Dinner-N-Dance a good time

It’s hard not to smile when visiting Jackie’s Home Cookin’ in Superior. When the cook, Mike Perotti, is dancing behind the counter with a third eyeball painted on his forehead, you can’t help but have a good time.  And a good time is exactly what Mike and his wife Jackie, owners of Jackie’s Home Cookin’, cooked up for families on Oct. 16.

The two hosted a Dinner-N-Dance which featured barbeque chicken with Mike’s secret sauce, a choice between four different salads, a baked potato and homemade bread. Steve Hendershot, Gary Bullock, Dick Wilkinson and Scott Kinney of Still Kickin’ provided live music for the event.

One hundred and sixty people showed up for the event. Dave and Amy Michelson were two of those that attended the event and they both said that they had a great time.

“You could eat all you want and it was a heck of a nice meal,” Dave said.

“I think to have a dinner-dance was nice for our small community,” Amy added. “It brought people out and you got to visit with one another. We enjoyed listening to music and we’re looking forward to seeing more.”

Jackie said that her and Mike were shocked by the turnout. Mike added that they were happy with the response though he felt a lot of people missed the opportunity to get out with the kids, but there were also a lot of other events happening.

“We received nice phone calls and one individual called it a blast from the past,” Mike said. “Everyone was just thanking us for putting it on. People just loved it and it went really well. We were so swamped.”

Mike said that he and Jackie came up with the idea one night when they were just sitting around and talking.

“We were thinking we needed to do something to kind of show our appreciation to the community,” Mike said.

“And we wanted to get the community together and we wanted something for families,” Jackie added. “We’ve been here for just over a year and the community has been so supportive toward us. So we were thinking let’s shake up the town a bit and get some grooving going.”

Mike noted that the restaurant was voted kid’s friendliest restaurant in Mineral County and so they really wanted to do something that the kids and parents could both enjoy and come out to. Both Jackie and Mike mentioned that normally when it’s a live band performing it’s always 21 and older.

“We thought there’s not a better thing we can do then to have something that the whole family can enjoy,” Mike said.

Jackie said that they were excited to get Still Kickin’ to perform. The dinner was setup inside the restaurant and the dance and live music followed in the gym. Jackie said that the event overall was just a real good time.

 “That’s what this smiley face is all about. Good food, good friends and a good time,” she said.

Jackie and Mike say that they also enjoyed event as they like to put on the parties and described themselves as “fun people.”

They are both so happy that they’ve been in business in the community for just over a year.

“It’s been wonderful,” Jackie said. “We look at each other sometimes and say, ‘wow, we had to hire two full time employees.’ We thought it would be a mom and pop place, but we got woke up.”

Both Mike and Jackie contested that it’s all about the people.

“We just love the people,” Mike said. “And not just the people in Superior, but in Alberton and St. Regis and DeBorgia. We have so many regulars that stop in.”

“The people make it worth it,” Jackie said.

The pair agreed that the most stressful thing about running the restaurant is having nothing to do one moment and then tons of things to do the next.

“It can be completely empty in here and less than five minutes later it’s packed,” Jackie said. “And we look at each other and say get your running shoes on because there’s 18 tickets on the board.”

Of course, the husband and wife team say that working together has been great. Though the pair used to work at the same company, they never saw each other and enjoy the challenges of running the business together.

With the first event over with, Mike said that they are considering putting something together for New Year’s. He said that they also have talked about doing other types of events as well.

“We were talking last night and though we’ve made no decisions, we thought about doing maybe a comedy thing,” Mike said.

Both Jackie and Mike said that whatever events come in the future they will also be family-friendly so everyone can come out and enjoy them.