Lincoln’s newest restaurant already is showing signs of keeping diners in Lincoln rather than having them head to Omaha for good food.

Since it opened Sept. 29 in the Edgewood Shopping Center, Scrumpy Jacks has been the “it” place on Lincoln’s dining scene.

People, including me, are talking about the frost bar (I’ll explain later), the black box lounge and the food, such as the mushroom encrusted scallops — one of several tasty dishes created by Executive Chef Scott Salem.

The jumbo scallops are seared in a mushroom breading, served on a bed of wild mushroom risotto and finished with a light cream sauce and shaved mushrooms.

At $16.95, the dish is quite affordable.

“We didn’t want to be another Venue,” co-owner Monty Crandon said about his south Lincoln competition. “We didn’t want to go that high (in price with our entrees), and we didn’t want to be another sports bar.”

Instead, Scrumpy Jacks — from its unique name to its “frost bar” — is a one-of-a-kind dining experience.

And that’s saying something.

Crandon opened the restaurant with his brother Jeff, a longtime general manager at Village Inn, and Damon Driscoll, who worked locally in the nursery business.

The Crandon family has 30-plus years in food service. Their father used to run a popular supper club in Benkelman.

Scrumpy Jacks is one of the trio’s two restaurant operations. In mid-November, they will open DoughBoyz Bistro, a pizza and pasta eatery located next door to Scrumpy in the old Shogun location.

DoughBoyz, with its 1940s big band Scrumpy Jacks is more of an adults-only kind of place. (CORRECTION NOTE: DoughBoyz, with its 1940s big band theme, will target families, whereas Scrumpy Jacks is more of an adults-only kind of place.)

Crandon said the idea behind Scrumpy Jacks is to combine food and entertainment.

There is a black box concert area, where patrons can enjoy music DVDs on a big screen before or after their meals. Appetizers are available here, but not any sports programming (except Husker football). Management is considering themed music nights featuring jazz, country, rock and blues over the state-of-the-art audio-visual system.

And, for those, who have been there, the sound issue has been addressed. Baffles went in this week and partitions are coming soon. I heard from other diners and also noticed myself how loud it could get in there.

Also on the entertainment front is the “frost bar,” where patrons can sidle up before or after eating. The reason for the name is the frosty, cold strip to place drinks to keep them chilled.

“I had one customer tell me it was the first time his last sip was as cold as the first,” Crandon said.

Of course, the restaurant’s big draw is the food. Salem comes to Scrumpy Jacks from Sioux City, Iowa. He trained at a culinary school at Iowa State University.

His staff includes sous chef Brian Warnerking from Naples, Fla., who just joined the team and has made an immediate impact. His mushroom bisque was the highlight of my Monday lunch.

Salem’s menu is big on steaks and seafood (salmon, scallops, walleye, tuna). Prices are quite reasonable, costing between $13 and $20.  Sandwiches and burgers comprise the lunch menu, with dishes ranging from $5 to $8.

For my dinner — preceded by a 45-minute wait at the frost bar (it was that busy) — I had an 8-ounce, medium rare filet ($19.95), which came with choice of potato, house vegetables and a salad with “real” (not iceberg) lettuce.

My companion had the scallops. We started with an appetizer. There were several tantalizing choices, but we finally settled on “poki,” a Hawaiian sushi dish ($10.95). It was worth the cash.

For dessert, we shared a “molten chocolate cake” ($5.95). It’s Crandon’s grandmother’s recipe. It, too, was quite good. In fact, it would have been better without the ice cream and whipped cream heaped on it.

The meal was fabulous. I had heard about slow service, but we didn’t have any problems. It seems Scrumpy Jacks has worked out the bugs. If anything, servers, bus people and owners visited our table too much.

As for the name, Crandon said Scrumpy Jacks is a hard cider manufactured in England. Crandon said he liked the name, especially since his father’s name is also Jack.

Whatever the case, Scrumpy Jacks is a must visit for Lincoln diners and a welcome addition to the scene.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

Dining out

Scrumpy Jacks

5520 S. 56th St.

Atmosphere: Casual to upscale

Speciality: Continental

Payment: Cash, major credit cards; no checks

Hours: 11-1 a.m. Monday-Saturday (kitchen closes at 10 p.m.); closed Sunday)

Phone: (402) 434-6061

Notes: Parking, alcohol, daily specials, no reservations