In 1949, Bob Broome and Lula Mclure opened Bob’s Footlong as a mobile business selling hot dogs at the Humboldt County Fair and later by the Fortuna movie theater on Main Street. Eventually it moved into the brick-and-mortar location at 505 12th St., where it throve under owners Ozzie and Joanne Smith. They passed the business down to their son and daughter-in-law Mike and Karen Smith, who kept the tradition going before selling to Jose and Tanya Moreno. The Miliches, who’ve purchased the business and will rent the space, which is still owned by Mike and Karen Smith. The Miliches plan to stick to the storied shop’s style, as evidenced by the familiar orange-striped logo with its sly Dachshund on the building and online, where they are accepting applications.
Jessica Milich, who’ll be running the shop day to day with the help of her mother Neleen Nichols, has been working in healthcare as executive director at Sequoia Springs Senior Living Facility. But she’s ready to make the switch to the restaurant business, to which she’s no stranger. She says her grandmother owned the restaurant at Six Rivers Lodge and Resort in Mad River, where Jessica and her mother worked alongside her. And like Jessica, her grandmother was a fan of Bob’s Footlongs, too.
“Now when my grandmother would go there when it was the trailer,” says Jessica. As a high school student, Nichols used to order the “burrito banquet” years later at the 12th Street spot, though what that entailed is a bit of a fuzzy memory. As for the Miliches, “My husband is the cheeseburger fan I’m the chili dog fan,” says Jessica, who’s order was “usually a chili dog and garlic fries and a small chocolate shake.” As a born-and-bred Fortunan, she says she’s excited to bring back the local classic for those who miss it and a new generation of customers.
Jessica and Daniel, who is branch manager at Security Lock and Alarm, are veterans of local chili cook-offs, though they’re set on using Karen Smith’s classic chili recipe and putting the signature chili dog together the same way. For those of you for whom it’s been too long, that means splitting the sausage lengthwise to grill it and melt cheese on top before nestling it in a warm bun with a zigzag of mustard, and burying the whole thing in what seems like an untenable amount of meat and bean chili and a sprinkling of chopped white onion. As for the rest of the menu, Jessica says it will be basically as it was, if slightly condensed. They plan to “kinda play it by ear,” keeping an eye on what items customers want. “We’re going to try and use as many of their recipes as we can,” she says.
“I’m absolutely 100 percent nervous but I’m excited nervous,” says Jessica, who says the couple received encouragement from restaurateur Guy Fieri, a friend of Daniel’s. “He said, ‘You guys have gotta go for it,’” she recalls. Staffing and training are the next hurdles. “We don’t want to rush it.” The kitchen and dining area don’t appear to need much renovation at this point. “So far, fingers crossed, everything has been functioning and looks good,” she says.
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