067 Eatery in Rancho Santa Fe offers tasty, inexpensive food in neighborhood atmosphere

By Karen Billing

What exactly is 067 Eatery? Come on in and find out.

The new restaurant and hangout spot quietly opened its doors in November at the Fairbanks Ranch Plaza on San Dieguito Road and has had people poking their head in to see what its all about since then.

Owners Chase and Bill Baker want it to be a laidback spot that is tasty and affordable, with nothing on the menu over $8. Saddle up to the window bench stuffed with cozy pillows or belly up to the marble bar to watch a game after work. If you ask them to switch it to the afternoon’s episode of “Dr. Phil” they will.

“We just want it to be a neighborhood restaurant where people can come and eat inexpensive food,” said Bill Baker. “It’s stuff you can make at home when you don’t feel like making it.”

The Bakers have been in the neighborhood for the last 15 years; the Baker children went to the Nativity School and Cathedral Catholic High.

Both Bill and his son Chase have backgrounds in the restaurant industry; Bill in San Diego and Chase at the Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara.

With his company Sterling Interiors/Design, Bill Baker had done a lot of flooring work in the Fairbanks Ranch Plaza. When the plaza owners found out about Bill’s and his son’s restaurant past, they inquired about their interest in opening up a place in the plaza’s vacant spot.

“After talking to Chase about it we decided we would do it because there’s no place around here that’s a neighborhood place, a place for the people who work and live around here that don’t want to spend a million dollars to go eat,” Baker said.

The restaurant, designed by Sterling Interiors/Design, doubles as a showroom.

The tabletops are actually different floorings that they sell and the mismatched effect is cool and modern. Everything you see is for sale — price tags dangle from the chandeliers, the chairs and the local artwork on the wall. You like the countertop on the bar? They will sell it.

They also have a stylishly outfitted private dining and meeting room that can be rented out for an event or meetings.

067 is still in the process of acquiring its liquor license but there is no corkage fee to come on in and pop your own bottle.

The menu is simple comfort foods like a veggie plate, quesadillas, salads, sandwiches and a variety of “toasties,” the Bakers’ name for paninis. The “Mac Daddy” chicken salad comes bursting with chicken, red grapes, poppy seeds, celery and walnuts with Ranch dressing. The “holiday turkey” panini boasts hand carved turkey breast with provolone, cranberry served on sourdough bread.

067 is a place where you can drop in for a coffee fix or come in during the morning for bagel, yogurt or oatmeal.

The food might take a little longer to get out but Baker doesn’t want people who are in a rush.

“I want everyone to interact and feel like this is a place where they can come and be comfortable,” he said. “If you don’t want to be treated like family, we’re not the right restaurant for you.”

On the weekends they have done “Backyard Burgers” once a month where they grill up $6 burgers and they want to start doing “Diner Days” where they have favorites like tacos, pasta or meatloaf on a set night of the week.

They have started offering guest chef nights on the weekends where people can come in and cook up their own specialties. Already one dad has inquired about having his young daughter come in and cook up treats for her friends and over the weekend. Sushi on the Rock offered Sushi 067 with a sold-out all-you-can-eat sushi night for $36. Some local businesses are already planning monthly happy hour events.

“We’re open to anything that people want to do because we can be,” Baker said. “Because we’re subsidized by the flooring company we can have fun and the neighborhood can have fun.”

So far they are taking their time developing the business, just going with the flow. Their sign is just a small square on the window and people are trickling in through word of mouth.

“We want people to find us,” Baker said. “We want to be the best kept secret in Rancho Santa Fe.”

The restaurant is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays it is open for special events only. For more information, check out 067 Eatery on facebook or call (858) 832-8150; 16236 San Dieguito Road Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 (across from Solana Santa Fe School).