It’s what’s on the inside that counts. This adage perfectly encapsulates The Range, nestled in the foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains between San Luis Obispo and Atascadero.
Call to confirm
The Range, located at 22317 El Camino Real in Santa Margarita, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to close, with holidays occasionally altering the schedule. The restaurant will be closed for Thanksgiving on Nov. 27 and 28 and for Christmas from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5. Call (805) 438-4500 to inquire about hours, order gift certificates, and make reservations. Walk-ins are welcomed on a space-available basis. Bring cash or check.
The restaurant infamously only takes cash or check, doesn’t have a website, and is fronted by a simple façade off El Camino Real in sleepy Santa Margarita, founded in 1889 and sparsely populated with around 600 folks, including the Jackson family.
Chef Jeff Jackson and his wife, Lindsay, opened The Range in 2005, much to the delight of locals as well as tourists from nearby wineries.
While their establishment may underwhelm at first glance, it’s world-class in the kitchen, with French- and Michelin-trained chefs. It’s also a beloved second home for the Jacksons and their employees, some of whom have worked there since day one.
“I am so blessed to be a part of The Range family since the very beginning,” said server Jessica Kupstas, of Atascadero. “The Range is an easy place to want to be—a place where we get to work, not have to work.
“I think the appeal for longtime employees is that we do behave like family. We take care of each other and the business. Everyone who works here is proud of what we do here. The food is consistently amazing. I consider the staff and owners my second family. We have watched each other’s children grow up, adding them to staff from time to time, been there for each other during difficult, trying times, and seen each other through some of the most joyful … times.”
When Kupstas joined the team, the Jacksons’ children were 15, 13, and 9. Now their daughters Jade and Audrey are pursuing music careers in Nashville and Pasadena, respectively, while their 35-year-old son, Cheyne—presently co-executive chef alongside his father—readies to one day helm the family dynasty.
But not yet. The Jacksons don’t rush anything, and family always comes first.
“In the next decade I would like to focus on raising my daughter Mary, who is now 3, and helping her grow and learn, as well as supporting my wife, Jessy, and her career as an insurance broker,” Cheyne said. “I feel family is very important, and I have been lucky enough to work with my family the majority of my life.
“For The Range, my main goal is for me to allow my dad to step away from the kitchen and grow the produce we use at The Range.
“He has always loved farming, and a large portion of the herbs, fruits, and vegetables we use are grown by him. I think it would be a great thing for us if we could focus on growing some fruits and vegetables that are not readily available or common here. After all, dining should be an experience, and I love giving people the opportunity to try something new for the first time.”
Manager and server Stacy Ball, of Atascadero, who has worked alongside the Jacksons for more than 14 years, is thrilled to see Cheyne follow in his father’s footsteps, noting that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“Jeff and Lindsay are some of the most gracious, generous, and humble people I have ever had the pleasure of working for, and their whole family has inherited those great qualities,” Ball said.
Most importantly, she added, the restaurant’s famed “hillbilly-French” cuisine will remain in expert hands as “Cheyne is extremely talented and runs the kitchen seamlessly, just like his dad.”
A graduate of both the Cuesta College culinary program and the Culinary Institute of America—at the Hyde Park, New York, and Greystone-St. Helena campuses—Cheyne has mentored under the late chef Jan Birnbaum at EPIC Roasthouse in San Francisco and also worked at two-Michelin-starred Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg.
In 2012 he returned home to Santa Margarita and The Range for good.
“I have tried to teach Cheyne how I think, how the kitchens I have worked in were run, and why we are in this business: because we love to make people happy,” Jeff said, noting that his background is “heavy French,” from fine-dining establishments in his hometown of San Diego as well as the Central Coast. “And I have passed on the techniques I learned over the years.
“At the same time, Cheyne has taught me how restaurants are evolving and what is trending at the moment. I learn from him every day.”
Cheyne doesn’t plan to change much menu-wise. Their staple and seasonal entrees, including steaks, elk medallions, oak-smoked brisket, free-range chicken, roasted quail, duck confit, and fresh seafood, are all crowd-pleasers.
“Cheyne is also an excellent pastry chef,” Ball noted, and his desserts, such as Hillbilly Heaven—a decadent chocolate pecan torte with housemade gelato—are to die for.
He might, however, eventually make a few back-end updates, such as rolling out credit-card payment and a website.
Lindsay credits her son with “keeping The Range from becoming extinct, since Jeff and I are Luddites [anti-technology].”
“If not for Cheyne,” she teased, “we probably wouldn’t make it to 2030.”
“The Range being taken over by Cheyne was always the goal,” Jeff added. “It makes me incredibly proud to know he will continue the legacy Lindsay and I have built over the last 20 years. And next, who knows, maybe even his daughter may join someday.
“Keeping The Range a family enterprise means everything to us.” Δ
Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte will be hitting an ATM and Highway 101 after the holidays to ring in the new year at one of her all-time favorite restaurants. Reach her at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 7, 2025.