JAY — The owners of My Dad’s Place bar and grill in North Jay said they are excited to be featured on America’s Best Restaurants show.

A film crew will be at the establishment at 458 Old Jay Hill Road, near the intersection of state Route 4, Thursday morning.

Lynn and Matt Brennick bought the business in 2005 and just celebrated 19 years, Lynn Brennick wrote in an email. It was a convenience store until 2020 but they had to close for COVID-19. They took the time to renovate the previous dining room into a full-service restaurant and added a full bar with 30 beers on tap, she said.

“In 2021, we closed again to completely remove the convenience store and turn 100% into a full service restaurant. We took a lot of our menu items and made them better by creating more scratch-made recipes, but still keeping many favorites that our community enjoys,” Lynn Brennick said. “We still have the same recipe for pizzas and pocket Dagwoods.”

A producer from the show on Food Network called them last fall.

“We are so excited for this opportunity,” she said. “Last fall, a producer of America’s Best Restaurants reached out to me. She said that one of our customers, Donna Hartzell, nominated us to be one of America’s Best Restaurants.”

Lynn Brennick responded to the message and they scheduled a zoom meeting to talk with a producer.

“They offered us the opportunity to film an episode to feature a few of our dishes, and showcase what we’re all about,” she said.

The crew will be in Maine for the first time to film the episode from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday. The show will be on YouTube.

“We will stay closed until 11 a.m., the time we open typically anyways, then our customers will have the opportunity to be part of filming and such from 11-12,” she said.

The restaurant has reservations for every table at 11 a.m.

“After that rush, people are welcome to stop by, or use the link at the top of our Facebook page to reserve a table anytime,” Lynn Brennick said.

Both of the Brennicks work in the kitchen.

Their son, Spencer, was involved for a time but is now pursuing other interests.

“We used to average six to seven employees, but at the current time we employ 23 people,” Lynn Brennick said.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Consumer confidence in U.S. falls in June as Americans fret about near-term prospects

Next »

Maine’s civilian workforce returns to pre-pandemic size