watching and waiting for an opportunity to bring her business to her hometown. When Papacito’s closed and the facility became available, Jarchow decided to make the move and closed the Clipper Mills location.

“We got the keys (to the Oroville location) on May 1 and went to work,” said Jarchow. “We did a lot of cleaning, a lot. Then we did an extensive facelift inside. We put redwood and wood laminate over the walls to make the entry and dining room more warm and welcoming. We wanted it to have the same woodsy feeling as our place in Clipper Mills to stay with the Bigfoot theme.”

Some of the customers dining at the restaurant on Tuesday, like Paul and her family, had been customers at the Clipper Mills location and were happy to have the restaurant closer to home. Other customers, including Dustin Lee and Jim and Penny Logue, were first-time Bigfoot patrons.

“I’ll definitely return to eat here,” said Lee.

Looking over the menu and then around the crowded the dining room, Jim Logue said, “It looks like a good menu to me. And, it sure looks like a hard, not soft, opening to me. It’s nice to see this many people come out to support a new business in town.”

Good eats

The menu features some of the same popular items served in Clipper Mills, including the “Big Sexy,” a hamburger topped with smoked pulled pork, bacon, fried pickles, cheese, fried onions and secret sauce.

“We also kept our number one seller, ‘Trashcan Squatchos,’” said Jarchow. “It’s homemade queso cheese in a can that we open at the table and serve with hand-cut tortilla chips, smoked pulled pork and Pico de Gallo.”

The lunch and dinner menu includes six hearty burgers and eight sandwich options including “Cornucopia’s Parmesan Melt,” filled with fried chicken and melted cheese served on grilled parmesan-crusted sourdough bread. The “Mountain Fair Meatloaf” sandwich, which Jarchow created for the Brown’s Valley Fair years ago, adds “flair” to a traditional menu item, said Jarchow.

“It includes double-staked smoked meatloaf (and) a barbeque and queso spread on grilled jalapeno cheddar bread,” said Jarchow.

Other menu items — including Bigfoot’s chef salad, the loaded mac and cheese and the “BBQ Trio” — feature meats smoked for the restaurant by Jarchow’s husband, who built the smoker himself.

Bigfoot also has a “Little Foots” menu featuring kid-sized portions of breakfast, lunch and dinner items named after Jarchow’s grandkids Geo, Laila, Everette, Emery and Arlo.

While the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus are impressive, the dessert menu — featuring Gunther’s ice cream, cookies stuffed with peanut butter cups or Mound’s bars, fried bread pudding and “Verrrrry Berrrrry Dream Cake — is nothing to sneeze at.

“It’s homemade, everything on that menu,” said Jarchow. “The bread pudding recipe comes from Cornucopia, and I just tweaked (it) a bit. The stuffed cookies are something I started making for the kids at Christmas years ago and the for the Union restaurant for the Paws for a Cause fundraiser. Everybody is crazy about them.”

Loyal staff

Many of the Oroville restaurant’s 20-member staff, including day lead chef Steve Hall and night lead chef Ed Hawk, have worked with Jarchow for years — some since as far back since her days at Cornucopia.

“I love the hospitality side of the business, but I really love my team,” said Jarchow. “They help me serve the community in the best way we can and help create an atmosphere for memories to be made for our customers.”

Waitress Stephanie Craddick, who lives in Challenge, has known Jarchow for 24 years and worked in the Clipper Mills restaurant and says she “happily commutes to Oroville to keep working” for the restaurateur.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Craddick. “(Jarchow) is an amazing boss. I’ve told her she’s stuck with me until she retires from the business.”

Bigfoot Eats, which officially opened on Wednesday, does not have bar service, but Jarchow said the venue’s beer and wine license will be issued within the next three to four weeks. In addition to adding the alcohol beverages to its offerings, Bigfoot will also be offering all-you-can-eat catfish dinners on Fridays and all-you-can-eat prime rib dinners on Saturdays.

“My passions are hospitality, food and community,” said Jarchow. “We just want to provide the best quality food made from the best ingredients and serve it to people in a comfortable and friendly atmosphere. We have a love of food and want to share it.”

For information about Bigfoot Eats’ menu, hours and specials, visit facebook.com/bigfooteats

Reach Kyra Gottesman at kgottesman@chicoer.com